• Arlen Specter,  Jeff Denham

    Video: Arlen Specter – The Republican Party Contributed to Jack Kemp’s Death

    May 4, 2009 /
    Democrat Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter on Face theNation yesterday speaking about medical research, the Republican Party and Jack Kemp

    This type of rhetoric is why Arlen Specter whether a Republican or Democrat will NOT and should NOT be re-elected to the Senat in 2010. He has simply lost his mind.

    Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Democrat, said part of the reason he left the Republican Party last week was disillusionment with its healthcare priorities, and suggested that had the Republicans taken a more moderate track, Jack Kemp may have won his battle with cancer.

    Mr. Specter, responding to a question from CBS’s Bob Schieffer over whether he had let down Pennsylvanians who wanted a Republican to represent them, said he felt his priorities were more in line with those of the Democrats.

    “Well, I was sorry to disappoint many people. Frankly, I was disappointed that the Republican Party didn’t want me as their candidate,” Mr. Specter said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But as a matter of principle, I’m becoming much more comfortable with the Democrats’ approach. And one of the items that I’m working on, Bob, is funding for medical research.”

    Key graph:

    “If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved or prolonged many lives, including mine.”

    How can anyone, particularly a person weilding tremendous political power, get away with saying something like this. The statement is simply absurd.

    It is way past the time that the voters of Pennsylvania retire Specter from the Senate.

    Update:

    Here are some figures from Heritage that suggest Senator Specter is just a little mistaken about health care spending.

    During Republican control of Congress, federal spending on health research and regulation increased 46% after inflation,
    from $49 billion a year to $72 billion a year, or about 7% increase
    each year.  That’s almost the same rate of increase as Defense spending
    got in the same period (48%), when we actually had a real war on our
    hands, and not a political contrivance for excusing federal spending.

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  • Jack Kemp

    Jack Kemp 1935 – 2009

    May 3, 2009 /
    Jack_Kemp

    California Gov. Ronald Reagan, right, and his special assistant Jack Kemp, discuss football in his office in Scaramento, Calif., July 3, 1967. Kemp, who had been working as member of the governor’s staff since February, will leave California the following week to begin training for his 11th year in pro football. On Saturday, May 2, 2009, a spokesperson said Kemp, a former quarterback, congressman and one-time vice-presidential nominee, has died.

    Jack Kemp has passed away.

    Jack Kemp, the former pro quarterback who turned fame on the gridiron into a career in national politics and a crusade for lower taxes, has died of cancer at age 73.

    Family spokeswoman Marci Robinson said Kemp died shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday, surrounded by his family and pastor. Kemp died at his home in Bethesda, Md., in the Washington suburbs, friends said.

    Kemp’s office announced in January that he had been diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer. By then, however, the cancer was in an advanced stage and had spread to several organs, former campaign adviser Edwin J. Feulner said. He did not know the origin of the cancer.

    Kemp, a former quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, represented western New York for nine terms in Congress, leaving the House for an unsuccessful presidential bid in 1988.

    Eight years later, after serving a term as President George H.W. Bush’s housing secretary, he made it onto the national ticket as Bob Dole’s running-mate.

    With that loss, the Republican bowed out of political office, but not out of politics. In speaking engagements and a syndicated column, he continued to advocate for the tax reform and supply-side policies — the idea that the more taxes are cut the more the economy will grow — that he pioneered.

    The last time Flap saw Jack Kemp in person was at Flap, Jr.’s high school graduation at Oaks Christian School, in Westlake Village, California where he spoke at his graduation. A great speech from a great person.

    May he rest in peace.

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