Arlen Specter supported it...

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Arlen Specter, who has always been the weirdest "Republican" senator, has decided to switch to the Democrats, saying "I now find my political philosophy more in line with the Democrats than the Republicans".

You're just discovering this, are you Arlen? The rest of the world has known this for years. You should read a newspaper now and then.

Forget about the fundamental ethical problem here - i.e., the betrayal of the voters' trust that any legislator commits when he runs under one party and then switches horses afterward. I say "forget about it" because this is only one of the multitude of deceptions that legislators like Specter engage in throughout their careers. One more ripple in this maelstrom of representational malfeasance is scarcely noticeable any more. Even a used car salesman is prohibited from pulling bait-and-switch tricks on the public, but then whoever said a Congressman should have as much integrity as a used car salesman?

And, this won't make much difference during the current term either, because Specter was a pretty reliable vote for Obama's socialist programs anyway. He was one of the three Republicans who broke ranks and cleared the way for the "emergency" (quick - before the voters read it!) funding package and like everyone else who voted for it he did so without reading most of it.

Where this could make a difference (unless Democrat voters in Pennsylvania find Specter's duplicity as disgusting as anyone with moral sense should) is that this boosts his chances of reelection. As things were shaping up, he was not going to get any support from Republicans or Democrats next time out. Now, he hopes the Democrats will vote for him - and he'll undoubtedly get a lot of money from Democratic party headquarters that he would never have had from the Republican side because they're sick of him..

Let's really get a clear understanding of what we're talking about here, which is a senator taking the moral low road for the sole purpose of preserving his own position. It is a raw, naked, and some might even say desperate effort to keep power within his clutches and get himself reelected at any cost, no matter what his actions do to further disgrace Congress - a body that has already lost most of the esteem that Americans once had for it.

Specter will be running for his 6th term and now becomes the best argument - the poster child, in fact - for term limits. Again I say (and would say this regardless of which way Specter was switching) - we MUST get control of the subversion of the political process by people who will do anything - including betraying their own voters - to accumulate and retain power for themselves, and the ONLY way to do this is to impose term limits.

the right to free speech. Thanks to the moderator for straddling the fence and electing not to ban me. That said, I will not hide (change my name) and I will not go away. I will not allow those who are afraid of opposite opinion to stop me from posting mine. That is not the America I want to live in, and I think it is time that more of us stood up againt bullying tactics. I am standing.

In deference to those of you who would seek to silence me....I am an Independent and I will post independently. I will not reply directly to any of you, you can keep your threads all to yourselves. If I have a rebuttal I will post it separately. You are free to do as you have been doing without me entering your threads. That is me, reaching across the aisle.

I will also retract a statement I made yesterday. I was wrong to lump all Democrats into the same barrel. As Oldtimer so astutely pointed out, I fell into the same trap I accused others of, and in retrospect and after McCain's speech it became more clear to me. All Democrats/liberals/progressives are not of the same cloth as what I have experienced on this board. I apologize for that.

What I do not apologize for is being a conservative and having conservative values. Too many of us have been too quiet for too long. We sat down. We need to stand up with John and Sarah. There is nothing wrong with nor to be ashamed about in the way we feel and we are as much entitled to that as liberals are to liberalism. And part of that is tolerance. So, as a compromise....

Democrats/liberals, start your threads, and I will not encroach upon them. I would ask for the same respect from you as I post independently. There will be no need for you to open any of them or to spend half a page piling on. I will respect your threads. Kindly respect others.

As McCain said last night, we are all God's children (even if you don't claim Him, He claims you), we are all Americans. So let's allow both sides to present views, support their candidates, exercise our right to free speech, have diverging opinions. I would like to see the America back where I grew up, when the old fellas sat and played checkers in front of the library in town and bantered back and forth about politics, but it was good natured and they were still best of friends. I miss that. We need to stop belitting others for where they live or for their religion or the lack thereof. We need to stop attacking each other, period. A house divided against itself cannot stand. We do need to try to be one America again. No politician can rejoin us. That is a task we must do ourselves.

Largely unappreciated and attacked by his own Party Congressman Ron Paul has, in fact, done a great service to the Republican Party this election season. Paul enlarged the Republican �tent� to again include disaffected core Republicans, Independents and real Conservatives who have been forced outside that �tent� in the last two decades.

