To the people such as myself who would NEVER, EVER make an alliance with Grover Norquist or support him or any of his allies, I present to you a guy who is so FULL OF SH1T I simply did not know what to do with myself.
Evidence of how full of shit this person is can be found below the fold.
Would you support a Democratic candidate who actually said this?
· "I am delighted to be with Americans for Tax Reform and its distinguished leader, Grover Norquist, who emphasized what ought to be done to restructure our federal tax code. ... Wherever Grover Norquist goes he draws a crowd because of his tremendous national leadership on this important issue."
· "We talked yesterday a lot about the flat tax, legislation which I have introduced since 1995. A tax return would fit on a postcard, you could fill it out in 15 minutes, and save hundreds of billions of dollars in administrative costs. Consistently when Grover and I were talking about this yesterday, people were saying ‘why hasn’t it been done?’ Our response to that was that there is not enough public understanding of the flat tax and it’s really going to require a taxpayers’ revolt. I know just the right revolutionary, Grover Norquist, to lead the fight."
linky goodness
Bold text added by the diarist
Who might this ally of Grover Norquist be? Why it is long time George W. Bush ally and stalwart Conservative Arlen Specter, of course.
And President Obama is committed to campaigning for Arlen Specter's re-election. After 30 years of being a Corporatist Republican and considering Grover Norquist the man to lead the fight for the wealthy in the class war, President Obama is going to support a lifelong Republican to be the next Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania.
For all of those who castigated Jane Hamsher for making an alliance with Norrquist and then attacked relentlessly anyone associated with Hamsher I would like to offer you a chance to rethink your actions, because President Obama is working to re-elect a staunch, lifelong Norquist ally.
Houston, we have a problem.
Now, I understand that President Obama promised to support Senator Specter's run for re-election as part of the deal that lead Specter to switch parties and give Democrats in the Senate what they thought was a 60 seat filibuster proof super majority, but we NEVER had 60 Democrats, we had at best 56 because LIEberman, Ben Nelson, Landrieu and Lincoln are Corporate shills and Max Baucus and Evan Bayh aren't far behind them. Now we no longer have that magic number 60 we thought Arlen gave us, but we are stuck with Arlen who has a history in the Senate that George W. Bush would love.
For example, meet Arlen Specter's dream bill, the one he has introduced every Senate session since 1995, the Flat Tax.
The plan "will be a tremendous boon to the economic elite." p. 67.
· "Now for some bad news. . . . it is an obvious mathematical law that lower taxes on the successful will have to be made up by higher taxes on average people." p. 58.
· The plan "would raise taxes by 3 to 5 percent of income from the lowest income groups up to those with incomes of $75,000. Then the effect would gradually die out, so that families with incomes of around $125,000 would come out even. Then the truly successful get a better and better deal. Families with incomes around $285,000 receive tax breaks of about 7 percent of income, those with incomes of $1.5 million get 10 percent, and the handful with incomes approaching $4 million in 1979 get 13 percent." p. 59. [Note: income figures are updated to 1995 levels (by the consumer price index) from Hall and Rabushka's estimates for 1979.]
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ctj.org
There is NO guarantee that Specter will not revert back to his old wingnut self at any moment, and there is NO guarantee that Specter will not switch parties if he wins the Senate seat or loses in the primary election. That is exactly why I oppose his candidacy vehemently.
There is NO guarantee that Specter can even beat the other Republican in a general election matchup. As Congressman Alan Grayson once said, "You can not beat a Republican by being one. "
That is exactly why I support Joe Sestak in the primary for the Senate seat held by lifelong Republican Arlen Specter, and I strongly encourage you to do so as well.
Would you vote for, or campaign on behalf of a Democrat who was an ardent Bush supporter, or one who actually voted for McCain/Palin?
If not, get Joe Sestak's back. Call friends and family in Pennsylvania and let them know why they should not vote for Specter in this years primary election, and if you can, chip in a few bucks for the only non wingnut in running for Senate this year in Pennsylvania.
Donate to Joe Sestak for Senate
After 30 + years of alliances with Grover Norquist, support for Reagan and both Bushes and Rush Limbaugh and a sterling record of economic and foreign policy FAIL we should not expect Arlen Specter to change his stripes. One Joe Lieberman is enough.
Crossposted at ProgressiveElectorate.com