Specter: Republicans Support Stimulus, Don't Want 'Fingerprints' On It

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

Specter: Republicans Support Stimulus, Don't Want 'Fingerprints' On It

February 13, 2009 05:56 PM

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama's stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"

Specter, along with centrist Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined with Democrats last week to move the stimulus bill forward. Specter said he doubted there would be any more Republican votes than those three Friday night.

"I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/specter-republicans-suppo_n_166875.html

[barbtries]

1. never mind the state of the country

i might have a primary! these fucks are sooooo bad.:banghead:

[marshall]

41. They knew it would pass, what do they care at that point.

Once the stimulus is a resounding success they'll all be tripping over themselves to claim some kind of backroom credit.

[Solly Mack]

2. "...afraid of the political consequences"

Sigh

Init always...


:(

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Too bad they're not afraid of us!

[Solly Mack]

6. Too true

[JerseygirlCT]

3. I'd like to see this thing succeed

and then it will be Spector and Snowe and Collins who will be fine in their primaries, and these others cowards who may find themselves AFTER their primary fighting for their seats. Honestly, in ME and PA, I can't see voting for this hurting those three. The two from ME are among the last GOP hold-outs in NE. And PA is getting bluer.

[FatDave]

20. Exactly what I was thinking.

And the likeliest outcome. Republicans always read it wrong these days.

[last_texas_dem]

30. Yeah, the Repug right-wing is just very zealous throughout the nation

Even though a right-wing candidate would have a difficult time winning a statewide general election in ME and PA, the right thinks it's necessary to "punish" those elected officials who vote in line with the preferences of their states ahead of the supposed "conservative" ideological position. A right-winger would have an uphill battle winning a PA general election (although Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum proved that anything is possible...), but could well win a Repug primary- although Specter has held them off in the past. The right-wing is certainly willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

[JerseygirlCT]

36. My husband has a theory about this

As he put it, if the GOP went along with Obama and this works, then Obama wins, and they don't get much credit.

If it doesn't work, however, and they opposed it, they get to say "I told you so". So they're betting on a loss.

Rather like some of their pals on Wall St., I'd say.

[w4rma]

43. When your whole logic faculties are entirely distorted, as theirs are, then they will come up with

illogical tactics. They are victims of their own propaganda.

[Metta]

4. Republicans are lying, two faced, cold hearted, narrow minded traitors.

If they aren't looting our treasury for their friends, they're whining about not being able to loot our treasury.

[Two Americas]

12. politicians

They are politicians. All politicians are "lying, two faced, cold hearted, narrow minded" etc. etc. lol. Seeing one group as saints and the other as devils isn't helpful. The Republicans represent the needs and desires of the wealthy and powerful few. But they also need to get re-elected.

Things are shifting.

If the Democrats represented the interests of the have-nots even half as aggressively as the Republicans represent the interests of the upper 1%, we wouldn't be in this mess. Blaming Republicans for it is like blaming the rain when the roof leaks.

[bobbolink]

42. "Blaming Republicans for it is like blaming the rain when the roof leaks."

:applause:

[elocs]

13. How about the 7 Dems who voted against it in the House? What are they? n/t

[Metta]

15. One of them, Peter DeFazsio, is a patriot. I suspect he thought the bill gave too much away in tax

cuts, infering from what he's been saying.

[CatholicEdHead]

38. Rep Colin Peterson MN-7 is a Blue Dog Democrat

MN-7 will easily be Republican when he retires, he does this to keep getting reelected in a huge, and conservative rural district in western and northwestern MN.

[MineralMan]

7. Fooking hypocrites! Every last cursed one of them.

We need to remind the voters in their states what they have done. Come campaign time, we need to make the point over and over again that they voted against saving our economy. It's a strategy that might pick up five or six seats in the Senate. Then where will the GOOPer assholes be?

[glitch]

8. Here chicky chicky chickies. nt

[MadMaddie]

9. Spector sums it up nicely

<snip>
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama's stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.
<snip>


Translated by MadMaddie

Rethuglicans are cowards!

[SharonAnn]

26. So their personal ambition won over their duty to their country? Nice. Not!

[tblue37]

10. Flog this. Make sure everyone hears about it. It will sink them in

the next election, whether the stimulus works or not. We would just have to say, if it didn't work, that it was because they watered it down and then wouldn't vote for it--and it would be the absolute truth.

[Two Americas]

11. that is a really good sign

That means that the Republican legislators have their finger to the wind. Good sign.

Our job is to keeping pushing the discussion to the Left. At some point, the pressure from the public will be greater than the influence of the donors and lobbyists and big money people. That will force the Republicans to back down, and will allow the Democrats to do what they must do, for the sake of the party as well as the country - move to the Left.

The best way to help the new administration to succeed, and to rout the Republicans, is to escalate the pressure from the Left. Some here are trying to shut that down, and calling it "disloyal" to the new administration or the party. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This is a very good sign.

