Specter: I did not say I'll be a loyal Democrat
By Nicole Belle Sunday May 03, 2009 9:00am
Here it comes. Been a Democrat for less than a week and already Arlen Specter is backtracking. Is it any clearer that this Faustian bargain made for those fabled 60 votes is no bargain at all for the majority party?
On Meet the Press, host David Gregory asks newly rebranded Senator Arlen Specter if it's true that he told President Obama that he would be loyal to his new party and support Obama's agenda.
No one could have predicted Specter's response:
Gregory: It was reported this week that when you met with the President, you said, “I will be a loyal Democrat; I support your agenda.” Let me test that on probably one of the most important areas of his agenda and that’s healthcare. Would you support healthcare reform that puts up a government-run public plan to compete with a private plan issued by a private insurance company.
Specter: No. And you misquote me, David. I did not say I would be a loyal Democrat. I did not say that. And last week, after I said I was changing parties, I voted against the budget because the budget has a way to pass healthcare with 51 votes,which undermines a basic Senate institution to require 60 votes to impose cloture on key issues.
Holy cow, where is the damn Senate leadership when you need it? Specter gets the attention he craves thumbing his nose at established political lines (listen to what he had to say when Jim Jeffords left the GOP), brags about supporting the stimulus bill but then brags about not supporting a bill that would have enabled Americans to get the healthcare plan the majority of us want without the typical gamesmanship and obstructionism that mark GOP tactics now and brags that he cannot be counted on to support the Obama/Democratic agenda despite the fact that most people think Obama is on the right track.
Woo hoo! What a great addition to the Democratic Party!
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your sort function isn't working?
That's been happening for me too. Tried to re-sort the comments and got no action at all.
What's up with that?
The system is out of sorts right now.
sort this out for me.
"which undermines a basic Senate institution to require 60 votes to impose cloture on key issues. "
I am sorry, I thought that 60 votes was to end a filibuster, which is a senator talking until the cows come home, in order to stop a law that he feels strongly about. In short, 60 votes are only required to cram a law down the throats of anyone obstructing, not a standard practice.
seems like you're wanting everybody to be in lock step... Rush er Nicole.
I too think it would be nice in order to get things passed but I have trouble with demanding that of people.
Blind obedience is a scary thing whatever side you stand on.
How odd that you say that.
However, I do think that this is the worst kind of Faustian bargain, in that in exchange for their souls, the Democrats get NOTHING but a self-interested, hypocritical politician who will not work with his own party.
For all his big talk about being independent and taking stands, when it REALLY counted, Specter was a reliable Republican party line voter. It appears that in order to save his own political skin out of being primaried out of a Senate seat, Specter still wants his constituents to know he will vote R even if there's a D by his name.
Dems get less than NOTHING from Specter's turn of coats. The Repubs can now send out fundraising after fundraising letter pointing out how the socialist agenda can now be crammed down the right's throat while having good ol' Spectre voting against them every time.
You really have to wonder about just who is running the Democratic party - or better, who they're running it for.
I think we need to openly and loudly question the wisdom of Harry Reid being the Majority Leader.
We need to have someone who is interested in getting a Democratic agenda pushed through.
I think it's late in coming. Harry Reid has no business "leading" the Senate Democrats.
Good luck with that.
We are now down to a one party hybrid system - the Bribery Party! Completely entrenched with its two wings: batshit crazy (GOP), and sellout (blue-dog corporate-horror democrats).
Between them, they ensure that corporate fascism is kept alive and well.
Harry Reid is the perfect buffoon for this role. I hope Specter gets his ass kicked in the primaries by a real democrat! Hell, at his age, he might not even make it to the primary, let alone survive it.
The failure of mortgage cramdown in the Senate is all the evidence anyone needs. So far Obama administration winners include banks, financial institutions, the military and corporate bigwigs while the losers are labor, mortgage holders, the un-insured and LGBT. Same song, different singer.
Very well put. Bravo!
Yep - it's not us - that's for sure.
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I think that's been and is being done
Not a day goes by on this blog, anyway, where I don't see posters UP IN ARMS over the leadership positions. Not only Reid's, but also Rep 'Off the Table' Pelosi, since about 2006 when the Democratic Party had some physical wins, but made absolutely NO advances.
Unless you count going from being blamed for being 'obstructionist' when they were the opposition, to being the blame for everything that is happening now, because they 'controlled' Congress since 2006 as an 'advance.'
