Embracing Bush Cost The GOP Dearly

[babylonsister]

Specter's Epilogue

Arlen Specter's move to the left isn't a chapter in the Republican Party's decline -- the story has already played itself out.


Terence Samuel | May 1, 2009 | web only


The dramatic party-switch by Pennsylvania bulldog Sen. Arlen Specter can be read as a final denouement in the slow, steady collapse of the Republican Party. Though the decline was triggered by the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush, it was the decision by congressional Republicans to so fully and uncritically embrace the Bush agenda and the president's arrogance that cost the GOP so dearly.

In retrospect, it is interesting to note how early the signs of the implosion began to appear: The seeds of the GOP's current demise were sown in the triumphal moments following Bush's victory in 2000. Had they heeded the warning signs, Republicans could have saved themselves a lot of trouble -- and maybe even a few congressional seats. Specter's reasons for leaving are the same as Republican-turned-Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords' were eight years ago. Perhaps more importantly, they were the same reasons that drove so many Americans into the arms of the Democrats over the last four years of the Bush administration.

On May 23, 2001, while Bush still basked in the glow of his new presidency, then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott held a reception honoring Gerald Ford. The bitterness of the election had begun to dissipate, but not in the Senate, where the divisions were playing out in a 50-50 chamber split. Lott was the majority leader by virtue of the fact that Vice President Dick Cheney, as president of the Senate, had the tie-breaking vote.

At Lott's reception, the drinks were served in crystal. The embossed coasters that sat under each glass read: "Majority Leader"; I remember thinking, "Yes, but for how long?"

There were already rumors that Jeffords, upset by the size of the Bush tax cuts and by huge cuts in environmental and education spending, would leave the GOP. He would become an independent and caucus with the Democrats, giving them the majority. The very next day, he did exactly that.

more...

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=specters_epilogue

[GreenTea]

1. Republicans & corporations all made fortunes, many illegally, by supporting Bush, now they have

to pay for it and they hate it...but nowhere near what they stole, ruined & exploited at the peoples and the planets expense...republicans love & miss the power, the imperialism and most of all being able to apply their sick vindictiveness!!

[indepat]

2. That more defections did not occur along the way rather than moderates continuing to vote for

junior's every whim in lockstep is mind-boggling. :P

[tblue37]

18. Wiretapping--Rove had the goods for blackmail. nt

[tanyev]

3. Li'l Boots has screwed up everything he's ever been involved in.

All the evidence was there if they had only opened their eyes.

[GTurck]

15. AH! the Caligula...

reference; but I agree with you. Little Boots took this country to the bring of all the horrors of dictatorship without a murmer from those most in a position to apply the correction. He was just too useful to them.

[zbdent]

4. No GOPer embraced Bush ...

they're all "independents" and "Libertarians" now ...

[Two Americas]

5. it paid off handsomely

Never in the history of our country was so much accomplished in such a short period of time that benefits the wealthiest few.

The people for whom the Republicans were working don't care about the success of "Team Red." They got everything they wanted, and the perpetrators are likely to walk so that they can re-organize and plan the next offensive.


...

[Hissyspit]

6. Jeffords had the foresight and/or integrity to run from them early on.

[Baby Snooks]

10. Probably the integrity...

And he was apparently the only Republican who had any integrity at that point.

[glitch]

7. So far.

But who knows what tomorrow may bring.

[Baby Snooks]

9. No it took awhile...

It dismayed everyone when Ronald Reagan decided against Paul Laxalt and asked George HW Bush to be his running mate. One of the great mysteries of life. Ordinarily Nancy Reagan would have indeed just said no as she always did. But not this time. And so we had the beginning of the "coup d'etat" in January of 1981. With the inauguration of a president. And a shadow president. Whose shadow is still cast in Washington.

And you're right. They'll be back. Although in reality they will simply not leave. They never left to begin with.

[Enthusiast]

14. It had been planned for years beforehand.

Think about it. The entire thing was planned.

[Two Americas]

17. yes

Everything that the Bush administration planned was all known in 1998 and 1999, and some of us were able to predict exactly what would happen, including the war on terror, stolen elections, the military invasions, torture and the economic collapse. Their plans were not hidden, rather people refused to look at the truth. I tried desperately to interest the Gore people in this back in 1999. They insisted on seeing it all as politics as usual and dismissed my predictions - all of which came true.



...

[Juche]

8. Specter and Jeffords left the GOP for different reasons

The radicalism played a role, but Jeffords left because he has character, disagreed with cutting funding for a bill to fund special ed programs and didn't appreciate being bullied by Cheney. Specter left because he couldn't win the 2010 primary as a republican. If Specter thought those radical wingnuts in PA who now make up the GOP there would reelect him he'd still be a republican.

Apples and oranges

[Baby Snooks]

11. Thank you....

Arlen Specter is an opportunist. He was a Democrat then a Republican and now is a Democrat again. He is the perfect example of a Republicrat. His party affiliation is defined by demographics. Not by philosophy.

There may be some others who will switch as well. But not out of any sense of anything other then the changing demographics in their districts or their states.

There's a rumor about Kay Bailey Hutchison. She might not be able to beat Rick Perry in the primary. But she could beat Kinky Friedman and possibly beat Rick Perry as a Democrat if she pulled enough moderate Republicans along with the Democrats. She is probably watching the reaction of moderate Republicans to Arlen Specter.

It wouldn't be so bad if they really cared about their new constituents but in reality all they care about is their votes.

We really need to just clean house. In both parties. Although in the case of the Republican Party we just need to vote them all out of office. We really need a people's party. We seem to have been cast aside for most of the past 28 years. By Democrats as well.

I would love to hear Kay Bailey Hutchison talk about how the Republican Party no longer reflected her values. And then roll my eyes realizing Democrats were falling for it. But then realizing the alternative might be Kinky Friedman so, well, again, why the hell not I guess.

[Juche]

13. There was a politican who wanted to be labeled "GOP" rather than "Republican" during the 2008 race

I don't remember who or where, but he wanted his name to have GOP instead of republican next to it on the ballot. The reason is because polling showed many people don't know what GOP is or stands for and do not have the negative associations they have for the term republican. So a republican whose name says "GOP party" will do better than someone whose name says 'republican party'. We get the democracy we deserve based on our levels of involvement.

[unblock]

12. letting shrub have a second term was the worst thing ever for the republican party

they should have somehow managed to convince him to retire after one term. let another republican run. even if they had lost, their image would not have been so completely shredded. second terms are usually not great anyway, and when the first term sucks, you're just asking for a huge image problem.

[bemildred]

16. So sheeplike conformity and authoritarian rule have there drawbacks?

Militarism can bankrupt the country? Government secrecy is incompatible with the rule of law? When you fail to govern well, you lose the support of the public?

All these surprising revelations.
:puke:

[eppur_se_muova]

19. At least call it the Bush-Cheney agenda.

Cheney was the brains in that gang. Bu**sh** thought with his gut, and you know what you get from your gut.