digby: If you want to enjoy this watch Fox news. They all look like they've just sucked on a bag of lemons.
- Republican leader Limbaugh had this to say today, from Simon at Limbaughwire:
After briefly downplaying the concerns about swine flu, Rush kicked off today's program by noting that Sen. Arlen Specter will announce today his switch from (R-PA) to (D-PA). Rush counseled Specter to take Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his daughter, Meghan, with him, and then pondered who else in the Senate should make the switch. The only other name he tossed out was Sam Brownback (R-KS). That struck us as... odd, seeing as when Brownback ran for president last year, Republicans "fear[ed] he may be too conservative to win a national election." Brownback's sin, it seems, was voicing support for Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius -- who, according to Rush, is "for every abortion that ever happened" -- as Health and Human Services secretary.
John Cole: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.
Think Progress: Radical Right Drives Specter Out Of The Republican PartyWe have our first Judas Iscariot reference in relation to Specter, and the winner is Red State. I honestly have no idea what these guys are so upset about. Am I going to have to go through their archives and dig up all the times they wanted to throw Specter out of the Republican party? Did I just imagine all the whinging posts about Specter and the Judiciary Committee in 2004ish? Congratulations, guys. You got your wish. He isn’t a Republican.
Apparently, purity tastes like wingnut tears.
Today, Sen. Arlen Specter announced that he is switching parties to become a Democrat. In a statement released to the press, Specter explained that the GOP has left moderates behind and "has moved far to the right." (Indeed, today's Progress Report discusses how radical elements of the conservative movement are in the ascendancy within the Republican Party.)Brilliant!. Specter defection April 28: Longtime Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, PA, is switching camps. Rachel Maddow is joined by former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, D-RI to talk about what's happened to the Republican Party.Republican leaders have been swift in their condemnation of Specter's move, dismissing it as an act of "political survival." But Specter's departure from the Republican Party was motivated more by the actions of radical leaders from within the right-wing establishment than by party registration numbers in Pennsylvania. RNC Chairman Michael Steele had called for punishing Specter for straying from strict party discipline, and a chorus of hard-right conservatives have been viciously trashing the Senator for months:
-- RUSH LIMBAUGH: "Snowe, Collins, Specter [...] you're going to have a number of RINO Republicans. I said earlier today it's great to flush them out, get them out of there. Let it be known that they are not Republicans." [CNN, 2/13/09]
-- At an anti-Obama "tea party" protest in Scanton, the "loudest boos" were "reserved for Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, while the event emcee discussed the Pennsylvania senator's support for the federal stimulus." [Scranton Times, 4/15/09]
-- Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told a conservative blogger Specter "cut our knees from under us." He added that conservatives in the Senate need to aggressively "go after" Specter and other GOP moderates Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). [The Hill, 2/27/09]
-- Fox News' Dick Morris: "Specter, Collins and Snowe are Benedict Arnolds." [Townhall, 2/11/09]
-- Radio show host Melanie Morgan, along with writers from the right-wing website FreeRepublic.com, "stormed" Specter's office and "yelled" at his staff in order to "embarrass" the Senator over his "pro-stimulus vote." [Washington Times, 2/11/09]
Specter's opponent in the primary -- free market-fundamentalist Pat Toomey -- announced his candidacy on the day of the anti-Obama, anti-tax tea party protests. Despite the the fact that tea parties have been distinguished by calls for violence, bigotry, and reflexive attacks on Obama, Toomey's harnessing of the movement came at a time when Republican leaders like Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) embraced the protests as the future of the party.
Will conservatives continue to march down the path of radicalism, obstruction, and reflexive opposition to the President, or will the movement change course and reject the rightwing agenda to prevent more defections of GOP moderates?
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Jed Lewison Kristol on Specter: “It’s good for Republicans”
Hahahahahah, heheheh, hahaha:
It’s even better news for John McCain!
Given the opportunity to explain himself, "judge" Bybee ....
John Cole: Regrets, I Have a Few
But Judge Bybee does not:
Judge Bybee said he was issuing a statement following reports that he had regrets over his role in the memorandums, including an article in The Washington Post on Saturday to that effect. Given the widespread criticism of the memorandums, he said he would have done some things differently, like clarifying and sharpening the analysis of some of his answers to help the public better understand the basis for his conclusions.But he said: “The central question for lawyers was a narrow one; locate, under the statutory definition, the thin line between harsh treatment of a high-ranking Al Qaeda terrorist that is not torture and harsh treatment that is. I believed at the time, and continue to believe today, that the conclusions were legally correct.”
Other administration lawyers agreed with those conclusions, Judge Bybee said.
“The legal question was and is difficult,” he said. “And the stakes for the country were significant no matter what our opinion. In that context, we gave our best, honest advice, based on our good-faith analysis of the law.”
Kind of makes that WaPo piece with all of Bybee’s friends announcing his regrets look funny. Not sure how you square that piece with the statement today from Bybee. You know what they say, though- in for a penny, in for pounding a child’s testicles.
digby says: Always read Tom Tomorrow.
That is all.Josh Marshall: Torture and Cowardice, Pt.2
In response to my earlier post on torture, a number of readers have written in to say that it's not a matter of Cheney et al. being squeamish about using the word 'torture'. It's that there are specific statutes on the books in the US and internationally that make 'torture' a crime, with serious penalties. Everyone recognizes that; and they don't want to be prosecuted. But I think my earlier point includes this reasoning behind the reluctance to identify torture as 'torture'.
Being bold means taking responsibility for being bold. As I've argued before, I think the answer to the ticking time bomb rationale for torture is this: that in the extremely unlikely circumstance that government officials ever found themselves in that position of having a ticking time bomb ticking away, they might have to make the decision to break the law. Not fudge it or keep their actions hidden, but take the decision on their own responsibility that it was the best thing to do in the situation -- despite it being wrong as a general matter -- and then bring their decision to attention of the people and law enforcement authorities and throw themselves on the mercy of the public. Thomas Jefferson explored a similar question and argument for the position a president could find himself in when faced with extra-constitutional or even unconstitutional actions.
In any case, if your patriotism is such that in an extreme situation you'd risk your own liberty to defend the lives of Americans, that's courage. But nothing else really cuts it.
More realistically, if these folks are really that tough, why not simply come and call for the repeal of American laws banning torture and the US withdrawal from international agreements doing the same?
Kevin Drum: Quote of the Day - 2.28.09
From Family Research Council President Tony Perkins:
What do sick pigs have to do with widespread, taxpayer-funded abortion? More than you might think.
Click the link if you dare. Or you can just jam burning bamboo shoots under your fingernails instead. Your choice.
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