Olympia Snowe says her Party has left her

[ThomWV]

According to Ed, Olympia Snowe said that her Party has left her, that it had changed, not her. OK, if her Party has left her why doesn't Harry approach her about making the switch - like Specter. Let her agree to vote with the Democratic majority on all procedural matters and she can vote her conscience on everything else. She gets Party support, we get a much needed vote where it counts, she gets to keep her self respect, and the wingnuts can go screw themselves.

Take 'em where you can get 'em.

[lamp_shade]

1. That's not the first time she has made that statement.

[DJ13]

7. You're right

I think she says that so she can shake down the GOP leadership for concessions.

She's not serious about switching party's.

She would be more likely to emulate Sen. Jeffers and go independent.

[Geek_Girl]

30. I'm not sure that the GOP can offer her much.

[andym]

Great idea

Perhaps Arlen Specter, Reid and some folks from the Whitehouse can reach out to her.

[Ken Burch]

2. would "procedural matters" include cloture motions?

We don't seem to actually require that of the senators who were ELECTED as Democrats.

[ThomWV]

3. Yep, that's one of them.

[CBR]

4. After Arlen switched, I wrote her several e-mails asking her to

switch.

[NotThisTime]

35. She has been approached several times to switch and will not...

[KittyWampus]

37. She knows her ticket to higher office is as a Republican

[Canuckistanian]

39. I hear her constituents love her

I'm sure they wouldn't protest too much if she switched.

It's doubtful she'll go anywhere with the GOP. She's been a thorn in their side for a long time with her "moderate" views. Today's GOP is for extremists only.

[lunatica]

5. She's hoping to get her old party back.

But no one is there to take lead the party back.

Give her time. She will tire of the lowest common denominator being in the cellar.

[mitchum]

6. Well, the coy Ms Snowe needs to leave her party...

it infuriates me how so many Dems ALWAYS fall for her act. Time and time again.

[ThomWV]

13. I think your skepticism is quite rational - I don't disagree for a moment

Just wishful thinking on my part; but this too. I don't think the Republican Party is going to make a comeback. I think it will be replaced by essentially a new 3rd Party made up of stogy old businessmen and women along with strong defense types and the old Republican Party will be left to die with the anti-abortion, skinhead, the-south-will-rise-again types. If that's the case there will be some Republicans who will abandon ship early, and who doesn't look for a known thing when seeking safe harbor?

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. But if she leaves her party, where does she go?

I know exactly how Senator Snowe feels. Because MY party left me. Mostly because there are too goddamn many Republicans in it (aka the DLC and the Blue Balled Cowards).

We don't need any more Repukes. We don't need the slightly less than far right party and the extremely far right party. We need a strong Democratic party that ACTUALLY represents the American People. And when I say "people", that's not open to misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment by the Opie Roberts court.

[CJCRANE]

8. The GOP went to the "dark side"

as Cheney called it. It must be difficult to wake up one day and realize you're working for the bad guys.

(Unless you're Rove or Beck and then you revel in it).

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. Come join us, Ms. Snowe

[Arugula Latte]

10. Yeah, you and Linc Chaffee, Olympia.

So change to "D" or get off the pot.

[Ken Burch]

16. You could have just said "Switch or get off the pot"

Which is closer to the, er, original.

[Arugula Latte]

17. D'oh!

You're right.

[Ken Burch]

27. No worries

You can use my version gratis any time you like.

:evilgrin: :thumbsup:

[stray cat]

20. Unlike yourself - I'll be glad for any vote that they give us as repubs as well

I don't care who helps us get good bills passed and keep bad bills off the table

[BlooInBloo]

11. Bullshit pretty words unless you do something about it, republican.

[NWHarkness]

12. As a Maine Democrat

I would prefer not to have that knife shoved in my back.

[ThomWV]

14. You all would certainly be free to toss her out on her butt with the next Primary

Just ask Arlen how it works.

[AspenRose]

36. What if she went Independent, a la Jeffords

[Bluenorthwest]

15. I've been wondering about her and a couple of others

with the recent spectacles, it amazes me they'd remain associated. It is bad enough sharing a species with those nuts, much less a Party.

[Walk away]

18. Come to us Olympia. I promise to contribute to your campaign if you...

give us a viable public option. I think your state will love you for it.

[Dems2002]

19. This is a dumb idea

Olympia Snowe is absolutely correct -- her party has left her, but that doesn't mean we need her in our big tent...she's a Republican for a reason, that's her political philosophy. "The business of America is business..."

We honestly need more people like her to be Republicans as opposed to the bat shit crazy types. The Democratic Party has absolutely no place creating bills like the one Max Baucus just came out with, we are supposed to stand for the people, not be corporate whores.

