She used to be a moderate. But by today's standards, she's practically the Pelosi of the Republican Party. I find it especially poignant that as I respond to this thread, the thread right below it is "The Loons on the Right." Thanks for devouring your few thoughtful legislators, Reeps. From NYT
It's gotta suck to be a New England Republican. They're sane for the most part, but they're paying the price for the Tea Party movement.
Thanks, I started that Loons on the Right thread...the GOP went into this grand honeymoon with the Christian Right...so you reap what you deserve.
First Ben Nelson and now Olympia Snowe. The senators who actually try to compromise and get things done are leaving. I suppose the extremists from both sides must be happy. Look for even more gridlock.
Bull. The last time Snowe was truly a moderate was when she voted for the stimulus, but instead of remaining moderate in 09-11 she tacked hard right in fear of the Tea Party. Her proudest moment is her promise to work together for a bipartisan health care law, get everything she wanted in order to vote for it, and then gutlessly vote against it. Snowe epitomizes all that is wrong with the modern Republican Party. Also see the DREAM Act. I'm just surprised after her successful hard-right positioning since 2009 that she isn't running again.
Sad but that is what is coming down to it, pretty soon we will have tea-party idiots yelling at Occupy Wall Street idiots in congress.
Yeah, some of y'all are paying too much attention to the David Brooks/Joe Scarborough Axis of Faux Reasonableness. She's been a GOP hack for a couple of years now.
And that was largely the result of the hard right turn the Republican party as a whole has taken. All of the "moderates" in the Republican party have had to take a much more conservative lean in order to survive primaries. If the Republicans weren't so crazy right now, Snowe would be a lot more moderate. Heck, the fact that she no longer has to worry about getting primaried out of existence could result in her returning to her moderate form.
Kerrey jumps into the NE Senate race: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SENATE_KERREY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Good news for the Democrats. He's still a long shot, IMHO, but it at least puts another state that was rather safe into play and distract the Republicans from all the meaty Democrat seats that are up for grabs.
Her timing (about two weeks before the filing deadline) is a major screw-you to the establishment. She'd get 75% of the vote as a Republican. Maybe the same if she switched parties.
Another good site to track the election. Toss Up FL: Nelson (D) MA: Brown (R) MI: Stabenow (D) MO: McCaskill (D) MT: Tester (D) NV: Heller (R) VA: Open (D) WI: Open (D)
Are the Dems pulling defeat from the jaws of victory? The Democrat most thought would be a shoo-in to win the seat has backed out and a moderate Independent named Angus King has jumped into the race. With the most likely to succeed Dem announcing she isn't throwing her hat in the wing, are the Dems handing Maine to King. King is going to get the heck wooed out of him by both parties as it is likely that he'll be the deciding factor in which party is the majority and which is the minority. http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...-in-us-house/2012/03/07/gIQAugi4wR_story.html It should also be pointed out that RCP has taken Maine out of the Likely Dem column and put them in the Toss-up column. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/senate/2012_elections_senate_map.html
From what I understand King is slightly left-of-center, but will buck the party every now and then. I'm thinking he'll caucus with the Dems but like Lieberman and Scott Brown, occasionally step across. Being independent also means he won't have to worry about a teatard in a primary.
With King throwing himself into the race, any Democrat entering would definitely hand the seat to the GOP. He's got the leverage and he's using it. The Dems had no choice if they want to be a big tent party.
Richard Lugar won't be allowed to vote for himself because the local elections board ruled he doesn't live there anymore. They ruled he's a Va. resident. Now, this same issue already went before the state election board, and they ruled that he DOES live in Indiana and is thus eligible to represent the state in the Senate. Logically, it seems to me that the courts won't allow this paradox to stand, that if the issue is adjudicated they'll "break the tie." In any event, this isn't good news for Lugar in his tough primary challenge. I wonder how a moderate Dem would fare against a right winger in Indiana?
More Dick Lugar news: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/...-mourdock-lugar-rejects-no-tax-180611501.html
It's always nice when your opponents shoot themselves in the foot.. They are converting Lugar's seat from a safe Republican to toss-up as we speak. Heh.
The Lugar primary will be interesting. The guy challenging him is a ********ing nut, but enjoys a good deal of yard sign support in rural areas. It's possible that many Dems will vote in the R primary to vote for Lugar, but I'm skeptical that it'll be a big enough group to sway anything. The mouthbreathers have done pretty well in Indiana over the last couple years. If Mourdock wins the primary, he's going to have a pretty robust challenge at least.
Seriously. But he was willing to work with people who disagree with him, so he had to go. Murdock will be able to do much more damage in a month than Lugar was able to do over his entire career.
