Don’t Call It a Comeback

I’ve got an apology and a confession to make.

First the apology – I’ve been away from writing on this blog for so long because I had given up.  Faced with the relentless shrieks from the ignorant and powerless right, I had given up any hope of making reasoned, logical arguments to counter their public displays of hypocrisy, stupidity, and treason.  I was coming to grips with the fact that the “Yes-We-Can” President was succumbing to the morass that had bogged down Washington for so long, and that the opposition would continue to block and/or stallany meaningful change – either through gutless filibusters or media manipulation and mass mind control of the misguided and misinformed public.  I had given up, and for that I am sorry.

I write to you today with a renewed sense of hope for our country.  This change of heart was spurred on by none other than true American patriot, Arlen Specter.  The wingnuts and blowhards cry that Specter is an opportunist that only switched parties because he would not have won re-election as a Republican, and for once I agree with them.  What they fail to recognize is why.  Specter would not have been re-elected by Republican voters because they have rejected open-mindedness, reason, cooperation, moderation, and even patriotism (by it’s true definition) in favor of extremism, special interests, fringe issues, and party loyalty above all else.  Some noted Republican spokes-morons have actually said good riddance to Specter, and noted that they don’t need such moderates, and that the Republican party will be stronger when thinned out to the extreme right-wing fundamentalists.  To this I say bravo – your reign of terror is over, and enjoy your place next to the Whigs on the list of dead political parties in the history books.

The fact is that Senator Specter would certainly not have won re-election in the modern incarnation of the Republican party because they have morphed into the party of nutjobs, racists, militia-men, and proudly ignorant hicks.  To appeal to this dwindling base, a candidate must pander to the lowest common denominator.  To agree with anything Obama and the Democratic Congress proposes, no matter how reasonable or obviously good for the country in a time of crisis, is the considered to be equivalent to betrayal of the party.  Nothing is more important than party loyalty – not fixing the economy, not national security, and certainly not the well being of the American people.

To have a sitting Republican senator acknowledge the sorry state of his own party and switch sides is a seismic shift in American politics.  With millions of voters registering as Democrat in the recent presidential election in a clear rejection of Bush, McCain, and especially Palin, the country has clearly demonstrated that they are ready for a party that wants to fix what is wrong with the country, and is tired of empty Republican threats and fear tactics.

Most importantly, Spector’s switch now gives the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority (assuming the senseless Coleman camp is eventually pushed aside to allow Franken to take his seat).  And that means that the Republicans will truly be powerless to stop progress.  They will be marginalized to the point that they will only be heard on Fox News.  And only morons watch that.

In case you’re worried what will happen to the government with one party in control of everything, let me remind you of the Republican’s recent greatest hits:

• They are still fighting for recounts in Minnesota against Al Franken, even though every recount has been ruled in his favor.  This from the same party that called Al Gore a sore loser.
• They continue to warn us of the dangers of a “socialist” government run healthcare program, even as Britain’s socialist healthcare system recently cured blindness (look it up, it’s true).
• They have conveniently forgotten their 8-year-long smear against the Democratic party as the “blame America first” party, and have taken to blaming America first at every possible opportunity to the point that they are blaming Obama for swine flu.
• Their governors have threatened to secede from the Union (so much for being patriotic, huh?), even while asking for federal aid for fighting the swine flue.  (if only the swine flue actually killed the swine in this country…)
• They screamed and cried when Obama shook hands with Hugo Chavez, as if it somehow proved he was an evil socialist dictator himself.  It’s called diplomacy, idiots.  And if you’re going to throw stones, please look around your glass house – its walls are covered with framed photos of Nixon and Mao, Rumsfeld and Saddam,  Bush and Noriega, Ford and Brezhnev, Reagan and Gorbachev, and George W giving a Saudi Prince a hand job.
• They continue to argue that torture is necessary and effective, despite the fact that all evidence points to the contrary, and that (minor detail) it is against our own Constitution and international law.  But Jack Bauer makes it seem so damned exciting, doesn’t he?
• They held “tea parties” protesting government taxes and spending, as if Obama invented taxes, and the past 8 years of Republican rule didn’t take a federal surplus and run it to a record deficit, while destroying us economically, socially, militarily, and morally.
• They argued against the recent report that right-wing extremist groups are on the government intelligence’s watch list, siding with such noted right-wing groups as the KKK and neo-Nazi’s.  Somehow I think if we were water-boarding a bunch of skinheads, Republicans would suddenly be anti-torture.
• They are already crying foul on Obama’s Supreme Court appointment that hasn’t happened yet.  They’re already preparing their argument against Obama’s liberal, black, Hispanic, pro-abortion, Constitution-hating appointee.  I suppose he should just pick Harriet Myers? (by the way, why is abortion the most important issue in choosing a Supreme Court Justice?  That’s a whole nother column)
• Their stall tactics against everything Obama has resulted in the swine flue pandemic striking while the Republicans continued to stall the appointment of the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Seriously – until this past Tuesday, the Center for Disease Control was being run by an interim acting Director because the Republicans were stalling Obama’s appointment of Kathleen Sebelius.  So much for country first.  (oh yeah – Republicans also managed to block $900 million of stimulus spending for “pandemic preparedness”)
• And finally, when you’ve turned frozen-faced Pelosi and Blubbering Barney Frank into the reasonable side of political discussion, you know your party is in dire straits.

Anyway, I opened by saying I owe you an apology and a confession.  The apology is out of the way, so here comes the confession.  Up until last year, I was a registered Republican.  I was raised in a Republican household and staunchly believed in conservative principles.  However, in recent years, the Republican party has moved from the conservative party to the party of excessive and reckless military spending, anti-abortion, religious fundamentalism, pro-big business, anti-elitist (or anti-intelligent), and anti-middle class.  I am encouraged that this fringe party is being pushed aside while reasonable people try to pull us out of the mess they created.  I do not have blind faith in Obama or the Democrats by any means (I’ll save my criticism of the Democrats for my next column), but I am optimistic that reasonable people are now in charge.  I am also optimistic that the Democrats will continue to thrive as the party of moderates, and a true progressive party will emerge.  And if the Republicans don’t go away completely, let them be reduced to the fine print on the bottom of the ballot next to Libertarian Party, the Prohibition Party, and the Constitution Party (all actual parties on the 2008 presidential ballot).

As usual, thanks for tuning in.  I’m going to be trying a new format, with more frequent, shorter posts to keep up with current topics and point out the hypocrisies of our idiotic elected officials and the failure of the lame-stream media to keep Americans informed.

Until next time, keep your head up – the storm clouds are clearing and America’s back on the rise.

KP Silverman