The Silenced Majority

The irony is amusing to me, that now we have those Democrats plugging along trying to get something done through the barrage of wingnut bombast about born again worries about fiscal irresponsibility, socialism and Big gubmint. That majority is about to happen, and it seems that we have U.S. voters unavoidably brought back to reality based policies. Welcome back, indeed.

The defection of Senator Specter is big on the BBC tube I'm watching on shipboard. The international press is covering the Republics' insistence on an ideologically based review of public service rather than actual performance in its votes on the president's cabinet, as well, particularly as relating to swine flu/HHS. The future looks pretty bleak for the wingnuts outside of the absolutely recidivist areas it still holds.

"The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says the news has sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, where the president's power has been blunted by the votes of Senate Republicans.

The move should make it easier for Mr Obama to pursue his ambitious agenda, our correspondent adds.

Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter's Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2010.

Polls suggested that Mr Specter's decision to vote for the president's economic stimulus package earlier this year had been unpopular with Republican activists in the state.

"I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing," Mr Specter said.

Since then, he added, "it has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable".
(snip)
We've been systematically making the case since the election that the GOP is now a regional southern party. And what better way to strike home that point than to see a moderate northeastern Republican switch parties, complaining about his party's swing to the far right?

Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos

The theft of their own party hasn't worked out so well for the wingnuts, and that is resoundingly good for the country. What we have lost in the past eight years includes world influence, humanity, decency, prosperity, ethics and justice. Encouragingly, that makes a big difference to voters, and yes, we have to put that interpretation on Specter's switch. Without the liberal vote, he is not going to stay in office.

Thanks to those of us who have stuck firmly with our principles, the country wins. Welcome aboard even to those who went with ideology, and found themselves on the losing side. Of course, what we need to do now is clean house.

In view of the U.S. public's showing that facts matter, it's time to weed out the delusional, who've put us through the hell of the past eight wingnut years and the crises that have been the result.