![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Just over 24 hours before I vote, and I'm still undecided about who I'm going to cast my vote for in the election.
Clearly, I'm talking about the Senate race between Specter and Hoeffel in Pennsylvania.
Specter used to be my favorite Republican, for a long time. He never used to blindly vote with his party. He thought for himself on many issues, even highly politicized ones. For example, he voted "not proven" on the Clinton articles of impeachment. So not only was his vote recorded as "not guilty", thus setting him against his party, but he drew attention to himself while doing so. But in the past few years, he's gotten worse and worse at this, and is now almost a down-the-line Republican. So I'd be inclined to vote against him.
Thing is, though, he's still staunchly pro-choice. And if the Republicans retain control of the Senate, which is looking more and more likely, then he'll be the chair of the Judiciary Committee. In other words, he'll be the second most important person in the country when it comes to appointing judges. I like Hoeffel more than Specter in general, but my worst nightmare is Bush winning the White House, the Republicans keeping the Senate, and someone other than Specter running Senate Judiciary.
So what to do?
Clearly, I'm talking about the Senate race between Specter and Hoeffel in Pennsylvania.
Specter used to be my favorite Republican, for a long time. He never used to blindly vote with his party. He thought for himself on many issues, even highly politicized ones. For example, he voted "not proven" on the Clinton articles of impeachment. So not only was his vote recorded as "not guilty", thus setting him against his party, but he drew attention to himself while doing so. But in the past few years, he's gotten worse and worse at this, and is now almost a down-the-line Republican. So I'd be inclined to vote against him.
Thing is, though, he's still staunchly pro-choice. And if the Republicans retain control of the Senate, which is looking more and more likely, then he'll be the chair of the Judiciary Committee. In other words, he'll be the second most important person in the country when it comes to appointing judges. I like Hoeffel more than Specter in general, but my worst nightmare is Bush winning the White House, the Republicans keeping the Senate, and someone other than Specter running Senate Judiciary.
So what to do?
no subject
no subject
And from recent history, it seems like Specter cares more about toeing the party line than voting his conscience. As another poster mentioned, he voted YES on the "Partial-Birth" Abortion Ban. He also voted YES on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act 2004 - which seems to have no practical purpose beyond setting the groundwork for anti-choice activists to further promote their belief that unborn fetuses are people (and therefore abortion is murder).
I'm voting Hoeffel.
(Not that he seems to have much of a chance.)
no subject