February 13, 2009

Gregg Aftermath III

Previous Gregg analysis - impact on Gregg, impact on Obama.

There seems to be so many impacts from this, I'm beginning to think that maybe Gregg is not a Senator but rather a named Hurricane. Although I could be mistaken.

The Senator Gregg resignation as President Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary has a ripple effect on the conservative movement. How big those ripples turn out to be is still unknown. But there are three people for whom it should reverberate fairly loudly - Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. These three Turncoats, who should be drummed out of the Republican party with all the speed of a Democrat spending spree, will feel some impact from the Gregg resignation.

It's coming to the surface that all three benefited from their betrayal of conservative principle (if they ever even had it). According to a Newsmax article;

“From auto dealers to the home-building industry, big business appears to be the biggest loser in the final economic stimulus plan . . .” The Wall Street Journal online reported, noting that Democrats removed key tax cuts and benefits for business as political payback for Republicans who failed to support the plan.

Though Republicans who crossed party lines apparently got rewarded. The New York Times reported Thursday that Specter got $6.5 billion for medical research.


Well, well, well, isn't that a little better than a simple wining and dining? Now you have a liberal Republican Senator, bought off for the purpose of local pork, juxtaposed against another Republican Senator, Gregg, who on principle, withdrew his name from consideration because he realized how bad this stinkulus bill is. And worse for Collins and Snowe, in nearby territory Maine (Gregg is from New Hampshire), the effects might be even more obvious.

The net effect is that they seem even less principled in light of Gregg's resignation. The Senators shouldn't be expecting to remain untouched in the primaries for 2010. They are more likely to face opponents, hopefully decent ones, in primaries and will be harder pressed to win against an angry Republican base. Then again, if they make it past the primaries, they are probably well-positioned for the general elections, since they've managed to be the rare Republican Senators who've brought the investment back to their constituencies. And unfortunately, there's probably a pretty good chance they'd win their re-elections.

We'll have to wait to see if that's the case - hopefully they don't make it past the primaries next time around, and better still they get removed from caucusing with Republicans and lose GOP financial support.

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