Paul uses classic Republican language to defend that point of view which demands small-government, constitutionally-oriented, fiscally-responsible and true free-market adherents actually be recognized and accommodated, rather than just paying lip-service to those positions.

Most importantly, that message has motivated a generation of young people to join the Party who are technically savvy, constitutionally-smart and extremely enthusiastic about spreading the message of freedom, liberty and free markets. They have been inspired by a candidate who really understands and believes in a Republic and, one would think, be embraced by incumbent Republican Party members.

However that, it seems, is not the case. Too many existing Republicans do not understand the language of those positions any more and can�t speak it in public. It also seems the NeoCon members are intent on forcing out of the party the very people that represent its future. I urge my Republican brothers and sisters to reject such collectivist, herd mentality which is indicative of Democrats while being logically and historically repugnant to Republicans.

In the 1960s and 70s that same �insurgent� group within the party was represented by Goldwater/Ronald Reagan conservatives. For those of you who don�t remember, the �Reaganites� were ostracized and isolated throughout that period right up to the 1980 election, when they were fully embraced. That is why in March of 1980, even former President Gerald Ford was still quoted as saying, �.....the Man is unelectable,� seven months before Reagan was elected President. It is worth noting that Congressman Paul was one of only 4 Congressman who endorsed Reagan in 1976.

However, the Goldwater/Reaganites were never treated as badly as the Paulites have been this season. The NeoCon/establishment faction within the Party has diligently worked to eliminate all true vestiges of the real Reagan Revolution from the party, as exampled by their behavior this election season. They have but one thought: Power and control at any cost. Yet, the record shows they keep losing running against historic principles of the Party.

They are attempting to make stillborn the Paul movement. Why? Because we are strong supporters of the original values of the Party? My friends, we are being weakened further by the poor leadership of that NeoCon faction and its adherents. Check the record.

The results since 2004 have been abysmal. In Colorado, while having a 200,000-vote advantage of registered Republicans over Democrats, we have lost the State Senate and the House, the Governor�s mansion, the Treasurer�s seat and two Congressional seats.

Nationally, we already have lost the US House and Senate and it is nearly a foregone conclusion we will lose 25-30 more House seats and 6-9 Senate seats in November.

In early tests, we have already lost seats in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Seats that Republicans have held for decades. The damage is mounting. We are CONTINUING to lose Governor�s seats left and right. The Democrats are out-raising us in funding $3 and $4 to one (in Congress $6 to $1) as noted recently by Republican Congressional leaders. The leadership should be forced to explain where it is that we have a winning strategy in constantly compromising our historic principles rather than firmly re-establishing them each generation? That is what the Founders taught.

From McKinley to Taft to Goldwater to Reagan, this Party used to promote and celebrate the core Republican message and historical principles of the Party. That seems to be all but banished from the party, except to pay it lip service. The result of that banishment are, and will be, clearly evident in the election results this November and after. If establishment Republicans persist in ostracizing and obstructing every attempt for the classic Republican message to have a voice in the Party, than who are Republicans, really? I did not spend the last 33 years as a conservative to start voting for liberals. Please join me today in supporting and promoting what should be the real message of the Republican Party in 2008 and beyond. Send the message to the Party leadership that we no longer support any further erosion of this party�s principles! Don�t allow them to keep rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Regardless of whether or not you would ultimately have voted for Congressman Paul, every Republican should have respected the message. That was the Republican way for the first 140 years of this party. At this point, even if he wins, John McCain will likely be another Millard Fillmore presiding over the complete demise of the Whig Party from 1850-54.

Since Proposition 8 passed, several legal challenges to Proposition 8 have already been filed in California courts, and more than 40 state legislators filed a friend-of-the-court briefs to support legal efforts to void Proposition 8. A series of protests have spread across California, and are sweeping the country, and now they've moved onto the Internet with blacklists that are outing those who gave money to get Proposition 8 passed.

Reminiscent of Christian boycotts against companies who supported gay rights, and the ever popular War on _____ boycotts, now gay right activists are calling for the same action. Several new websites have launched that list all the names and businesses of all the donors. Evidently those who made political donations to Prop8 did not realize that their contributions are a matter of public record... or that publishing those records is legal.

Arlen Specter supported it...

Ron Paul has performed a great service for the Republican Party