Comments on: Mark Sanford: Prescriptions To Fix The GOP

Guest Column: South Carolina Governor Decries "Soulless Pragmatism" Represented By Specter's Party Switch

[nextgenman09]

Dicck Cheney was yammering yesterday that the GOP shouldn't go moderate (i. e. sane) but should remain the party of psychos and hypocrisy.

[jmca2009]

No GOP party members or elected Republicans told Spector that he had to change his positions or vote differently. He switched because he is being rejected by the people of Pennsylvania, specifically the primary Republican voters who think he is too liberal.
The elected GOP politicians can talk all they want about having a big tent, allowing diverse opinions, etc, but if the the voters don't want that then they are gone.

They voters decide the direction of the party, not the other way around.

[p_syrus]

Specter first won his Senate seat in 1980, riding into D.C. on the back of the Reagan Revolution, and I?d suspect we?d find few who disagree that Reagan?s GOP of the
1980?s was more conservative than today?s iteration.
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Allow me to assure you governor you are quite wrong in your conclusion. Your belief may well have held some sway in South Carolina as well as other parts of the more regressive south. Afterall, the times were not much distant from the racial strife of the '60s. Nonetheless, at that time nationally the republican party was a comfortable home for many moderate republicans as well as liberals too.

As a former conservative republican & lifelong californiano I can assure you that Reagan's appeal at the time lay in his personality and the personal contrast he made to such leaders as Nixon, Carter, & Ford. His policies were not especially admired, and that applied even here in his adopted "native" state, California.

Like Obama, Reagan was generally more popular himself than were the views he expressed. Reagan was long on personality although short on intellect or policy acumen.

Fortunately Obama, unlike Reagan, is highly intelligent & knowledgeable in addition to his skills as a strong leader & excellent communicator. He has been doing an excellent job of beginning the national "cleanup" of the godawful mess created by multiple decades of "corporate deregulation" instituted far-right wing elements of the republican party.

[tmn]

I think the American public has gained a pretty good understanding of the current Republican way of thinking. That's why they are voting as they are now...

[Snowhare]

Specter, the article says, left the GOP because he wanted to be reelected, he left out of pragmatism, not because the GOP left him.
The question that arises is: Why didn't he have the same big chances to be reelected? According to Specter, this is exactly because the GOP left him - and what else would it be, not reelecting him. Specter's actions are not as one-dimensional as some people (on both sides of the political spectrum) would like them to be.

Mr. Sanford denies that the tent has narrowed and at the same time calls for a broader tent.
My suspicion is, he tries to call bad on Specter while trying to keep other good old broad-tent conservatives in the party. A good idea becuase if they all leave, the GOP will turn into a SIP (small, insignificant party). However, anyone who wants to keep the GOP "grand" should fight to get the christian fundamentalists and other extremist right wingers back into their rightful place: they are an aspect of conservative America but not a majority.

Personally, I should hope for that to take quite some time and then have the conservatives play the role of minor party that the Dems have had in history up to now. A somewhat more liberal america is more to my taste. However, the corrective conservatism is needed now and then.

[norcalruss]

Look at the smirk on Sanford?s face. Doesn?t he look like typical, arrogant, pompous, self-righteous, know-it-all neocon? You can?t tell people like that anything, he just doesn?t get it. The political center of the nation has shifted to the left and he wants to go to the right. A losing strategy for sure.

[stn_sage]

His advice is pretty straightforward: stop lying, stop being a clique group, and stop saying 'no' to everything the other side wants to do!

the only problem is....

His fellow Republicans won't listen to or follow his advice! As we see right now, during the daily business of Congress! Where, most of the time, the GOP response is simply, 'NO'!

[An-Historian]

Lets say, just for the sake of argument, that the whole world embraces unfettered Capitalism. What would the eventual outcome be?

Eventually, by hook or by crook, ONE PERSON will eventually become the richest person on the planet, under the Capitalist system.

That person will have the financial power to destroy all competition and all threats to his/her supremacy, and the power to set the rules for the future for all of us. Once again, as in the bad old days, we'll all become nothing more than serfs or slaves to this uber-wealthy individual, who has gained control of everything.

Where is the notion of individual freedom and liberty, or the notion of democracy in that scenario?

Capitalism is a game where the ultimate winner takes all, and the rest of us simply suffer quietly under them, without having any voice at all.

[erichsh]

You seem to post one delusional post after another.
Habitat for Humanity is not faith based in the least.
Posted by evilbusheviks

Should I take issue with your flat-out WRONG assertion about Habitat for Humanity, or your snotty, snide crack about my "delusional" posts? I don't know why I bother wasting my time on these boards with you guys.

[erichsh]

Here's 3 different links proving the bush monkey was delusional and proving you were sleeping the past 8 years or just a bush worshipper:

Posted by evilbusheviks

Knock it off with the cracks, evilbusheviks, I didn't insult you or assume anything about you. I merely asked you to cite your proof. Unfortunately, all three of your links refer to a single incident whereby a Palestinian leader (Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath) CLAIMED that Bush made that remark. No transcripts, no video, just a single disgruntled leader from an avowed enemy of the United States making that unsubstantiated claim. NOTE: I'm not calling you an idiot for believing what you do, I just asked for proof. At this point, there is no such on-the-record proof.