Arlen Specter: Republican senator, hypocrite, cancer victim.

[Cyrano]

If I had a magic wand and could wipe out cancer and every other horrible disease on the face of the earth, I would do it in an instant.

Republican senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania has cancer. And he's talking out very loudly about George Bush's opposition to stem cell research.

It's strange how Republicans are always against anything sane, until it affects them or their families. Dan Quayle, a staunch "pro-life" advocate, admitted that he'd let his daughter have an abortion if necessary.

The hypocrisy of these people is beyond belief. Specter, along with every other Republican politician, has had his nose up Bush's ass for the past four and a half years. Yet, now that cancer is threatening his own life, he's finally speaking out against the party line on stem cell research.

To repeat, I would love to see Specter, and every other victim of a horrible disease, find an instant cure. Hypocrisy is also a form of disease for which I would welcome a cure.

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Specter has always been very moderate, for a Repub.

Just saying.

He can maddeningly toe the party line some times, but I don't see his support of stem cell research as hypocritical, because he has always been a social moderate.

[Cyrano]

3. Didn't you get the memo? "Moderate Republican" has become an oxymoron.

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. Right. The memo...

I'm just telling you what I know as 26 years as a resident of Pennsylvania. Specter's no neocon. I'd still wouldn't vote for him, but he's no neocon.

[RummyTheDummy]

32. Wrong

They have been driven from the party, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

[I Have A Dream]

9. That's true. There are times when he has been on our side.

Not often enough, but it has happened.

[enough]

13. Two words on Specter's "moderation:"

Clarence Thomas

[Beware the Beast Man]

15. Did you read my entire response?

I didn't say he was on all the time, just in this particular situation (the stem-cell research issue).

[Media_Lies_Daily]

33. Two more words: Warren Commission....

...that's where Specter got his political start by inventing the "Single-Bullet Theory" that the Warren Commission used to explain four wounds of entrance and three wounds of exit in two adult males.

[TWiley]

2. I recommend smoking and a regiment of "faith healing"

He better leave all that science and medicine stuff alone. We all know the Bible says it is hogwash.

[KitchenWitch]

4. Stem cell research huh?

He has Hodgkins Disease, which happens to be one of the most treatable cancers there is....a near 80% remission rate after 5 years, and a higher survival rate after 5 years.

[jojogunn]

6. sounds like what he needs

is another magic bullet

[Susang]

7. Specter hasn't exactly had his nose up Bush's ass

Or did you forget that he threatened to hold up any anti-choice Supreme Court nominees just a few short months ago?

I'm not a big fan of the man and have been an outspoken critic of him on occasion. But be fair, the man has many facets and to portray him so one dimensionally does us all a disservice. Just because he's a Republican and a cancer victim doesn't necessarily make him a hypocrite for supporting stem cell research.

[Cyrano]

29. I think his support of stem cell research is admirable.

That's not the reason I referred to him as a hypocrite. There are issues on which he has been a fair minded person, and other issues on which he has been a Bush/Rove/Cheney zombie.

Back in the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson pushed through the most magnificent civil rights laws in the history of this country and the world. He also lied us into Vietnam, which cost 59,000 American soldiers their lives. And that doesn't include those crippled for life,(both physically and mentally), or murdered Vietnamese women, children, and men who had never heard the word "politics." And many elected Democrat assholes went on defending him.

While Specter has done some fine things, he's now aligned with what can only be described as the most despicable criminal enterprise that has ever seized control of our country.

[Cyrano]

30. Dear Susang: I just read your post.

I wasn't calling Specter a hypocrite regarding Bush's stem cell research position. I was calling him a hypocrite for going along with virtually 95% of everything that the Bush/Rove/Cheney criminal cartel has done to rape the United States of America over the past 4 1/2 years.

The current administration consists of some of the worst human beings we have ever seen in control or OUR government. Yet, good old Arlen just went along to get along. My best thoughts for the remission of his cancer. But as far as his continuing to be a Republican whore, fuck him.

[Donkeyboy75]

8. He's not a hypocrite on this issue.

Specter ain't perfect, but it's very ill-informed to paint him with the same brush as Tom DeLay. He has opposed overly conservative judges, and, as BTBM said, been a social moderate throughout his tenure.

Here's a link to a speech he gave at Stanford over a year ago...BEFORE his cancer diagnosis:

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/medical/2004/february25/specter.html

If you recall, he wasn't diagnosed until Feb 17, 2005, a year after the above speech. Get your facts straight before slinging mud, even if it is at the other side of the aisle.

[catabryna]

10. Thank you to those of you...

who pointed out that Spector is no hypocrit in this particular situation. I may not agree with him on most things, but this time, humanity trumps political idealogy.

My husband died of Hodgkin's Disease about 8 months ago because there was no match after an international search (his autogeneic transplant failed). Unfortunately he was in the unlucky 20% who are not cured.

Not only do we need embryonic stem cell research, but we also need cord blood donations to become a standard option given to parents after the births of their children. The chances of finding a match would increase by leaps and bounds and I would think that any pro-life advocate would find this to be an appropriate option.

* has proposed a new database for cord blood, however, there is absolutely no need to set up another "database" to keep track of donations... there is already a well-functioning international database. In our country it's called the National Marrow Donor Program.

Okay... off my box on this one... this topic is never far from my heart, just as my husband isn't far away either.

I've written to Sen. Specter and given him my support on this particular issue ONLY; it would be nice to see others do that as well.

[DemonFighterLives]

24. Sorry to hear about your Hubby

Also, Welcome to DU!