[L. Coyote]

14. Let's start recruiting primary candidates for the Republican races!

If they are obstructionists, get a better primary candidate to oust them!

[Abq_Sarah]

16. Who gives a shit

If they signed on or not?

Collins, Snowe and Specter were always going to vote for this. Even without including them in the negotiations. We didn't need to pretend we gave a rats ass about their input. As for the rest, we don't need their votes so I really don't give a damn what they do.

[tinrobot]

17. Screw the primary - they'll get nailed in the general for voting against it.

I can see the ad now:

Senator (GOP) voted against the creation of 4 million jobs.

[unkachuck]

18. let me get this right, arlen....

....if the stimulus/recovery package works, then your republican buddies will help take credit for it....if the stimulus/recovery package fails, then only 3 republicans had anything to do with it....either way they'll bash Dems for doing 'too much' or 'too little' in 2010....

....it's steely harden resolve like this that makes the republican party the pack of weasels they are....

[GreatInDayton]

19. Lets get a warm DEMOCRATIC body on every ballot...

in every city. Let no single electable position go to vote without SOME Democrat on the ballot, too. Baby steps across the country.

[annabanana]

21. Rush Limbaugh has them all peeing their pants.

If any of them dare to go all bi-partisan on him he will trash them non-stop for hours and hours to every wingnut in the nation...

[bluerum]

29. Good point. Until one of those mealy mouthed weasels stands up to

rush limpbo and hannity and oHater, they will continue to rule the republican party. The republican politicians (congress critters and senator and governors) have let this get way out their control.

It was fine when they needed the help from the media. They took it willingly. But now the spouters of hate and insanity are framing the positions of the republican politicians and I sense a growing discord.

Of course, the politicians won't come out and say it for fear of losing their standing with the rush loving fanboys.

[Historic NY]

22. Tough the time to stand up like men & be counted has passed...

from now on they shall be known as shallow Repukes that don'T support the "common man".In other words morans.

[Two Americas]

27. of course they don't

What evidence is there over the last 40 years, and more, that the Republicans ever supported the "common man?"

They represent the interests, the needs and desires, of the upper 1% - consistently, relentlessly, effectively.

I think the right wing propaganda has had a bigger effect on liberals than it has had in the so-called Republican base. Everyone is convinced that the Republicans represent half of the people (give or take) of the people in the country, and that the political divide in the country is a matter of "beliefs" or "values" or something. That is all a fairy tale.

The divide in the country is between the haves and the have-nots. The Republicans represent the haves and are very effective and successful at that. The Democrats refuse to represent the rest of us strongly, and often represent merely a different group of haves than the Republicans do. That allows the Republicans to redefine politics around the so-called culture war issues, and get support from people whom they do not care about and have no intention of representing.

It is the almost complete absence of a powerful left wing narrative over the last 40 years, and the unwillingness of the Democrats to fight for the working people that have caused the right wing hell we have been living through.

[Bearware]

23. I'd like to hear Harry Reid say "I HAVE a serious primary challenge"

It he got a serious enough challenge, maybe his caucus would dump him or maybe he would grow a pair of vertebrae. While we are at it, it would be nice to see a bunch of Dems more worried about primary than general elections. Blue dogs, Pelosi, Feinstein etc. etc. etc.:mad:

[Mnemosyne]

24. Just trying to get ahead for the next election, ass. n/t

[jaybeat]

25. Cowards!

Too afraid of the wing-nut fringe of their own party to do what's right for their country.

I hope they (the ones that vote against the stim) LOSE to some born-again freakazoid in their primary just so a decent servant of we the people Democrat can whup their extremist ass back under the rock they crawled from.

You're either part of the solution, or part of the problem. Stand up, sit down, or get the fuck out of the way.

<Insert "terrorist" fist bump here.>

[radfringe]

28. New NOPE party logo

[glinda]

31. Their fingerprints are already all over it unfortunately

[catzies]

32. So they want to be AGAINST it before they will be FOR it, like after it succeeds. n/t

[maseman]

33. With the repukes it is

1. Elections

2. God

3. Country

4. Family

[onager]

35. Your forgot booze, drugs, hookers, S&M, goats, boys, etc.

:hi:

[crikkett]

34. All this drama is for show. What a waste. n/t

[Doctor_J]

37. Hypocritical cowards, afraid of Limpballs

We REALLY need to start thinking of ways to bring down Big Media.

[and-justice-for-all]

39. "were they not afraid of the political consequences"

Which I hope they will suffer for in their re-elections...They voted against jobs and voted against tax cuts.

[sutz12]

40. I kind of wonder about this...

If the vote had been closer in the House, how many Republican governors would have joined in on the arm twisting of these Repub congress critters? I would be willing to bet a few of them would have caved and voted for this bill if so. The govs were screaming for these funds and the future of some pissant House member would have been rather cheap, IMO.