Thanks but no thanks -- let her stay where she is, it's where she belongs.

Dems

[stray cat]

21. A sane response - thanks. We do need moderate repubs replacing the current crop

[ThomWV]

29. Well made point.

[DailyGrind51]

22. Actually, the Party has "far-righted" her!

[damntexdem]

23. Well, duh!

If she does nothing about it, her speaking out means nothing.

[SanchoPanza]

24. Specter left for political considerations.

He has a far better shot of beating Toomey in the general election that he would have had against him in a Republican primary (he nearly lost to Toomey in 2004, even with Bush and Santorum backing him).

Pennsylvania has closed primaries, and the Pennsylvania GOP went from 34% of the state's population in 2004 to 27% in 2009, as many Republican moderates left the party in the 2008 primary and the general election. To give it a little perspective, that's a loss of around 350K people. Specter beat Toomey in the 2004 primary by a little over 17K votes.

Snowe doesn't have that to worry about, because she's not up for re-election again until 2012 and is one of the most popular Senators among their own constituents.

[seabeyond]

25. yet still.... she votes repug every friggin time. like i buy her story. is she up for re election

whatever

[Nuclear Unicorn]

28. I sense...

...the "Spector" of defections past in our midst.

Can we get an exorcist in here?

[NNadir]

31. That hasn't stopped her from voting along with, say, Orrin Hatch on all procedural matters.

[naturallyselected]

32. Olympia Snowe is the ultimate con artist

I rarely post, but it seems that every time I do, it's about one of our two hypocritical senators. Enjoying being labeled "moderates" or "centrists", they supported every single Bush initiative for the preceding eight years, and have shown no signs of changing since the election of President Obama. They did succeed in watering down the stimulus bill to the point that it has had limited success, and now are trying to do the same with health reform.

Somehow, they remain very popular with the electorate. They have the reputation of fighting for Maine. And they are reasonably successful at this. But that even has its limits - they, along with our Democratic congressfolk, worked very hard to save the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, at the expense (quite intentionally in my opinion) of the Brunswick Naval Air Station, which is now virtually shuttered, leaving hundreds of vacant housing units, depressing the real estate market in a town that previously had a very healthy real estate profile. I have virtually no chance of selling my house at anything close to what I bought it for, or, probably, what I still owe on it.

No, they are not members of the lunatic club that currently makes up Republican leadership, but neither one of them will ever come close to supporting any progressive initiative. They considered George W a moderate too, and it is the George W Republican party they feel comfortable with. Just because they want to distance themselves from the Michelle Bachmans of Congress, and the Glen Becks of television, when sides line up, I can guarantee you which line both of them will join.

I like to feel that Mainers are too smart and independent and ornery to be conned, but Snowe and Collins are proof that you can fool the vast majority of people at least some of the time. The number of cars in this state with both Obama and Collins stickers on them...I don't get it, but to most of the residents of Maine, these two can do no wrong. If the Republican Party has left Olympia Snowe, it is just evidence of how fringe the party has become, because neither Snowe nor Collins had any trouble with it during the Bush years - daddy's or junior's.

[mitchum]

33. Thank you!

She is indeed a con artist

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

34. Do you think she believes there is any hope of turning the GOP around?

Personally I don't think so. The progressive party of 1856 or even the "liberal Republican party" of Chuck Percy is long gone.

[BoneDaddy]

38. Good

I have always thought she was part of the small minority of rational republicans.

[w4rma]

40. She dislikes the poor and the middle class too much to switch. (nt)

[regnaD kciN]

41. Awww...poor baby!

I am so sick of these "moderate Republicans" who, for appearance's sake, distance themselves from the Party whose policies and marching orders they so slavishly follow.

You know what they remind me of? The people who, in the late-'60s, put out the porno films posing as "documentaries" on "Sexual Freedom in Scandinavia" and the like, who pretended they were producing "serious, educational" works in which they could have a narrator report, in properly "shocked" tones, that, in Sweden, people were shamelessly putting out "skin-flicks" with couples having non-simulated sex on screen (just like the clip they'd show for the next ten minutes). It's called "wanting to have it both ways."

So, Olympia, you think "your Party has left you?" Isn't it more that you're uncomfortable with the "improper" rhetoric that the Party employs to promote their, and your, agenda? If not, prove it by truly breaking with them on a matter of importance, like, say, the health-care bill that you pressured to have stripped of anything that would actually help working Americans, then decided was still too "liberal" to support. Because, from what I can see, your protestations are merely another one of your many Snowe-jobs.

[DevonRex]

42. So why is she still a Republican? If that's what she thinks, she should stop

chasing the party that left her.

[jgraz]

43. Lucky for her, the Democrats have lurched right over to where she is.

[4_TN_TITANS]

44. Who woke her up?? n/t