Post #357 R.I.P. Arlen Specter

I liked Arlen Specter -- he always seemed to go against the prevailing wind. The Senate could use a few more like him.

At least, he wasn't a tool... unlike Richard Burr ® of North Carolina. Burr is part of the problem -- elected in '94 with a promise to leave in 12 years ("Contract With America," item 10), he has stayed and stayed in D.C. I'd thought Burr would share the North Carolina value of not voting for something without paying for it -- the only exception is during a time of Constitutionally-declared war. But Burr fell in with the other smiling Republicans and voted for, as a Representative, George W. Bush's inflated and unbalanced budgets and, as a Senator, Bush's infamous Plan D for Medicare -- the largest expansion of government into health care since the start of Medicare, an expansion that wasn't paid for. And Burr blames President Obama for his own irresponsibility. Frankly, Burr is an embarrassment to North Carolina,

Godspeed, Arlen Specter. We'll miss you.