Liberals: If Specter & Schwarzenegger are moderates, what makes a Republican a liberal Republican in your eyes?

I've witnessed many Liberal Democrats on this site refer to Gov of Ca Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pa congressman Arlen Specter prior to his jumping ship to the Democrat side as '; moderate Republicans '; . Schwarzenegger and Specter both supported abortion, gay rights, global warming legislation, open border anarchy for illegals and tax and spend economics, if this is what makes a Republican a moderate in your eyes, please tell me, what would make one liberal ? Thanks in advance for your answers. God bless.Liberals: If Specter %26amp; Schwarzenegger are moderates, what makes a Republican a liberal Republican in your eyes?
If they are moderates on economic/fiscal principles and/or support more government as the answer to our problems, then they are liberal, RINO republicans.





And that makes Arnie, Specter, McCain, Bush, Crist, Pawlenty, and the vast majority of the GOP, liberal republicans.





The ideal staple of the republican party for me, is moderate on social issues and conservative on fiscal/economic issues, as well as advocating limited government principles. Much like the libertarian wing of the GOP.Liberals: If Specter %26amp; Schwarzenegger are moderates, what makes a Republican a liberal Republican in your eyes?
If their tax policies are more geared to taxing the rich then they are leaning liberally, and if their preferred tax scale is flatter, they are more conservative. I also look at their leanings on policies that affect workers and businesses--if every decision they make favors businesses, they are conservative, and if every decision they make favors workers, they are liberal. Everything else is a side issue I'd expect to see some politicians break from their party on.





Global warming is the way the left is spinning the enviroment issue to be about people rather than about animals. Anyone from California is going to be for clean air, no matter what label you put on it--so that's no surprise. Abortion and gay rights are wedge issues that have little to do with anything important in politics--they are used for rabble rousing in areas that don't like abortion or gays, and are abandoned in places that do like abortion rights and have nothing against gay people. Open borders is not a liberal rallying point (and I doubt it is something anyone really supports). Tax and spend has been done by both parties for decades. In short, the things you named don't tip the scale and make someone a liberal, they just make him lean a bit that way. Tax policy and worker relations are the big difference.
i wouldn't consider Specter a moderate. i've considered him a democrat (and apparently so has he) for a long time.





i think the term liberal generally refers to how one feels about social issues (civil rights, education, govt programs of one sort or another). SO a liberal republican would probably believe in fiscal conservatism and a strong foreign policy stance. that's non-negotiable. Maybe they'd say 'whatever' about religion issues, maybe believe in a woman's right to choose, and probably think some sort of government intervention for programs like education and infrastructure are good things.





but many people will say 'that's not republican that's independent' .


i say, it should be republican, liberal moderate or whatever.
I consider a moderate republican to be more liberal on the social issues and more conservative on fiscal issues. The reason I wouldn't call them liberal is that they are reflective of the older Republican party line where social issues didn't define the party, but economic policy did.





The party has gone far enough to the right whereas most liberal Republicans would end up in the Independent party, so they're an incredibly rare breed--especially in the national stage.
It appears that you miss understand semantics. There is no such thing as a ';liberal Republican'; because if they were ';liberal'; they would be a Democrat. Moderate in this instance is how you say ';liberal'; without injecting a contradictory term into a phrase thereby making it into an oxymoron. Maybe ';progressive'; would be a better term. Hopefully these men are a sign of the future of the Republican party. They are respectable men of reason who support freedom and are willing to accept scientific and economic reasoning based on expert consensus, something most Repubs have rejected since Reagan.
uh mitt romney.





who, as governor of massachusetts (america's most liberal state) stated he would be better for gay rights than teddy kennedy.





america's most liberal governor of the past 25 years.
Bush was a liberal republican (he was NOT fiscally conservative at all)....McCain is a liberal republican. Alot of republican's nowday are ';watered down';....this is really what is wrong with the party in general.
Well I do have friends that are moderate Republicans - but if they vote Republican then obviously they are Republicans
I believe that they exist but sadly all the airwaves and forums and things of that sort are dominated by uneducated, religious zealot republicans ( much like yourself and palin)





I have no idea what makes one though.
They aren't moderates they are liberal on the most important of issues.
There are lots of people on both sides of the aisle who are liberal on some issues and conservative on others. This tends to be true of moderates. The new GOP thinks everyone should be on the far Right on all issues.