Mutt & Jeff
Pennsylvania. Home to the Dynamic Duo -- Santorum & Specter.
Rick Santorum may be living proof of the maxim "you can't go home again." This national AP story, Santorum struggles for support at home, reports:
Dissatisfaction with President Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress in the swing state creates obstacles for Santorum. Further complicating his outlook are lingering questions on his home turf of southwest Pennsylvania over his residency and use of public funds for his children's cyber schooling.
A recent Quinnipiac University Poll showed Santorum to be less popular in Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs — he hails from Penn Hills, Pa. — than any other part of Pennsylvania. He trailed his opponent by around 30 percentage points there. Statewide, the poll had him down by 18 points, with a whopping 67 percent of voters saying they've made up their minds.
Looking to turn the tide, Santorum has focused on the danger of illegal immigration, highlighting a "no amnesty" message that could appeal to rank-and-file union members from southwest Pennsylvania and others concerned about holding their jobs. While the region is less dependent on coal and steel, manufacturing remains an important part of the economy. (Emphasis added).
Santorum is doing worse in Pittsburgh than the rest of the state? That is stunning to me. And his answer to that? Run on racism.
Turning to the other end of the state, calling "his bill on NSA surveillance is a capitulation to administration claims of executive power," an editorial from the Washington Post, Wiretap Surrender, takes Arlen Specter to task:
SENATE JUDICIARY Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has cast his agreement with the White House on legislation concerning the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance as a compromise -- one in which President Bush accepts judicial review of the program. It isn't a compromise, except quite dramatically on the senator's part. Mr. Specter's bill began as a flawed but well-intentioned effort to get the program in front of the courts, but it has been turned into a green light for domestic spying. It must not pass. (Emphasis added).In Arlen Specter: The Manchurian Senator, the Anonymous Liberal expresses astonishment at media reports of a "compromise" by the Bush Administration with the Specter legislation. However, he describes the benefits of the concession spin:
But by spinning this as some sort of capitulation on the President's part, both sides win. Specter is able to paint himself as the heroic maverick who stood up to the White House, and the White House is able to portray its dream surveillance law as something the President only reluctantly agreed to. Has anyone in the media ever read the story of Brer' Rabbit and the briar patch? The White House would like nothing better than for the media to treat this bill as some sort of moderate compromise, which is why they are pushing this particular narrative so hard.I believe the offical terminology used to describe Arlen is Gutless Republican Worm.
. . . . Specter's bill would render meaningless the statutory scheme that has been in place for the last three decades. It would instantly return us to the pre-FISA era of unfettered executive branch discretion. Seriously, if Specter had been a Manchurian candidate owned and operated by the White House, he could scarcely have done more to further their objectives.* * * *
It will be truly ironic if the Bush administration is rewarded for its law-breaking with a bill that, as recently as six months ago, no one would ever have dreamed had a snowball's chance in hell of gaining Congressional approval. This is a strategy that the GOP has mastered. First you take a position that is so outrageous and extreme that it catches everyone off guard. You then advocate for that position so stubbornly and so aggressively that, before long, you've made a lot of formerly extreme positions seem moderate by comparison. Eventually you agree to a "compromise" that replaces the status quo with something that just a short time earlier would have seemed unthinkable. It's amazing how effective this strategy is at shifting the basic terms of the debate.
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