I think Specter is doing good with this issue.
It was his support of the Warren Commission that has led me to dislike him more than I should.

[Cyrano]

11. Donkeyboy75. This ain't mudslinging.

I've always considered Specter to be a moderate. But in our current era, there is no such thing as a moderate Republican. "You're either with us or against us." That's a message that was aimed, not only at foreign governments, but at us.

Specter would have eaten any bowl of shit that Bush/Rove/Cheney served up, as long as he could hold onto his senate seat. Unfortunately, this is true of any politician that has ever lived.

[Tommymac]

14. Simply not true.

Specter is a very moderate repug. He has to be...coming from Pennsylvania. He has the support of the Unions...he LOATHES his junior partner Santorum.

He will be with the mainstream in the SC nomination process...and not bow to the RW. Will he be liberal? No way. He steers a coarse away from either end of the spectrum.

Do I like the guy? Not particularly - but to say he will eat anything the administration shovels is going to far. He does listen to his constituents - in fact, he has replied to me a few times - and at least explained why he did something. Unlike Ricky boy.

[Donkeyboy75]

16. You're playing their game,

and it doesn't have to be that way. Any way you slice it, you're being untruthful. He has taken principled stands against the administration on issues he does not agree with them on. You may not agree with his political beliefs, but he's the exact opposite of a hypocrite. Labeling someone with a false label is mudslinging - pure and simple.

[Cyrano]

19. Donkeyboy75. Sorry, but I'm not "playing their game."

As referred to in an earlier post on this thread, Specter helped put Clarence Thomas on the Supreme court.

He's also the guy that came up with the "magic bullet" theory, the bullet that killed Jack Kennedy, (look it up on google), one of the most despicable, criminal cover ups in American history.

How any American of conscience and decency can be a member (not to mention a senator) of today's criminal enterprise called the Republican party, is beyond my comprehension.

And if you still want to call what I've posted "mudslinging," so be it. Yet, I understand your point of view. That's what makes us Democrats rather than freepers.

[Donkeyboy75]

22. OK, but calling him a hypocrite for supporting stem cell research

isn't fair. There are enough assholes opposing it that we don't need to target those on our side.

True, he's a Republican. But it's impossible to find a party you agree with on every issue. If Americans were held to that standard, there would be 295 million political parties in the U.S.


(Never thought I'd be defending Specter) :scared:

[Susang]

23. Me neither

We live in bizarro world. :P

[Cyrano]

25. Damn, damn, damn! I'm not calling him a hypocrite for defending

stem cell research. I think that's admirable.

But stem cell research aside, and as often as he's tried to hold a centrist position on most issues, he's just one more of the 55 Republican hypocrites in the senate.

Actually, I'm wrong. Some of them aren't hypocrites. They truly believe in everything they've voted for, which makes them fascists.

But to get back to the point, Specter is no fascist. He's basically, a man with whom I often disagree, who has sold his soul to stay in office.

[Johonny]

28. The magic bullet

Could have happen just as Specter devised it. It is just a theory and was based on the information in the case. Specter was in this case doing his job to come up with possible explainations to the events he was assigned to.

[tigereye]

20. that is often what my husband says

but I still have to give some props, so to speak, to some of the moderate Reps. ( an endangered species to be sure) who have voted with their consciences and good sense and not toed the * line. There are a few in Maine, remember.

And I think * needed Specter, almost as much as you think Specter needed *. The wingnut who opposed Specter would probably not have been elected. We have a history of moderate and often pro-choice Reps here in PA... Santorum is much, much worse.

[LittleClarkie]

12. In the same way a pro-war Republican

won't let his kid go to war. Yea war, unless it touches me personally. Tighten your belts! But don't expect ME to.

[RedCloud]

17. The good Lord knows Specter convinced Starr to keep on.

When Starr got depressed because he couldn't find the goods on Clinton, Specter talked him out of quitting and going to Stanford.

Starr then got real dirty.

Thanks Specter, you jerk!

[zbdent]

18. I'm hoping that the Repukes primary ousts Specter

and gets in a really right-wing nutcase.

That would probably alienate the moderates along with the thinking people and bring about a Dem in the Senate for PA.

[Cyrano]

21. I sympathize with your theory, but we dont need another thug in the senate

[Tommymac]

27. You have to wait 5 more years for that...

Specter was re-elected last year.

(BTW, for those who want to dis me for lukewarm support of Specter - I worked on his Democratic Opponent Joe Hoeffels's campaign last year.) Unfortunately, the Unions did not give Joe their active support - otherwise he would have won IMHO. They felt that Specter's seniority and Union friendly stance was worth his downside. Specter does have the Unions to answer to in PA - he knows he would not be there if not for them - so we do have some influence in what he does.

[deadparrot]

26. Probably true, but

as long as he's speaking out against, why not use him?

The nutcases who control our government have built their careers upon wining and dining anyone who agrees with them on a few central points. They don't need to agree on everything--they just need to muddy the water enough so that they can present a united front.

I think that's the problem with liberals in government, or the lack thereof--we tend to shut out people if their motives aren't idealistically pure, or if they disagree on a number of issues. If we expect to "win" any issues in the coming months, or any elections in 2006 and 2008, we're going to have to ally ourselves with people who might be in it for themselves. It's not pretty, but it's politics.

[Cyrano]

31. deadparrot, unfortunately you're right. I don't remember whether it was

Mark Twain or Will Rodgers who said: "I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

And therin lies the rub. We're going to have to learn well how to lie, cheat and steal if we want to beat these bastards. And that's not just hyperbole. It seems to have become a fact of life.

And if this is the only way to save our democracy, is it worth saving?