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The New York Times<\/em> just reported:<\/a><\/p>\nSpecter’s announcement reflects an estrangement from the increasingly authoritarian, hard-right ideologues who now control the shattered remnants of the Republican Party. In California, the Republican Party passed a resolution<\/a> to deny funding to six Republican lawmakers who joined with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats, passing a budget to prevent this state from falling into an economic abyss. In the U.S. House of Representatives, every Republican acted as one to say “no”\u009d to a vital stimulus, offering only the very measures that led to the current economic meltdown”\u201dtax cuts for the wealthy. Three Republican Senators, Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, had no sooner broke ranks in voting for a compromise version of the stimulus package before they found themselves targeted by conservative groups<\/a>, with Specter facing a primary challenge from hard-right Republican Pat Toomey.<\/p>\n It is a testament to how far the remnants of the Republican Party have moved to the right that RNC Chairman Michael Steele suggests<\/a> Specter would have been defeated by Toomey because of the former moderate Republican’s “left-wing voting record.” <\/p>\n