The Independent Senator

Yesterday I sat down to start writing about why I haven’t switched back to being a Republican now that Bush is gone. I did a couple of paragraphs to warm up and figured I would finish over the next couple of day. Before I could sleep my computer and head off to work the news started to break that Senator Arlen Specter was switching parties.

All of a sudden I was back in political news junky mode the likes of which I hadn’t been since the election. On the bus I followed every twitter link that mentioned Specter. I’ve long been a fan of Arlen Specter. I don’t agree with him on every position true but I think that’s true for every voter and politician. What I like about Specter is that he is notoriously hard on the Whip’s office. The man has his own opinions, his own research and damn it he’s going to vote the way he feels is right. I respect that. Hell, I love that.

Reading the reactions across the political spectrum you would think I was alone in that. To the right he is a traitor that should have been tossed years ago. To the left he is untrustworthy. Both sides seemed convinced that he’s going to screw them on card check. Independence in American politics seems to be the greatest vice these partisan day.

Independent, however, is exactly how an American Senator is supposed to behave. The reason 60 is such a magical number is because that’s how many Senators it takes to block a single Senator’s opposition. The Senate exists to give voice to minority opinion. The rules are there to encourage cooperation and compromise. Durbin and Kyl are supposed to have it rough. That’s a good thing.

Tactically I can’t see this as anything but a loss for the Republicans and a stupid one at that. The Club for Growth is starting to look like a super secret left wing establishment designed to cost the Republican Party as much damage as possible. If the party leaders can’t get Tom Ridge into this race and Pat Toomey is indeed the candidate he’s going to get killed by Specter in the general election. A Specter who will probably broker a compromise on Card Check. A compromise that would not have happened if he was still caucusing with the Republican’s.

Good Morning and Guess What You Just Bought

I started writing a piece in honor of the first 100 days of the Obama Presidency. Mainly because every media outlet seems to be doing it and I don’t want to feel left out. I should finish is a day or two. It’s not really about the administration. In fact I’m probably going to title it “Why I’m Still Not a Republican” and it is more about how despite all my attempts to join back up the GOP continues to put up walls, barriers and entry fees that are simply too much for this middle-of-the-roader to deal with. This isn’t to say that I’m all that happy with all the decisions the President is making right now. Did I wake up to find out that I bought Chrysler? To go along with Citibank? And AIG? I guess that I’m not completely opposed to some government investiture in business. I just think we might want to talk to our broker because most of this stuff looks like real dogs. The conservative principle that the reason you don’t let government invest in anything is because they are really bad at it is looking pretty right on right now. Chrysler? Really? Why would I want to buy a company when there was no way in hell I’d ever buy the product?

Perfecting the Workspace

So how many pictures of this desk over the last couple of years have I posted? I'm thinking this may be the last for awhile. My spring shake-up is done. New mini, keyboard hiding monitor stand, iphone dock/card reader, old school looking light/webcam/mic, new wider-screen monitor, old monitor standing up for status (twitter, chat, email, music), and my favorite my Griffin PowerMate all up and running in harmony. Hardware and software all in place. Now I just have to get off my mental ass and write something. If only it would rain. Been too sunny lately. Sunshine brings me down.