In the end Specter's shift may be good for Reps

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Friday May 01, 2009 · 11:56 AM PDT

2009/05/01 · 11:56

Frankly, I'd rather that they didn't figure out that within that great big tent of ours is a little Free-French version of the Republican Party — a kind of "Republican-in-exile" party. It’s a bit like the days of Solidarity! in Poland when confirmed atheists sat and read the paper in churches during mass, because the Church was the lesser of two evils and the "enemy of my enemy is my friend." Specter's leaving may get the saner Republicans (like Steele) to lift up the side of the tent and look inside. They're pretty good chicken thieves too....
Over time, everything shifts left. That’s American history. That’s why it’s called "progressive." Jefferson owned slaves. Even Republicans. The current state of the party is unstable and untenable, and Specter leaving might just be pouring bleach into the ammonia.

NaySay

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Tuesday April 28, 2009 · 11:28 AM PDT

2009/04/28 · 11:28

Well I predicted in my diary on February 13 of this year that Arlen Specter's best bet might be to run as a Democrat. I was quite serious, but I really never though he'd do it. I guess it's kind of obvious when you think about it. What it does say, mostly, is that the Republican Party has marooned itself, a beached whale of ninetheenth-century ideology, tied to Bible Belt, re-trying the Scopes trial, fighting the Civil War all over again with its little wooden sword and Captain-of-the-Pinafore hat. I hope it never finds itself. Pace President Jackson. But it does make a person wonder about how big that Democratic tent has be getting....maybe there's a subsidiary tent in its future? The REAL Republicans are gonna need somewhere to park their keisters one of these days....

NaySay

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Tuesday February 17, 2009 · 12:11 PM PST

2009/02/17 · 12:11

Reading President Buchanan's State of the Union address on the eve of the Civil War (in late December 1859) is a sobering experience.

At present [the slave] is treated with kindness and humanity. He is well fed, well clothed, and not overworked. [...] Both the philanthropy and the self-interest of the master have combined to produce this humane result.

Ah. Slaves were leading a golden happy existence. And why? Because slave-owners are, of course, philanthropic. You don't think so? Well, then, because it's in their own self-interest . Sound familiar?

There's something Andy Rooneyish in me that wants to ask: "ever notice how when we have a sneaking suspicion that what we're doing is indefensible we start claiming that self-interest is in the best interest of society?"

Remember "voodoo economics"? "supply side: economics? "Trickle-Down" Economics? Didja think it had retired? Turns out there is no scrap heap to history; it's all very recyclable.

NaySay

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Friday February 13, 2009 · 1:56 PM PST

2009/02/13 · 13:56

Arlen Specter's best bet is simply to join the Democratic Party. He might get re-elected that way. Certainly, the reactionary wingnut who ran against him last time would probably be crushed. In fact that might be good strategy for several Northern Republicans. Obviously, Judd Gregg would decline the honor. But there's a reason he won't run again--it's simple--he'd lose, and he knows it. Hard to see Collins of ME doing that, but it's just possible for Snow perhaps. But neither of those ladies has the slightest likelihood of being defeated whatever they do, which made it possible for them to vote their consciences, unlike all the other creepy slimy things who call themselves Republicans these days.

NaySay

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Wednesday February 11, 2009 · 12:04 PM PST

2009/02/11 · 12:04

It was gratifying to see Linda Thomsen, the mulish, passive-aggressive and ineffectual head of enforcement for the SEC, get the boot. Watching the ass-whuppin' she got from the House Financial Services Committee (indeed, she hardly finished a sentence during any of the questioning) was great theater, but it was infuriating to hear how these corrupt, mealy-mouthed bureaucrats gutted the SEC.

Markopolos' claim that the SEC (and Thomsen) refused to take on powerful Wall Street players is not new. For example, the investigation of insider trading at the Pequot Capital Management hedge fund was impeded by Thomsen. According to Bloomberg,

Iowa’s Grassley and Pennsylvania’s Specter, both Republicans, examined claims from a fired SEC attorney that superiors impeded his Pequot inquiry because of the prominence of those he was trying to investigate.

NaySay

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Thursday February 05, 2009 · 6:37 AM PST

2009/02/05 · 06:37

I've been riveted by the House Financial Services Subcommittee hearings on the SEC, including the testimony of one-of-a-kind whistleblower Harry Markopolos. I stayed up late into the night watching the reruns of the entire proceeding on C-Span. It was immensely entertaining and informative and I urge like-minded progressives to do the same.

NaySay

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Wednesday February 04, 2009 · 1:17 PM PST

2009/02/04 · 13:17

It is a pervasive and foolish myth that only these supposedly highly gifted individuals already at these failing companies are able to run these firms well and make the sort of creative and managerial decisions that will enable them to prosper.

NaySay

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Friday January 30, 2009 · 5:16 AM PST

2009/01/30 · 05:16

Democrats seem rocked on their heels lately with no public response to Republican criticism of the stimulus package

NaySay

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Thursday January 29, 2009 · 6:23 AM PST

2009/01/29 · 06:23

Are there any good men left in Sodom?

RSS

In the end Specter's shift may be good for Reps

Just call me Madam Natasha

Voodoo self-interest

Must we win the Civil War again?

Lift up that rock over the SEC--WTF was going on there?

Markopolos: who dreamt you up?

Executives: "we can finish last without you"

Is there a tongue-tying virus out there?

Minority RNC Chair?