Specter loses Senate seat

@firefly,

firefly wrote:

I think the Democratic party may well be better off with Sestak as the candidate in November, and the Democratic voters in Pennsylvania may simply have felt the same way.

I think you are likely right. In a way my satisfaction at Specter's well deserved defeat was reduced by the likelihood that it made a Democrat win in November a bit more likely.

1 Reply

@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

This evening, Arlen Specter lost his Senate seat in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary. His rival Tom Sestak defeated him in the Democratic primary. I have to say his defeat saddens me.

He belongs to a flaggling tradition of reality-based, moderate conservatives

Is that oxymoronic?
Are "moderate conservatives" like accountants who are moderately accurate
or like trial judges who are moderate in how many bribes they extort ?

It seems to me that a man is EITHER a conservative (i.e., non-deviant, orthodox)

or

he is deviant = liberal.

EITHER he deviates or he does NOT deviate.

David

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@OmSigDAVID,

Everyone marches to drums of different kinds. Specter, as a GOP, was good to Pa. He had a fair base of operations and was doing well up until 3 weeks ago when he started going NEGATIVE on Joe Sestak who , no matter what, is a retired Naval Admiral. SPecter was giving Sestak the brush and Sestak uased that against Specter. It was a really brilliantly played end game. One thing the mil teaches is that battle plans are played to a deceisive end and that wars are ugly ESPECIALLY at the end.

Im not sure what the Hell Dave's been toking but the Conservatives have always marched to the bidding of the mil/insustrail lobbies, the gun lobbies, the industrial lobbies, Evangelicals, etc. NOONE is free of personal graft. They only answer to different masters.

I pwrsonally liked SPectwers attitudes in that he answered (mostly) to his constituency of people.
Most of the conservatives trust in free market economy and want the world deregulated and that aint ever going to work.

1 Reply

One by one, the incumbents or establishment-backed candidates in Tuesday's slate of high-stake contests fell or fell short.

Electorate Roars at Washington, Hands Setbacks to Establishment Candidates

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@firefly,

firefly wrote:

For that reason, it's hard to draw firm conclusions about whether Specter was primarily rejected for being a Washington insider or for being a life-long Republican.

Not exactly life-long. He started out as a Democrat (ironically switching parties to win an election).

Maybe he'll run as an Independent. No, that would just be sad lol.

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@georgeob1,

Nate Silver's take from Fivethirtyeight.com

Quote:

The conventional wisdom: This was a stunning repudiation of the Democratic establishment.

The reality: Certainly, Specter had the support of a lot of Very Important People, including the President, many unions, and the mayors of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But in many cases, it seemed perfunctory. The White House elected not to send either Barack Obama or Joe Biden to the state in the closing days. The unions were nominally supporting Specter, but were concentrating their cash in Arkansas and elsewhere. As Sestak began to emerge as the superior general election candidate, their support grew even more tepid. This was an important win, and the netroots progressives who championed Sestak's campaign deserve all the credit in the world. But something can be dramatic without being especially surprising. Joe Sestak is a mainline, lunchpail Democrat who defeated a very unpopular Republican-turned-Democrat who ran an awful campaign and who Pennsylvania Democrats weren't used to punching their ticket for. No huge shock there.

1 Reply

@Thomas,

yes, there is an anti-incumbent movement but it makes little to no sense. It is also a moveable feast. Consider that Rand Paul and Barack Obama are roughly age peers. Consider that the right is still screaming that Obama has no political experience yet Paul ran for the Senate without any sort of public experience. It is not a case of the shoe fitting and wearing . . . it is a case of saying the shoe fits.

1 Reply

i always liked the Spectre

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/26633-4039-29563-1-wrath-of-the-spectre_super.jpg

really underrated fellow

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However, Arlen Specter is 80. It is time for him to retire. WHile a young person could die suddenly in office, Specter was pushing the possibility of special election having to be held were he to have won his seat this time.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Most of the conservatives trust in free market economy and want the world deregulated and that aint ever going to work.
Signature

That only makes it sadder that the few conservatives who are not gung-ho about that stuff don't have a place in either party.

I agree with Joefromchicago: getting conservatives elected -- moderate or not, reality-based or not -- is not really the Democrats' job. It's the Republicans' job. Nevertheless, there's something to be said for conservative politicians who aren't crazy. It would be nice if they could get into Congress on some party's ticket.

1 Reply

@Thomas,

The problem with CONSERVATIVE is that not everyone can swallow the whole list of stuff that makes up (mostly) the GOP and libertarian movements. Each of us has respect for a small or bgger portion of a conservative platform but I dont think anyone but a brain-dead automaton follows the entire menu.(Thats until I actually met someone who believes everything that Limbaugh says)

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Are "moderate conservatives" like accountants who are moderately accurate
or like trial judges who are moderate in how many bribes they extort ?

More like moderate drinkers. Some people get drunk as in "I had a good time yesterday evening so I'll need an aspirin this morning." Other people get drunk as in "I just woke up in my own vomit. Where am I, and how did I get here?" Drinking of the latter kind is scary and disgusting, just like the politics of, say, Sarah Palin. Drinking of the former kind is an example to be emulated, just like the politics of Arlen Specter.

1 Reply

@plainoldme,

plainoldme wrote:

However, Arlen Specter is 80. It is time for him to retire. WHile a young person could die suddenly in office, Specter was pushing the possibility of special election having to be held were he to have won his seat this time.

His age would have certainly been a factor for me if I was voting in the PA Democratic primary. Not the sole factor, but a factor nonetheless. Coupled with the fact that he had never been elected by the Dems to represent them through the primary process, I'm not the least bit surprised he didn't win yesterday. I probably wouldn't have voted for him either -- and I tend to support "moderate Republicans" and Blue-dog Dems.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

The problem with CONSERVATIVE is that not everyone can swallow the whole list of stuff that makes up (mostly) the GOP and libertarian movements. Each of us has respect for a small or bgger portion of a conservative platform but I dont think anyone but a brain-dead automaton follows the entire menu.(Thats until I actually met someone who believes everything that Limbaugh says)

True -- I guess what I want more than anything else is fewer brain-dead automatons in Congress. But again, that's currently more the Republicans' problem than the Democrats'. Let's hope Mr. Sestak is not a brain-dead automaton.

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@JPB,

JPB wrote:

His age would have certainly been a factor for me if I was voting in the PA Democratic primary.

That's a fair point. I just hope Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine won't be next.

1 Reply

@plainoldme,

Actually... there is a moment to oust incumbents that support Obama and liberals in general and this makes perfect sense.

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The results of Tuesday's races sent a clear message to Washington that the anti-incumbent
wave that has gripped the nation over the past year isn't losing steam... it's actually gaining speed.

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@H2O MAN,

and the original anti-incumbent ... Mr. Obama!

He started a trend, and you're digging it. He's your hero.

Awesome.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

and the original anti-incumbent ... Mr. Obama!

He started a trend, and you're digging it. He's your hero.

Awesome.

Eh...

http://777denny.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/2960312921_a174769e62_obama_marxist_redistributor_wealth.jpg

1 Reply

@Thomas,

Quote:

That's a fair point. I just hope Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine won't be next.

Why not? They are pretty high on my list of targets.

1 Reply

Specter loses Senate seat

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