A Migrating Maine Snowe-Bird
Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine has a reputation for what her supporters call “independent thinking” — which in the past has essentially meant that she only supports her party on matters of procedure in the Senate.
Since Arlen Specter finally switched parties, Snowe has been the leading light of the so-called RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), or, rather, the most infuriating example. What has most irked people of late? Snowe volunteered to head to the White House to ensure that Obama’s socialized medicine proposal continues along its merry way. While commentators on both sides of the aisle have declared the bill rather dead, she is keen to revive it.
This is not the first time Snowe has gone out of her way to be the bugbear of the Republican Party. On Specter, she deemed all Republicans who felt he was in the wrong party constituted the “far right.” She described Club for Growth as “far right.” She has also said:
If the Republican Party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle.
I am sure that some of her supporters might find it unreasonable to take great exception to her labeling Republicans not in sync with her to be fascist or Nazi, as that is what “far right” is generally understood to mean. It would seem unthinkable that the veteran senator and political operative would not know what her words imply. But then again, this is a person who made it clear she was supporting Sotomayor before all the horse-trading began in the Senate. Snowe was proud to support someone who made statements that would be considered racist in extremis had they come from anyone white.
It’s not just Republicans whom Snowe upsets lately. Those who believe in the First Amendment and internet freedom are worried that she seems to think its entirely reasonable for the president to take control of the internet and limit its access in the case of a national “emergency.” Senator Snowe and a Democratic counterpart pushed this idea, to the consternation of much of the virtual world:
“We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs — from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records — the list goes on,” Senator Jay Rockefeller said.
Snowe echoed her colleague, saying: “If we fail to take swift action, we, regrettably, risk a cyber-Katrina.”
So when will the Republican Party grow a pair? When will they really decide that principle outweighs the number of seats they hold (because she and others are going to vote with the socialists anyway)? When is the Republican Party going to act…well Republican? So for their actions do not match their words.
It wouldn’t bother me if she switched parties either and for the very same reasons that I was happy to see Snarlin’ Arlen go.
Olympia Snowe feels that she is invisible. She is openly daring the Republican party and her voters in Maine to do anything about her actions. It’s time to call her on it and get rid of her. If we don’t, she’ll know for sure that she can do as she pleases without any consequences.
Let’s not forget that it was Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter and Susan Collins who voted for the Porkulus Bill. All three of them need to be ousted!
Olympia Snowe, like Minnesotans before the entitlement crowd from other states (poor whites and disabled included) took up their invitation and flooded their cities, is a Cold-Country Socialist — like the Swedes.
But like Swedes, scratch a Mainer and you’ll find a Nazi. She just doesn’t know, it the poor imbecile.
She’s Dagney Taggart before Galt taught her a lesson in the train tunnel. (Olympia Snowe?? Gawd, just think of it!)
Why doesn’t she just switch parties now! On crucial issues she votes with the socialists anyway.
4. Pelaut: “… the entitlement crowd from other states (poor whites and disabled included) …. scratch a Mainer and you’ll find a Nazi.”
Quick, PM, hire this guy as one of your bloggers. He’d fit right in.
it must be hella fun micro managing the small people from the senate. you have power but no responsibility.
chuck shummer needs to warn us about more failing California banks.
But like Swedes, scratch a Mainer and you’ll find a Nazi. She just doesn’t know, it the poor imbecile.
I detect a touch of sarcasm.
I do not always agree with them, but there are times when real mavericks and/or party rebels really are amazing. I remember Wallace, a democrat, when he came to a rally in Detroit in 1968, man…I never seen a crowd so crazy with exitement and he knew exactly how to play it to. He was good. People dont talk about it much anymore, but I watched him lead the entire south right out of the democratic party and some democrats were happy…but I can tell you that the democratic party still has not fully recovered..so was it smart to alienate the south?
Senator Snowe is not really a threat like that and I dont think republicans have much to worry about there, the party would do well to listen to them.. unless they just want to boot her on one issue. Northeast republicans and west coast republicans (both coasters) have always been on the moderate to left (Nixonian) wing of the party. I dont think it wise to lose them, but that is only my opinion. I am not a republican or a democrat but if the republicans continue to operate with one eye then they have little hope of regaining power. Senators like Snowe and Collins and a few others along with most of the northeastern and far west republicans are two groups that republicans cannot afford to further alienate in 2010.
Next election for her is 2012.
Hugh Hewitt started a flood of contributions to Danny Tarkanian, challenging Harry Reid in NV. It involves contributing $10 to Tarkanian, and writing Reid that you are doing so, and if Health Care passes, there is more $ where that came from. This idea can be used for challengers to Snowe as well. I think we need to remember that come 2012.
Ah, the pre-emptive demonization of a possible swing vote. Lovely. It’s true, there are no depths to which conservatives will not stoop.
talk about a snow job. well Snowe is the meaning of it. get her out with all the rest of the incumbants. vote them all out. clean up the pig trough
Portland Press Herald article today:
“These days, Snowe ‘most powerful’ member of Senate”
Maine’s Olympia Snowe might be President Obama’s best shot at a compromise on health care…
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=281328&ac=PHnws
gag me.
