I didn't see this posted, if so, I apologize and lock it. Though it merits it's own focus. We Didn't Have to Lose Arlen Specter IT is disheartening and disconcerting, at the very least, that here we are today — almost exactly eight years after Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party — witnessing the departure of my good friend and fellow moderate Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, for the Democratic Party. And the announcement of his switch was all the more painful because I believe it didn’t have to be this way. When Senator Jeffords became an independent in 2001, I said it was a sad day for the Republicans, but it would be even sadder if we failed to confront and learn from the devaluation of diversity within the party that contributed to his defection. I also noted that we were far from the heady days of 1998, when Republicans were envisioning the possibility of a filibuster-proof 60-vote margin. (Recall that in the 2000 election, most pundits were shocked when Republicans lost five seats, resulting in a 50-50 Senate.) I could have hardly imagined then that, in 2009, we would fondly reminisce about the time when we were disappointed to fall short of 60 votes in the Senate. Regrettably, we failed to learn the lessons of Jim Jeffords’s defection in 2001. To the contrary, we overreached in interpreting the results of the presidential election of 2004 as a mandate for the party. This resulted in the disastrous elections of 2006 and 2008, which combined for a total loss of 51 Republicans in the House and 13 in the Senate — with a corresponding shift of the Congressional majority and the White House to the Democrats. It was as though beginning with Senator Jeffords’s decision, Republicans turned a blind eye to the iceberg under the surface, failing to undertake the re-evaluation of our inclusiveness as a party that could have forestalled many of the losses we have suffered. It is true that being a Republican moderate sometimes feels like being a cast member of “Survivor” — you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe. But it is truly a dangerous signal that a Republican senator of nearly three decades no longer felt able to remain in the party. Senator Specter indicated that his decision was based on the political situation in Pennsylvania, where he faced a tough primary battle. In my view, the political environment that has made it inhospitable for a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania is a microcosm of a deeper, more pervasive problem that places our party in jeopardy nationwide. I have said that, without question, we cannot prevail as a party without conservatives. But it is equally certain we cannot prevail in the future without moderates. In that same vein, I am reminded of a briefing by a prominent Republican pollster after the 2004 election. He was asked what voter groups Republicans might be able to win over. He responded: women in general, married women with children, Hispanics, the middle class in general, and independents. How well have we done as a party with these groups? Unfortunately, the answer is obvious from the results of the last two elections. We should be reaching out to these segments of our population — not de facto ceding them to the opposing party. There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party. Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities — indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash. It is for this reason that we should heed the words of President Ronald Reagan, who urged, “We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty.” He continued, “As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.” I couldn’t agree more. We can’t continue to fold our philosophical tent into an umbrella under which only a select few are worthy to stand. Rather, we should view an expansion of diversity within the party as a triumph that will broaden our appeal. That is the political road map we must follow to victory. Olympia Snowe is a Republican senator from Maine. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/opinion/29snowe.html Someone else can post the Fox retort concerning, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." IMPLOSION
Did they really loose Arlen Specter. As I look at this it seem Specter is trying to keep his seat as Senater and he know he will lose to his couterpart. He went Demecrat because the copitition is lagging. He still will vote the same I only see this as a political ploy in a few months hed probally be independent.
Yes, the republicans lost Specter. And now instead of actually learning from their mistake they are simply trying to tar Specter as a self interested individual motivated only by personal gain. the repubs are ignoring what the author of that article describes as the iceberg under the surface, the fact that they are drifting way too far to the right to be palatable to mainstream america. Frankly, I'm glad that people like Malcolm aren't seeing the big picture. It just means that the titanic of the republican party is going to sink.
The republicans lost Specter because they allowed the upstart Toomey to challenge Specter for the Senate seat. They could have supported him, but instead chose to support a man who had no chance to win the general election as a result of his ultra-conservative views in a very moderate state. Specter's move was definitely political as opposed to ideological, but in the GOP today, ideology seems to define everything. Party over country, FTL!!!
There are segments of the GOP (supported by the RNC) that wanted to fund primary challengers to any GOP Senator that voted for the stimulus. The GOP basically shoved him out the door.
I have a new favorite Republican Senator, Olympia Snowe. What she said echoes my own feelings. While I am most definitely a progressive/liberal Democrat, I've always thought the country was healthier with a Republican Party not controlled by fringe groups and extremists. It used to be that those groups were seen as on the fringe and extreme by the GOP leadership, but those days are long gone. I hope Ms. Snowe quits giving herself an ulcer and joins the Democratic caucus. She'll be in a home for senior citizens before her party actually welcomes her views, and that's a damn shame.
