Welcome Back Arlen!

[opinterph]

… I heard Neal Boortz quote Spector as having said, a few years back when he lost a committee chairmanship because another senator switched parties, that he was going to propose a rule that forbade such things in mid term.

… Still looking for a source - but Boortz is accurate, most of the time. He regularly prefaces his remarks by saying 'don't take my word for it unless you know it to be true, or you have verified it etc etc.'

It appears that Mr. Boortz is somewhat correct. Senator Specter’s motivation for the rule he proposed in 2001 was to prevent disruption in the middle of a congressional session resulting from a shift of the minority party to the majority. Notably, his own current change of party affiliation does not cause a change in the present majority status of the Democratic Party.

When a Senate Republican left his party in 2001 … [Specter] proposed a rule forbidding party switches that had the effect of vaulting the minority to majority status in the middle of a congressional session. [LA Times]

ALWAYS REMEMBER
Don't believe anything … you hear on The Neal Boortz Show, unless it is consistent with what you already know to be true, or unless you have taken the time to research the matter to prove its accuracy to your satisfaction. This is known as “doing your homework.” [Boortz]

 

[Kulindahr]

This was self-preservation. Frankly, the man has been in office too long. We need term limits.

We don't so much need term limits as to have people who have a clue about the real world.

My suggestion is what I call the "Equal Time Rule": a person can only serve as an elected official for as long as he's been in the private sector. So if someone wants to be a U.S. Senator, he has to work six years in the private sector -- and then if he wants to be re-elected, tough; he has to put in another six years in a real job first. So if someone wanted to try to be a four-term senator, he'd first have to work twenty-four years in the private sector.

I'd define "private sector" strictly; it would preclude any job that required substantial interaction with government (e.g., trial lawyers) -- basically, anyone who makes a living by working with or around government entities (e.g. defense contractors).

The idea is to end up with a Congress (etc.) resembling what the Founding Fathers had in mind: good citizens from a variety of occupations putting in time to serve their country, not making a career out of it. We'd hopefully get a Congress made up of doctors, businessmen, ranchers, electrical contractors, hair dressers, and so on.

If such were passed as an amendment to the Constitution, I doubt more than a couple handfuls of Congresscritters could stand for re-election the next time around.

 

[naked gent]

On the way to the post office this morning, I heard Neal Boortz quote Spector as having said, a few years back when he lost a committee chairmanship because another senator switched parties, that he was going to propose a rule that forbade such things in mid term. Evidently, he failed to follow up.

Sort of makes him more than a bit of a hypocrite, don't you think.

Still looking for a source - but Boortz is accurate, most of the time.

It appears that Mr. Boortz is somewhat correct. Senator Specter’s motivation for the rule he proposed in 2001 was to prevent disruption in the middle of a congressional session resulting from a shift of the minority party to the majority. Notably, his own current change of party affiliation does not cause a change in the present majority status of the Democratic Party.

Evidently it wouldn't have mattered if he had followed and, at least in this matter, he isn't a hypocrite.

The fact that that passes for accuracy on talk radio is all you need to know about talk radio.

 

[PabloZed]

True, but eventually that sort of talk really should get the person hurt. Most of those guys are cowards anyway.

 

[naked gent]

Nobody ever went broke by capitalizing on and exploiting the fear, bigotry and stupidity of the standard-issue talk radio audience.

They proudly refer to themselves as "dittoheads" for a reason.

 

[HenryReardon]

Evidently it wouldn't have mattered if he had followed and, at least in this matter, he isn't a hypocrite.

The fact that that passes for accuracy on talk radio is all you need to know about talk radio.

Whether or not it matters, remains to be seen.

Clearly you failed to read and/or comprehend the disclaimer.

 

[HenryReardon]

I guess you - as is typical - are wrong.

That the folks on the left don't believe in free speech, is one of those things which are self-evidently obvious.

 

[HenryReardon]

So he's a misogynist and a misanthrope. He's found his audience because of it, just like Savage, Limbaugh, et cetera.

.

Don't even begin to put Boortz, a Libertarian, in the same category as Limbaugh and the savage Mr. Savage. For the record, he frequently criticized Bush.

 

[naked gent]

On the way to the post office this morning, I heard Neal Boortz quote Spector as having said, a few years back when he lost a committee chairmanship because another senator switched parties, that he was going to propose a rule that forbade such things in mid term. Evidently, he failed to follow up.

Still looking for a source - but Boortz is accurate, most of the time. He regularly prefaces his remarks by saying 'don't take my word for it unless you know it to be true, or you have verified it etc etc.'

Whether or not it matters, remains to be seen.

Clearly you failed to read and/or comprehend the disclaimer.