This “trigger” idea should be thrown back into Snowe’s face. How about a “trigger” that would require any government program that didn’t live up to its claims be abolished and the work be taken up by the private sector with no government interference. Wouldn’t a “centrist,” “moderate,” be willing to be consistent if she were an honest person? How come “triggers” apply only one way?
Two things:
1. Do we have to wait for Olympia Snowe to leave the Republican party or can the party kick her out?
2. The “Christian Democratic model” is “right-of-center socialism” only in the sense that the entire continent of Europe is socialist. The European center on the political spectrum would be somewhere around -50, so right-of-center is still less than zero. What people call the far right is anything on the positive side of the spectrum.
SNOWE IS A BENEDICT ARNOLD….SHE STANDS FOR NOTHING BUT HERSELF..LIKE MOST OF OUR POLITICIANS TODAY…YOU ARE BLIND TO THINK THAT THESE POLITICIANS CARE ABOUT US…THEY ARE ONLY CONCERNED ABOUT HEIR OWN POCKETS.
CAPITALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION MEAN NOTHING TO MOST OF THESE POLITICIANS..THERE ARE A FEW POLITICIANS THAT REMEMBER THE CONSTITUTION, BUT THEY ARE FAR AND FEW BETWEEN..POLITICIANS HAVE BECOME GREEDY,THEN THEY GIVE US THAT GREAT BIG SMILE AND THAT COMPASSIONATE WINK; ALL THE WHILE RIPPING US OFF…AND OUR GRANDCHILDREN…
WAKE UP THEY WANT US TO BE THEIR SLAVES, WE ALREADY ARE TO AN EXTENT…GOVERNMENT GETS BIGGER AND WE GET SMALLER…I AM ASHAMED THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN…FIGHT BACK BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. THEY STOLE OUR SOCIAL SECURITY MONIES, MEDICARE MONIES…AND THEY WANT MORE FROM US….ARE WE HAVING FUN YET!
JENNIFER
AMARILLO, TEXAS
Apparently, her seat is not up for bid in 2010 or she would be walking on eggshells like the rest.
Because then she wouldn’t be able to provide Obama and the democrats in congress the “bipartisan” cover they so desire.
Because then she wouldn’t be able to provide Obama and the democrats in congress the “bipartisan” cover they so desire.
A nice fishing trip perhaps
Mr.Grumpyoldfart
Let me get this straight: She votes with the Democrats on important issues… but that’s okay, becasue if the RNC didn’t spent donantion money badly needed in battleground states to support her, we might get someone in her seat who might vote with the Democrats on important issues.
That the logic?
No thanks.
There’s a horn on “Yellow Snowe’s” nose!
I wouldn’t go as far as to say Snowe is a moron, but she certainly has very convoluted thinking, just like liberals. Gee, perhaps she should switch her party affiliation? I think she would feel better, and I know I would.
I am a conservatine and I will stoop real low to get rid of the RINOs so there is your answer #11
You wingnuts have been played for fools. Here’s the bottom line and it’s becoming all too clear as we speak. The Dems need only one more vote (that would be Snowe or Collins) to invoke cloture (because Kennedy has passed on) and end debate. Those Democrats who are opposed to the health care reform bill, for whatever reason, can vote against the bill once it reaches the floor (and we have a guess as to who they might be). However, they will not vote against bringing the bill to the floor. Health care reform passes! This idea that Republicans have been blocking this has been a side show all along. On a side note, Olympia Snowe is well liked by her Maine constituents, what anyone else thinks doesn’t matter.
The only way Olympia Snowe can keep getting re-elected in Maine, which is basically a touchy-feely liberal state, is to snake her hand across the aisle so far that she can’t retract it any more. Republicans keep voting for her because there is no other candidate who can get elected as a Republican, and she votes with the party just often enough to keep the voters on the right placated. But having lived there I don’t see any hope that Maine will get a real Republican any time in the near future.
The arrogance of this woman is suffocating. She is completely ignoring the 53% of the people who do not want this form of health care and saying that SHE knows best. How can any rational person that has listened to the public debate these past few weeks not now that we want reform of the existing rules and laws concerning our present system but not a complete overhaul? Why can’t they vote on how to reduce cost on Medicare first and see how well they do there before takeing on the entire system and screwing it up? Where is her common sense?
RINOs are tough. On one hand, Snowe will support the GOP more than a Dem holding the same seat, and it’s doubtful a real Republican could win the seat. On the other hand, the harm RINOs cause to the party brand may hurt GOP candidates in other states.
Snowe and Collins are the pinup girls for TERM LIMITS FOR ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS.
And, yes, I am shouting.
i have to disagree. Snow is a party of one. So long as those maroons keep sending her back to Washington, we all get cheap entertainment. Not that I need it. I TIVO’d the Kennedy funeral. Whenever I need a laugh I just watch it.