As if. An infant has more bowel control than the Dems had after 'The Big Win' of 2006. And it's down to their 'leadership,' or lack thereof.
in voting for a bill (cloture) before he votes against it. If things can past the filibuster with his vote, I am certain PA Democratic voters can live with this bargain until the primary season is open.
I do remember Spector saying upon "conversion" that he wasn't going to be in lock step - to the point that Gregory's question seemed a non sequitur. You are probably right about the D to get re-elected only.
I repeat: Specter is getting re-election out of the Democrats, WTF are we getting from Specter?
I repeat: NOTHING!
This is Harry Reids strength. Taking a sure win situation, and turning it into a defeat, and then thinking that he won?
If he were at Appamatox Courthouse, it would have been Grant's men giving up their arms and surrendering, instead of Lee's remaining rag tag diehards. Harry would then have wired Lincoln with a big smile on his face and said "I ended the war Mr. President!"
The guy is quite simply - an incompetent! And I'm afraid, a rather dim one at that.
....think he's getting a re-election out of the deal. Blue America can make short work of that delusion. It's pretty arrogant that that pack of clowns think they can dictate who the Pennsylvanian voters will or won't accept. Their delusion is even more spectacular, given their presumption that this GOPer douchebag can win the support of the Democratic elecorate by voting against the democratic agenda. This asshole is toast.
exactly! spectors a poor mans ried or palosi ! you can depend on them to be undepedable when it counts! the democrat partys been infiltrated enough by the repigs who ran as democrats! and has been bastardized repeatedly by inbreeding with the republicans,
Wow, you don't take any lessons at all from the state of the Republican party right now? Lindsey Graham and Pat Buchannon are now the left wing of the party, and so everyone who doesn't wake up in the morning seething about abortion is voting for Democrats. The message you take out of this is that we have to follow their lead and cleanse our party too? Really? I guess I'm more interested in actually getting health care than purifying the party.
Specter will certainly be one of the most conservative Democrats in some areas, but for a long time he's also been the Republican most open to health care reform, abortion, etc. He's got a reputation and he's got to make some noise now so as not to look like he sold his convictions to the highest bidder, but he's not an idiot, he knows he's going to have to face Democratic primary voters at some point. If he makes half as many kiss-ass votes against his better judgement for the Democrats as he did for the Republicans, I'm happy to have him. You can't just hold your breath and continue to loose until everyone in the country agrees with you. It's morally very satisfying, but it's not a good way to get things done.
Lockstep? I would just like some assurances that our "new democratic senator" was hearing the same music. What Democratic ideals and principals does Specter bring? If Specter and Toomey went tooth and nail in the primary, we would have a great chance of getting a real progressive, like Joe Sestak, into the seat.
...I think Specter's move is the beginning of something that I suspected would happen. As the GOP implodes into fringe lunacy, I see many Republicans rebranding themselves as Democrats in an attempt to convert the Democratic party, which is already way to rightwing/corporatist into a new Republican party. Obama and administration is already more Republican in behavior than it is Democratic, regardless of the skillfully deployed rhetoric that they use. Both houses are controlled ny corrupt individuals who may as well be Republicans, if judged by their behavior. The psuedo-democrats call themselves "centrists", and I expect that that is the cover that "former" Republicans will use to hoodwink the gullible. The Blue dogs will begin to drop all pretense that they are Democrats. and most remaining democrats will just go along..it's what they do best. Absent the rise of a third party of progressive/liberal leanings, the only people who end up winning are the corporations and the would-be elites.
Hope I'm wrong.
Why would you?
In my opinion. As I've said this in the past. The center is where things get negotiated and settled.
I never thought he was a far left winger.
The difference is, that now, after 8+ years of far right bs.
He comes off as being more to the right than the far left would like.
I'm no fan of either extremes.
I won't pass judgment on this man or his presidency until he's got at least 3 years in. As a matter of fact, I'll wait till he nears the end of his first term. That way, I can support an alternative . If need be.
I find all this bitching and complaining to be presumptuous.
I'm no fortune teller. So I have to wait to see how this all shakes out.
I also said a long time ago that I was sure he'd do some things to piss me off.
I don't understand why so many people saw him as something entirely different that what we've had in the past.
That being said, He is different than what we've had in the past.More different than all the rest. And I'm not talking about color either.
Hey, we've got no choice now. Unless you want to impeach him.
