Specter’s Defection On EFCA Fails To Win Over Right Wing

[babylonsister]

Say goodbye, Arlen. Proof you aren't as politically savvy as you think you are. And whadayaknow, the r/w is acting just like you have throughout your career. Kharma, baby.


http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/labor/specters-defection-on-efca-fails-to-win-over-right-wing/

Specter’s Defection On EFCA Fails To Win Over Right Wing


If Senator Arlen Specter had hoped that bailing on the Employee Free Choice Act yesterday would make him the toast of the town among the right wingers who have been giving him so much grief lately, he probably woke up this morning feeling like he has a pretty crushing hangover.

Conservative groups and politicians, far from won over by Specter’s announcement, continue to hammer away at the embattled Senator, suggesting that his abrupt move on EFCA will do little or nothing to reduce his vulnerability to a primary challenge from the right.

For instance, Specter’s announcement drew only mockery and scorn from former GOP Rep. Ernest Istook, the chair of the anti-EFCA group Save Our Secret Ballot.

“Specter enjoys being the center of attention,” Istook said. “There has probably been more money spent to influence his vote on this issue than on any other vote, from any other senator, at any other time. He wants to continue enjoying the attention and the fundraising opportunity.”

Doug Stafford of the anti-EFCA National Right to Work Committee added in a statement that Specter’s move should be “viewed with some skepticism,” adding that other labor-oriented proposals championed by Specter remain “totally unacceptable” and will enable “Big Labor to corral more workers into forced unionism.”

Specter’s potential primary challenger, Club for Growth president Pat Toomey, has kept up the attacks, blasting Specter’s vote for the “big government stimulus bill” and dismissing Specter’s opposition to EFCA as merely the result of “a threat in the Republican primary.”

It now seems clear that Specter abruptly bailed on EFCA because he knew that a new Quinnipiac poll was due out today showing that he’s getting crushed in the GOP primary. The poll found that GOP voters overwhelmingly disapprove of Specter’s stimulus vote, and it’s unclear at best if Specter’s EFCA position will do anything to rescue him on the right.

[saltpoint]

1. History is basting ol' Specter for a real long bake in a damned hot oven.

"Karma, baby" indeed.

I think he's ready for the proverbial fork.

Recommended.


:hi: :thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

2. Poor, poor arlen... "Specter Would Lose GOP Primary"

:evilgrin: Hea, saltpoint! :hi:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/03/25/specter_would_lose_gop_primary.html


Specter Would Lose GOP Primary

A new Quinnipiac poll shows former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) crushing Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in a Republican primary, 41% to 27% with 28% still undecided.

Overall Pennsylvania voters have a 45% to 31% favorable opinion of Sen. Specter, but he gets a 47% to 29% unfavorable score from Republicans.

Said pollster Clay Richards: "Toomey came close last time and has strong conservative backing, but his challenge could be fractured if more Republicans crowd into the primary and split the anti-Specter vote. If Specter can get past the primary, the controversial veteran has a lot going for him in his bid for reelection, especially without a strong Democratic candidate on the horizon."

[saltpoint]

11. Yes, ma'am. 'Saw this piece and figured Arlen's looking at some serious

incentive for an earlier retirement than he'd planned.

I won't miss him much, that's for sure.

And a strong Democratic campaign could grab that seat right up.


:hi:

[tularetom]

3. Spincter should know you don't get a second chance with these assholes

He voted for the stimulus package and now he's dead to them. He can spend the rest of his term spouting limpballs cliches if he wants to. It won't be enough. They barely trusted him before. They trust him even less now. He'd be a lot better off switching parties now so he can run as a democrat next time. It's probably his only chance to get reelected.

[babylonsister]

4. " It's quite a calculation Specter made."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_03/017439.php

WAS IT WORTH IT FOR SPECTER?..... It's pretty obvious that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) flipped on the Employee Free Choice Act because he wants to win his Republican primary next year. If continued to support EFCA, as he did in 2007, his party's far-right base would have yet another reason to see Specter as overly concerned with the interests of working people.

So, to make himself appear more conservative, Specter flipped. And has he impressed his far-right detractors with his change of heart? Apparently not.

For instance, Specter's announcement drew only mockery and scorn from former GOP Rep. Ernest Istook, the chair of the anti-EFCA group Save Our Secret Ballot.

"Specter enjoys being the center of attention," Istook said. "There has probably been more money spent to influence his vote on this issue than on any other vote, from any other senator, at any other time. He wants to continue enjoying the attention and the fundraising opportunity."

