Santorum Apoplectic about McCain, Obama Getting Along
I’ve never been a fan of the self-righteous Rick Santorum. I celebrated his departure from the Senate two years ago. And today, he does absolutely nothing to convince me to modify my decidedly non-moderate dislike for him.
Why the editors of the Philadelphia Inquirer agreed to give Santorum a bully pulpit is a mystery, but they did. And the ex-senator uses that forum to predict that John McCain will finally reveal himself to be the Democrat-in-sheep’s-clothing that Republicans like Santorum long feared him to be. [H/t Ben Smith.]
How so? Santorum believes McCain will cynically attempt to write the final chapter of his legacy as the most bipartisan of bipartisan actors by helping President-elect Obama address “global warming, immigration ‘reform,’ the closing of Guantanamo, federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research,” and so on.
I, for one, hope McCain does just that, regardless of his reasons, be they altruistic or legacy-enhancing or simply to give the likes of Santorum an excuse to throw another tantrum of worthless I-told-you-so’s.
opinions powered by SendLove.to
2 Responses to “Santorum Apoplectic about McCain, Obama Getting Along”
Pete, something you can note and file is the following, which is more broad in scope than just involving McCain.
After the 1994 elections, which repudiated the Clintons' big shift leftward, there was hype, fear, hatred, and loathing by the usual crowd, especially in Washington and in elite circles elsewhere, about the rise of the Republican Party, a revival of conservatism, and the so-called “Republican Revolution.” On the other hand, there _was_ a populist-center-right reaction against the leftism outside the mainstream that did propel the GOP to its best position in years (and wrecked the position and expectations of Democrats and other liberals, who found the election results as shocking as surprising).
What you saw in that post-1994 Republican rise to power was a number of people switching party affiliations, from Democratic to Republican, and the additional people that changed from Democratic to Independent.
Given the wreckage of the Republican Party and the surprising amount of power that the Democrats now possess (so much that the risk to many libs and Dems is to overlook how strongly emplaced the Dems are in Washington — the Economist currently states that the Dems are in a stronger position than they have been since the end of World War II, and this is _before_ at least four GOP Senatorial retirements to happen soon), don't be surprised if:
McCain converts from a Republican to officially independent party-affiliation status (he's too cagey to honestly become a Democrat);
Other “moderate” Republicans become Democrats (which RINOs such as Snowe, Collins, Specter, etc., should already have done).
Just wait and see if there are “moderate” Republicans who change to Democrats or who become independent. (If they become Democrats they may have more say in how Congress is run given which party is likely to be in power for at least the next few years.)
[...] Santorum Apoplectic about McCain, Obama Getting Along The Moderate Voice ,January 16, 2009 And the ex-senator uses that forum to predict that John McCain will finally reveal himself to be the Democrat-in-sheep’s-clothing that Republicans like … [...]