I didn't fail to read/comprehend the disclaimer at all. I only thought that when Boortz used an actual quote that I didn't need to bother questioning the veracity of what he was saying....unless you're telling me that talk radio hosts will, on occasion, make quotes up.

And it does not remain to be seen if it matters or not seeing as what Arlen did was different from what he was trying to prevent with his bill........you got that right?

 

[NickCole]

Well, yeah.

What sane person didn't criticize Bush?

After 9/11, about 90% of Americans didn't criticize Bush.

I remember because I was one who did criticize him and caught hell from just about everyone for it.

 

[Kulindahr]

My understanding, and it may be urban legend so don't hold me to it, that several career Congressmen went into small business after leaving Congress and were appalled at the restrictions, laws, and impediments Congress' laws had imposed on small businesses in America. They were seeing them for the first time on the receiving end. One may have been George McGovern. Ever heard similar stories?

I haven't heard any on the congressional level, but I have from the state legislature -- one such as you describe, and another who later became a county commissioner, and spent most of his time trying to get a handle on all the state requirements/restrictions for running a county; he complained he didn't do a good enough job fighting the regulate-everything crowd when he was in Salem.

 

[Kulindahr]

Nobody ever went broke by capitalizing on and exploiting the fear, bigotry and stupidity of the standard-issue talk radio audience.

That applies to both sides of the aisle -- driving across the country, I've heard some pretty trashy talk radio by left-wing scum, too, as vile against callers who don't agree with them as anything I've ever heard from Limbaugh.

 

[Kulindahr]

That the folks on the left don't believe in free speech, is one of those things which are self-evidently obvious.

Um, Henry? Just what fantasy world are you living in? You're being as bad as LostLover, here, painting everyone in a group with the same brush. This is a fallacy of generalization, and is quite in error.

Yes, there are some rabid anti-free speech folks out there on the left. They manifest quite openly and obnoxiously on college campuses and city councils, among other places. But there are plenty who love free speech, even when what's said pisses them off royally -- I know, because local libertarian (and Libertarian) groups have worked with them as allies on speech issues, even when fighting them on other civil liberty matters.

 

[Kulindahr]

Well, yeah.

What sane person didn't criticize Bush?

Boortz is one of the more rational folks on talk radio; but every once in a while, he comes up with a Savagesque (Limbaughian?) zinger that just makes me question his sanity.

Well, for about three days I didn't, right after 9/11.

And there might have been a dozen or maybe even a score of days before that.

But since he decided to have a military adventure in Iraq, I can't recall a day when I've seen much good I could have said about him, had I wanted to.


Though, let me think....


um, he didn't get seasick and barf on the deck of the Lincoln.

 

[justapixel]

With Franken and that of Collins and Snowe somewhere in the future (please, please, please)...

Universal Health Care, EFCA, Climate Change bill and other priority bills are only a heartbeat away...

I doubt that we will see more "defectors". The Democrats have dissed Arlen.

The Democratic leader in the Senate promised Sen. Arlen Specter he would retain his seniority when he jumped from the Republican to the Democratic Party, Specter said on Wednesday, but faced "pushback" from other Democratic senators.

The full Senate voted Tuesday to strip Specter of his seniority, dropping him to the bottom of the pile on every committee he sits on.
As it stands, Specter is junior to Montana's Sen. Jon Tester, who has been in the Senate since 2007.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/specter.seniority/index.html

 

[NickCole]

I doubt that we will see more "defectors". The Democrats have dissed Arlen.

The Democratic leader in the Senate promised Sen. Arlen Specter he would retain his seniority when he jumped from the Republican to the Democratic Party, Specter said on Wednesday, but faced "pushback" from other Democratic senators.

The full Senate voted Tuesday to strip Specter of his seniority, dropping him to the bottom of the pile on every committee he sits on.
As it stands, Specter is junior to Montana's Sen. Jon Tester, who has been in the Senate since 2007.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/specter.seniority/index.html

Arlen, disloyal to his Republican supporters who worked for him, voted for him and contributed a lot of money to his campaigns for many years, deserves it.

And broken promises from Democrats these days is about as surprising as allergies in spring.

Is Obama inspiring change? Oh yeah. And despite the rose colored glasses Obama supporters have glued to their faces, this change ain't gonna end up pretty.

 

[Kulindahr]

Arlen, disloyal to his Republican supporters who worked for him, voted for him and contributed a lot of money to his campaigns for many years, deserves it.

And broken promises from Democrats these days is about as surprising as allergies in spring.

Is Obama inspiring change? Oh yeah. And despite the rose colored glasses Obama supporters have glued to their faces, this change ain't gonna end up pretty.

Looks like Specter would have been better to have gone independent.

Now, after this... does he really count as a Democrat? do they really expect him to vote with them?



Maybe he should get together with a few others and start the YABOA* Party.

























* You're All a Bunch Of Assholes