Arlen Specter, longtime GOP Senate moderate, dies
Taken by cancer at 82. He was one of the [del]good[/del] not that evil ones.
I’ve always wondered; what constitutes a “moderate” Republican and what constitutes a “moderate” Democrat?
Well, Specter was pro-choice, I believe.
So whether or not you’re considered a “moderate” hangs on one issue? Mmmkay.
I don’t think there’s any legal mandate to agree.
For what it’s worth, Specter did change parties, so becoming a Democrat might easily be perceived by some as a somewhat leftward move for a Republican to make.
Anyone whose resume includes “shoved Clarence Thomas onto the SC” goes down as an indelible scumbag to me.
I don’t think there is a standard definition but my personal one is “votes with the other party at least 25% of the time”.
He was one of the few sane Republicans before he left the dark side. I’m glad he left the world without the stain of the current GOP on his soul.
You’re only pretending to be this stupid, right?
Seems like a weird thing to threadshit a memorial thread about. However, Specter frequently had to worry about being primaried from his right by crazy extremists. He finally had to switch parties. In the modern republican party, that’s about as moderate as you can find.
You’re not allowed to insult other posters in this forum. Take it to the Pit or be civil.
Og bless Arlen Specter, and protect his mortal remains from the attentions of Newt Gingrich, Re-Animator.
RIP Arlen Specter, and whatever anyone thought of his politics, (I think it must be a tough road to be a moderate in extreme times) he was a servant of the people for over 40 years.
So you believe Supreme Court justices should be rejected or endorsed based on their politics rather than qualification.
Anyways RIP to Senator Specter even if I don’t agree with everything he did.
Ironically, as a result Pennsylvania briefly had a pro-abortion Republican and an anti-abortion Democrat (Bob Casey) in the Senate.
Twenty years ago and earlier you could have looked at the voting records and measured the percentages that they voted “Left” or “Right” on key issues. Over time though, the two parties have tended to vote more in lockstep, the Republicans more than the Democrats AFAIK.
There really aren’t any more moderate Republicans left in Washington. A fair number of Democrats voted for the Iraq War or the Bush Tax cuts though. In the states, Arnold Schwarzenegger was arguably a moderate Republican and there are presumably others.
Back during the 1960s - 1970s there were liberal Republicans. There still are conservative Democrats.
That’s why they’re selected by the president in the first place, so why shouldn’t the Senate play the same game?
Clarence Thomas isn’t qualified to shine my boots.
Ugh. prr, I hate Thomas’s political orientation. And he may not actually be as qualified as other justices. But that imagery? Really? I hope I know you well enough from this board and others to know that you would never deliberately do that, so I’m just going to say “really unfortunate phrasing, there”.
First; he was put on the Court because of his ideology, not because he was especially qualified. And second, of course politics matters, especially right wing politics. It’s a safe bet that a right winger is going to do anything he can to twist the law in his favored direction, or outright violate it. They do it all the time, after all.