Doug Stafford of the anti-EFCA National Right to Work Committee added in a statement that Specter's move should be "viewed with some skepticism," adding that other labor-oriented proposals championed by Specter remain "totally unacceptable" and will enable "Big Labor to corral more workers into forced unionism."

Specter's potential primary challenger, Club for Growth president Pat Toomey, has kept up the attacks, blasting Specter's vote for the "big government stimulus bill" and dismissing Specter's opposition to EFCA as merely the result of "a threat in the Republican primary."

This reminds me a bit of congressional Democrats who used to cave to Bush/Cheney on national security issues because, as they saw it, standing up to the GOP would mean attack ads accusing them of being soft on national security. The problem, of course, was that Republicans were going to make the accusations anyway.

It's a similar problem here. Specter knows EFCA is a good idea, and knows it would benefit working people. He doesn't want to be accused by his own party of "moderation," so Specter is toeing the party line, hoping to avoid the attacks. But, like the Dems on national security, the attacks will come anyway.

This time, though, when the Republican base continues to blast Specter's "centrism," he'll also get blasted from the other side for betraying labor.

It's quite a calculation Specter made.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. It analogous to the Leiberman situation in Connecticut.

He should probably do a Leiberman and form the Pennsylvania for Specter Party. Leiberman did have the advantage of the Repubs running a real nobody though and I wouldn't think that would happen in Pennsylvania with the Dems.

If self-preservation is his goal, perhaps Specter should just switch parties. He's another guy who never lived up to expectations as far as I can tell. He was asleep at the switch during the Bush years.

[backscatter712]

8. IIRC, PA has a sore-loser law.

So Specter can't switch to being independent after losing to Toomey.

Which means he'll have to go independent now if he wants to do so, but my bet is that he can't win a three-way race - he's not going to get the wingnuts, and he's not going to get any union support.

My bet is that we get EFCA in 2011 - after Specter loses his seat and a Democrat takes it - Toomey's too far right to win the general.

[MattBaggins]

6. "Overly concerned with the interests of working people"

This is where my mouth hits the floor. I can not even begin to fathom how that could be a negative in choosing a candidate.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. Didn't Specter win last time because the unions supported him?

Now he's screwed the unions...what makes him think he'd win at all?

[Earth Bound Misfit]

12. Great comment by one of the readers...

So, in 2011, after Specter loses his primary and Toomey is smashed into a blob of goop in the gneral, and 6-7 other GOP fascists bite the dust and they're finally nothing more than the Party of Southern Treason, we can come in and get a "real" EFCA, without having to water it down for anybody. Yeah, I know, two years is a long time, but we managed to wait 4 years to get rid of Bush. Consider that getting rid of 40 years of fascism non-violently is hard, because there's no event - like cities in ruin and a defeated army - to completely discredit the fascists, as there was at the end of World War II. Thus, substantial numbers of people can continue to be in support of the movement, and others still have a mindset that is conditioned by 40 years of the fascist propaganda.

We have to continue fighting between now and 2010 even if we lose things in the short term, so we can demonstrate to the sleeping beast that has recently awakened, known as the American Public, where their real interests lie and who supports them. After the "final housecleaning" in 2010, the Republicans will be the irrelevant scum they are in public fact as well as actual fact, and we can get on with cleaning up their disasters.

Posted by: TCinLA on March 25, 2009 at 12:14 PM | PERMALINK

I'll drink to that.:toast:

:kick: & Recd for this post & the OP.

Thanks for the great stuff you've posted on the EFCA & other labor related stuff. :patriot:

[WeDidIt]

9. Specter's burning all his bridges.

Now all he'll get are conservatives who aren't batshit insane in the GE when he runs as an independent.

At least his hypocrisy is insuring a Democrat can beat both he and Toomey.

[Still Sensible]

10. He must not realize he's toast after crossing the aisle

to support the stimulus package. I don't know what combination of pandering to the right wing he could possibly do to avoid a likely primary challenge loss. Even if he survives the primary challenge, this latest move will cost him democratic and moderate votes IMO. He is usually more politically savvy than to misread the tea leaves this badly.

Of course, living in Oklahoma I can tell you that Ernest Istook is one of the most reactionary right wingers out there. Here is a guy that couldn't beat a democratic governor in what is arguably the most fundie--freeper--Rushballs effected state in the country--and it wasn't even close.