Jennifer, you touched on it briefly. Snowe and her counterpart Collins are politicians first. Do you think anyone would give them a second thought if they voted consistantly along either party’s lines? No, they are persistently courted by both sides of the aisles, pushing them artificially to some kind of “importance.” It truly is about them, and you better believe they love it. I actually supported the wild-eyed liberal running against Collins in the last election, thinking that the rest of this wild-eyed liberal state would do the same, with the ultimate outcome of the GOP able to position a conservative in the next race. However, it seems that Mainers relish seeing their senators on the evening news in the midst of greasy politicians attempting to sway their “important” votes. There are some conservatives in this state, and we will keep fighting: a few red dots in a blue state.
Snow and the likes of Her are the reason all contributions to the GOP have stopped. Wake up GOP!
PLEASE! don’t wake up the GOP!
They’re the ones that got us into this mess.
Wake up the non-voters and the so-called Independents and the Dems who aren’t true-believers. NOT the Nelson Rockefeller Country Club GOP!
Senastor Snowe and Collins from Maine and Senator Spectre were the three Senators who crossed lines to support and pass the so called Stimulus Bill, that started our path down this road of excessive spending and what may turn out to be the downfall of America. The people of Maine should seriously consider recalling their senators and holding a new special election. Certainly, the Republican Party should exclude them from any ballot in the next election cycle, and if possible run them out of this country.
It is not that I believe that they should hold the party line. I do not believe either party should, but it is because the so-called Stimulus Bill is nothing of the sort.
And as for those nay-sayers who point to a currently improving economy, I would point out that the economy is right on time for when it was supposed to turn around had no Stimulus Bill been passed. The Stimulus Bill, Budget Plan, Bank Bailouts (round two which snuck through under the presses radar), Green Jobs Act, huge unwarranted Bailouts, planned homeowner bailouts, Healthcare Government Takeover, and still to come Tax Reform have doomed us to a very flat recovery and probable second dip DEPRESSION. I would not be surprised to see the true unemployment rate (currently over 15%) to reach 20-25%.
A lot of you are right, she is about herself first and staying power at all costs. The days of people walking away from money over principle are long gone.
She should switch, get voted in or out as a Democrat, and live a cleaner life. At least we would know what side she stands on. Her getting out of the way would open a slot for another more conservative common sense person to run in her place.
The people of Maine know Snowe’s record. If they want to continue to vote her into office that is their prerogative.
They get what they ask for.
Before anyone from another state complains they need to look into their own backyard and the fact that Maine voters return the likes of Snowe to the Senate is really no one else’s business.
Last I checked there is no requirement that a candidate for Senate (or any other elective seat for that matter) be in lockstep with any political ideology.
Grow up. If any of you want blind adherence to any political ideology then perhaps you ought to read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to further your education.
The fault is not Snowe’s, she is a known quanity,
it is the voters of Maine.
Nina (#26) I understand how this my look from your perspective. I don’t know where you live now but I’m guessing maybe it is the south or another area of the country where Republicans tend to be more conservative on the political spectrum. There is nothing unusual about Senator Snowe and her moderate voting record. This has been the case with northeastern Republicans for as long as I can remember. It’s nothing new at all. On the flip side I have lived in states where the Democrat is more to the right than I would prefer. The bottom line, and you can squawk about it all you want, is that Senator Snowe (and Collins) represent the people of THEIR STATE. They represent the people who vote for them. What anyone else thinks is irrelevant (especially those on this message board). I know, I know, you want ideological purity, and for her to stick with the team. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Never has, never will.
Nina (#26) I understand how this my look from your perspective. I don’t know where you live now but I’m guessing maybe it is the south or another area of the country where Republicans tend to be more conservative on the political spectrum. There is nothing unusual about Senator Snowe and her moderate voting record. This has been the case with northeastern Republicans for as long as I can remember. It’s nothing new at all. On the flip side I have lived in states where the Democrat is more to the right than I would prefer. The bottom line, and you can squawk about it all you want, is that Senator Snowe (and Collins) represent the people of THEIR STATE. They represent the people who vote for them. What anyone else thinks is irrelevant (especially those on this message board). I know, I know, you want ideological purity, and for her to stick with the team. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Never has, never will.
TOhio wrote: Olympia Snowe feels that she is invisible. She is openly daring the Republican party and her voters in Maine to do anything about her actions. It’s time to call her on it and get rid of her. If we don’t, she’ll know for sure that she can do as she pleases without any consequences.
I ponder:
What a difference the letter n can make.
Snowe’s obviously in need of a replacement. Surely Maine can do better? Right?
I understand that Ms. Snowe was roundly booed at a recent gathering of Maine Republican party insiders. There is not one person in our local Republican organization who will ever vote for her or work for her again. I suspect we are not alone.
Just so you know her idea for the internet is out of committee. Remember the last thing she voted out of committee? The disaster that is Obamacare.