Sunday, February 15, 2009

Specter: Republicans Support Stimulus, Don't Want 'Fingerprints' On It

Senator Arlen Specter, who broke with his Republican colleagues to vote for the stimulus package, says that many of his colleagues support the package but were too frightened to vote for it in case it damaged their re-election chances.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"

Specter, along with centrist Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined with Democrats last week to move the stimulus bill forward. Specter said he doubted there would be any more Republican votes than those three Friday night.

"I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation," he said.

Specter was asked, How many of your colleagues?

"I think a sizable number," he said. "I think a good part of the caucus agrees with the person I quoted, but I wouldn't want to begin to speculate on numbers."

This is a further indication of the mess the Republicans now find themselves in. They are left defending a way of thinking which has been proven to be bankrupt. The deregulation which has been their mantra since the days of Reagan has resulted in utter financial collapse but, rather than admit this, they decry what the Democrats are doing in public whilst being secretly pleased that they are doing so.

They don't want "their fingerprints" on legislation which they privately admit is necessary.

They really have become, both literally and metaphorically, a bankrupt philosophy. Even they don't believe what they are saying.

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