Conservative Reaction to Specter

The Corner have longtime bashed Arlen Specter. Michael Rubin was angered by Specter's advocacy of diplomacy with Iran.

If ever the Republicans had a Jimmy Carter, Arlen Specter is it.

Kathryn Jean Lopez did muchraking reporting by using her anonymous wealthy friend as a source. K-Lo's thesis was Specter's vote for the stimulus package would help Pat Toomey's campaign contributions. The Corner repeatedly hammered Specter's postion on abortion. The Corner has repeatedly stressed for Specter's exit and less government. With Specter, Democrats have 60 seats once Al Franken is seated. The Corner is not happy about Republicans having less government.

I read that he was switching parties, but I was disappointed to learn he's still a Democrat.

The DINO remark is funny. Did the Cornerites expect Specter to join Bernie Sander's Vermont Progressive Party? Seriously.

In related news: RNC chairman Michael Steele told CNN he did not know Specter was going to defect.

Steele: Cornyn went out on the line for this man. For the senator to flip the bird back to Senator Cornyn and the Republican Senate Leadership, a team that stood by him, who went to the bat for him in 2004, to save his hide is not only disrespectful but down right rude. I'm sure his mama didn't raise him this way.


Q: Did he give you a heads up on this?

Steele: No, not at all. Which is another form of this respect that I don't count. At least give me a call or give the party leadership a call and let us know this is what I'm thinking. This is where I'm going so you can be prepared. I'm not one to be caught flat-footed about these things.

Oh really! Steele explains to CNN that he didn't know Specter's plans and then declares he doesn't get flat-footed. Steele is a comedy quote machine.

Steele declares, "Get ready to go to the mat, baby, because we're coming after you and taking you out." Will Steele be RNC chair in 2010?

Michelle Malkin goes nuclear. Specter is finally leaving the GOP and she is pissed? Malkin hates Specter. Yet Malkin is pissed. This is a seriously conflicted conservative blogger?

I am not a Specter fan. I agree that Specter's motivation is political survival. Republicans have bashed Specter for years and and are shocked he joined the opposition. Democrats went through this with Joe Lieberman. The base backed Ned Lamont and ended up stuck with Lieberman in the caucas. Republicans don't have a backup plan. Specter isn't likely to rejoin the GOP. Obama will campaign and raise money for Specter in the general election. Conservative principles don't mean much if you can't govern.

Quote of the Day

"To Senator McCain, congratulations. But he has not got this thing wrapped up by any stretch. It’s less than a year since he tried to push a disastrous immigration bill into law — one as manipulative as any pork-laden appropriations bill — with vigorous opposition from talk radio, conservative bloggers, think tanks, and the grassroots. I don’t see how such a man wins the Republican nomination. I’m second to none in praising him on his surge leadership. But on a whole host of issues — including water boarding, tax cuts, and the freedom of speech — he’s not one of us."

Kathryn Jean Lopez

It is amazing that xenophobia and a Spanish Inquisition torture technique are core Republican values. Conservatives wonder why progressives believe the Right lacks empathy. Articles such as Lopez's are classic example of heartlessness.

Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Al Gore
Originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein

The Norwegian Nobel Committee named Al Gore the winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The former Vice-President will share the award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Gore beat out 181 other nominees.

Even the Bush administration is not going to dare say anything negative about Gore.

"Of course he's happy for Vice President Gore .... He's happy for the International Panel on Climate Change scientists who also shared the peace prize. Obviously it's an important recognition. And we're sure the vice president's thrilled." - White House spokesman Tony Fratto, referring to President Bush.

Gore's former boss handed praise (and takes a potshot at conservatives.)

"Al Gore has been warning and educating us about the dangers of climate change for decades<" Bill Clinton said. "He saw this coming before others in public life and never stopped pushing for action to save our planet, even in the face of public indifference and attacks from those determined to defend the indefensible."

Gore released a statement.

“We face a true planetary emergency,” Mr. Gore said in a statement from San Francisco, where he was on a visit Friday. “The climate crisis is not a political issue; it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity.”

Unfortunately many want to remain polarizing. Glenn Reynolds used the opportunity to disparish Gore.

A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE for Al Gore. I think he makes a fitting addition to the pantheon of Nobel Peace Prize holders.

What Reynolds is too cowardly to come out and say is he is comparing Gore to previous winners such as Yasser Arafat. The prize has also been awarded to Lech Walesa and Nelson Mandala. Both men were imprisoned trying to end tyranny in Poland and South Africa. I doubt Reynolds is comparing Gore with those men.

Kathryn Jean Lopez

On the same wave as Geraghty and Hanson today, Rush Limbaugh just called on Al Gore to hand over this prize to "genuine agents of peace: General Petraus, the U.S. military, and its commander-in-chief.

I defended Petraus againt the Moveon.org attacks. That said, the prize isn't meant for people engaged in warfare. Regardless, of the righteousness of the campaign. That is why it's called the Nobel Peace Prize. The stupidity of K-Lo's and Limbaugh's reasoning is amazing. It's as if someone made the characters from Dumb and Dumber conservative pundits.


Update: Litbrit is going girl crazy for her hero.

Bush Press Conference on Attoney Purge

Talking Points Memo has a video of the Bush press conference on the U.S. Attorneys purge. It's a horrible performance even by Bush standards. It really is something when Bush cheerleader Kathryn Jean Lopez feels the need to say so.

Instead, the president has now gone before the press and while delivering his remarks lost his place at least once, and sounded like an exhausted lame duck lamely reading his unconvincing statement..

Of course K-Lo quickly was back in pom pom-waving mode. Scott Horton of the must read email newsletter No Comment brilliantly summed up Bush's performance.

I just watched Bush deliver his response to Congress' request. The cable news commentator instantly described Bush as "firm and vigorous," and I couldn't suppress a laugh. In fact he was Nixonian from the shaky, teetering final days.

Bush is doing himself no favors with his official stance. The Fred Fielding letter to Congress puts the White House on a collision course with disaster.

Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas.

That way Karl Rove can lie without fear of legal repercussions. Fat chance of that happening. John Conyers probably read that letter and wondered who are these people kidding.

What will probably happen is White House and Justice Department officials will be subpoenaed and lie under oath. Which sets up the possibility of criminal prosecution. These people learned nothing from the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial. Bush would do himself and his party a favor by purging officials involved with the U.S. Attorneys scandal. Tony Snow told Brian York that the White House has the upper hand.

Finally, I asked whether the White House believes this is a battle the president can win. "Yes," Snow said. "In terms of presidential prerogative, in terms of preserving confidential communications with your staff — yes."

Snow's interview with York gets even more bizarre.

I pointed to the recent Libby trial, in which there was great dispute over what had been said in unrecorded, untranscribed interviews with the FBI. You need a transcript to know an interviewee's precise words, I said. Snow argued that that wasn't necessary because there will be members of Congress from both parties, staff, and others at the interviews. "There will be a whole lot of people there [at the interviews] to be witnesses to what's going on," he said.

Even a talented spinmeister like Snow can't make that not sound laugh out hysterical. Snow wants the public to believe that people remembering conversations is as accurate as recordings and transcripts. That's just plain bullshit.

Bush has a dismal approval rating and a Democratic Congress. Republicans are telling him to fire Gonzales. Bush will lose.