Specter's pretty much always been an asshole. Anyone who thought it would be different hasn't been paying attention.
this
Exactly. I was much less excited about having Specter on the Democrat's side of the aisle than I was about all the bad PR inflicted on the repubs by his defection.
We still have some house cleaning to do with some of OUR OWN democrats. The ass-hat from Nebraska is about as much a democrat as my dog. These scum suckers go where the backing is.
Specter knew the repugs were done financing his campaigns....so he went someplace where they would. nelson is the same. It's time to shake out the wolves in sheeps' clothing.
This is no surprise at all.
I have watched how the Dem 'leaders' embrace turncoats (defined by me as, putting personal gain first, worse than party before people, IMHO), Magic Bullet's 'defection' is a rerun. And not a very entertaining one.
I think with Republicans there is embrace of ideology to the point that the data is ignored. But in the end, with both the Democrats and Republicans, it's really a case of who is corporate owned, and who isn't.
And we need to pay attention to who owns our corporations. It ain't Americans anymore. This Free Trade arrangement is touted as a work of genius because our trade deficits come back as foreign investment. That translates to foreign ownership of our corporations. And the percentage of foreign ownership of our domestic corporations has done nothing but rise. Welcome to the new world order, courtesy of your corporate owned politician.
Specter always talks big, boastful and brave, then votes whichever way his party directs him to. It will be interesting to see how he votes next time.
And to think that the Democratic party let him keep his seniority. If that doesn't clue people in to the fact that Congress is nothing more than a good ol' boys club, nothing will.
I have been skeptical of Specter this whole time, and have linked this post to try and push for his ousting in the primary, although I am not from Pennsylvania.
http://progressnotcongress.org/blog/?p=557
Actually, I believe Specter did vote for the stimulus. Remember, he, Snowe and Collins were taken to task by the GOP for doing so?
That aside, I hope Joe Sestak runs for the Senate seat and wipes Specter's clock by winning! I'm dubious that Democratic voters in PA are going to support Specter since he's showing himself to be a "DINO" already and it hasn't even been a week yet since he switched sides!
Maybe he sees himself as the GOP's Trojan Horse and wants to make mischief from inside the Democratic ranks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/28/obam...
WARNING FAUX NEWS LINK:
Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter have risked the wrath of their fellow Republicans and constituents to help push the controversial economic spending plan over the finish line
I think there is a difference between the stimulus bill and the budget. Also a diff between the senate and the house for voting.
I confused the Senate and the House. Again.
This was what had the RNC saying that they would run a primary challenger to Specter.
who needs him. we already have many dems who march to the drums that will get them elected. we really don't need another. let his constituency know that the repubs don't want him anymore and neither do we. this is the one area where i feel obama needs to be stonger. he needs to answer the turncoat without mincing his words or with political expediency. tell him straight out, "you're not one of us and just because you turn your back on the sinking ship of party named the Repubs, well, that doesn't give you license to proclaim dems as your new party so that we can help you, you old fart, get relected and then you turn your back on the platform. when are these guy going to learn you can't have your cake and eat it too. obama, you give me hope and make me proud, but you've really got to stop kissing ass on these guys.
Why would you want a guy who's proven his untrustworthiness? Kinda like marrying a guy who's left his wife for you - how do you know he won't do it to you when he finally gets bored?
It's not complicated math, people. Get the ground work going NOW. Take back your party from hacks like Specter. Get off your ass and do it.
The worst part is that even if a really good Dem runs in 2010 they (the Dem leadership) have promised to back Specter! Way to go, guys.
whether it's 58 or 60 ir whatever, it's past time for the dems to begin flexing their muscles and put forth an agenda with punch. thus far they care too much about their republican counterparts and trying not to offend. meanwhile, the repubs laugh and spit in their face. don't appease them, do what's right and if they want to come along then they will.
While much has been made about Obama's first 100 days, not enough has been said about the GOP's last 100.
there are some indications that being a "loyal Democrat" these days involves sweeping wars or aggression, torture and assorted other war crimes under the carpet then maybe this isn't a bad thing. It'll be lonely though just him and Kucinich.
What is the point of the Democratic Party even existing if its establishment is going to back a guy that is a Democrat in name only. This reminds me of the Ned Lamont situation all over again. Specter is the basest of cynical politicians:
http://yellingatthemoon.com/2009/04/28/sen-ar...
I wish LaMont would run against banking whore Dodd in the primaries.
Arlen Specter gets an almost assured re-election out of glomming onto the Democratic Party. Makes me wonder WTF it is we get from him?
