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Good riddance to RINO senators By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on April 30, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., dropped a little bombshell Tuesday when he announced he was leaving the Republican Party and joining up with the Democrats.
Specter’s statement about his switch was predictable and self-serving. “I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my party has not defined who I am.” He points out that the Republican Party did not define him. And in other news, it was revealed yesterday Barack Obama is the president. Who knew? The senator has long been a false friend to the GOP, differing with the party on key issues like abortion, immigration and environmental regulation, also opposing the impeachment of President Bill Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. The final insult, however, was his support of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, President Obama’s massive spending bill hated by conservatives. According to Specter, the public backlash from his support for the stimulus plan helped push him over the edge. “When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party,” Specter said, making somewhat of an understatement. “Since then, I have traveled the state, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable.” In fact, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on March 26 that 53 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans opposed re-electing him, making it likely he would lose the 2010 Republican primary to challenger Pat Toomey, who was leading Specter, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Specter made it clear he wasn’t interested in letting his mistake cost him re-election to the U.S. Senate. “On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my 29-year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.” God forbid he allow the voters to decide who they want to represent them. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, was uncharacteristically blunt about Specter’s reasons. “Specter claimed it was philosophical — and pointed his finger of blame at Republicans all over America for his defection to the Democrats. He told us all to go jump in the lake today. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe a word he said,” Steele said in a campaign e-mail. “Arlen Specter committed a purely political and self-serving act today. He simply believes he has a better chance of saving his political hide and his job as a Democrat. He loves the title of Senator more than he loves the party — and the principles — that elected him and nurtured him.” Quinnipiac polling shows that, on the surface, Specter does have a better chance for re-election as a Democrat, but that is assuming the Republican voters who always voted for him would continue to do so, which is unlikely, and that Pennsylvania Democrats would be willing to support a turncoat. Sen. Strom Thurman, elected as a Democrat in 1954, became a Republican 10 years later, but his segregationist past was at odds with the GOP’s foundation as the party of abolition. Many Republicans never truly trusted him, despite his support of extending the Voting Rights Act and making Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday. Going back a bit further, Benedict Arnold’s act of treason against the American Continental Army never gained him true respect or trust among the British, and for one simple reason — someone who has turned his back on his supporters could well do it again. The present-day political ramifications of Specter’s switch are the buzz right now, since it brings the Democrats one step closer to having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. In Minnesota, boorish-entertainer-turned-politician Al Franken has all but secured the disputed Senate seat because Norm Coleman has not been able to muster the same forces President George W. Bush used to prevent Al Gore from stealing the 2000 presidential election. Franken’s selection would give the Democrats the coveted 60 seats. While many Democrats would enjoy seeing that majority officially realized, it would only be a symbolic victory, since Specter had already demonstrated he would readily be the 60th vote if it served his interests. In fact, Specter’s switch may even do the Democrats a disservice. Now that the Republicans have been shut out of the House, the Senate and the presidency, the Democratic Party will own whatever happens from here on out. They will no longer be able to legitimately blame Bush for the problems that come down the line. The blame will be theirs and theirs alone. The Democrats, emboldened by their newfound dominance, may try to run roughshod over the country with their agenda, but it also makes it likely they will go too far, showing the American people what their plans really are and giving the GOP ample opportunity to contrast themselves against the left’s progressive agenda. For the GOP, Specter’s defection also opens an opportunity to rid the party of the so-called moderate Republicans who are actually RINOs, or “Republicans In Name Only.” Specter and those like him have dragged the Republican Party away from the conservative platform instituted by President Ronald Reagan that led him to landslide victories and contributed to GOP takeover of Congress in 1994. Regardless of the outcome, Specter is at least showing his true allegiance — his own political career. His move may end up serving him better, but I hope he watches out for the door on his way out. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
My first thought when I saw the news was, ‘It’s about time.’ An old saying says it all: Better to have an honest enemy than a false friend.