Clinton is the one who brought this sort of existentialist politics to the Democratic Party, so you can thank him for *New Democrats* like Specter, Lieberman, Obama, Reid, etc. Actually, I don't see why you're all complaining, given that most of you supported Clinton and continue to support *moderate* Democrats.
Far out, man!
Not me, I think they suck! I would rather see republicans win those seats until we can get some real democrats elected.
With so-called supporters like the blue dogs, who needs republicans?
If he's going to vote the way he wants regardless of party then it doesn't necessarily hurt the dems if he's a dem or repub, BUT it does hurt repubs in the perception war as their party gets smaller and smaller.
Spector needs to be exposed and we need to keep exposing him until 2010. He will lose the election unless he votes for universal healthcare. We have GOT to have term limits for EVERY elected official. That is the only way to get rid of the garbage.
..is going to get his ass kicked in the next election.
What do we get out of Arlen Specter in return for allowing him to keep his senority and the rumor that the Democratic establishment will support his re-election? Hell, I can call myself a Republican if I wanted to but since I am more progressive than most Democrats, it wouldn't make it true just by calling myself that.
He switched parties to avoid the GOP shit-brand and a possible re-election loss, demanded and received his seniority despite jumping parties, and then tells the party that he's not going to be a team player.
Tell him thanks, but no thanks. Go back to the GOP.
what the Dims gained from this maneuver.
I know it wouldn't have happened without the connivance of "thePrez".
This is especially troubling because of its coincidence with the occasion of the first SCROTUS nomination.
The only explanation I can concoct is that the Dims got orders to shoot themselves in the foot, 'cuz the People were getting uppity, and might make waves...
It looks like the Democrats got the shitty end of the Arlen stick. I don't expect blind loyalty but a little help for the team now and then would be nice. So far, everything I've heard the guy say is to aver that he has no intention of supporting the president or his agenda.
which needs one member of the miority to move a nomination...
him switching now, and the Dims welcoming him, puts that in the hands of John Cornyn. Look at the Pukes on that Committee, and it looks REAL bad for any nominee NOT acceptable to the fucktard right getting to the Floor...
If they don't they have no chance of swinging him to their agenda. By welcoming him, at least there is a chance. Even saying they will support him in the upcoming primaries doesn't say how much they will support him.
Why can't he see it? It's pretty obvious.
Who the hell is shocked by this? He wasn't loyal as a Thug. He switched parties for primary help. He SAID that's why he did it.
And wasn't he a Dem before going Thug? The Dems should back someone else in the primary too.
The only loyal traitor I've seen is Loserman -- he's been totally loyal to the Thugs for decades.
During the revolutionary war the rich landowners here and fat British and their mercenaries wore the finer died garments ala Redcoats. When they hung out in a gang of thugs nobody took the Red coat bullies on frontally. But alone they turned their coats inside out because they are your basic cowards. Thus the name turncoat or party switcher.
About the single bullet THEORY ( Why do republicans worship this THEORY and reject the theory of evolution?) and the sin of commission or the sin of omission .
arlin wraps up both in his roll to cover up the Kennedy assassination.He combines two sins into one a lie about a single bullet hitting three targets ,commission, with leaving out the frontal head shot,omission,therefore misleading the nation towards finding out who committed the TREASON. Thanks.
arlin I admired President Kennedy the Democratic President whose brains where blow out and covered up by TRAITORS and you arlin in no way measure up to the soles of Democratic President Kennedy shoes and in no way represent Democratic or American values. Are you a duel citizen, since your staff won't answer the question?
The answer is simple: A choice between two Republicans in the general election for a six year seat in the Senate. Case closed.
And even if PA Dems are lucky enough to defeat Spector in the Democratic primary despite Obama's support, I wouldn't be surprised to see Spector pull a Lieberman and run as an Independent.
Spector talks like he's royalty and is somehow entitled to the seat. It's the most nauseating news event of the weekend, second only to the Pittsburgh Penguins' loss to the Capitols in hockey yesterday.
if he loses in the primary, Penn. has a "no sore losers" law, which prohibits the very same crap we saw not-so-holy-Joe Lieberman pull in Ct in 2006.
It's because of that law that Specter decided his only move was to switch parties.
Agree completely with the view that Specter feels entitled to his seat.
I've found that when elected officials start feeling entitled to their office, as opposed to having to earn another term, is when they usually get slapped in the face by the reality of defeat.
Here's hoping that plays out with a successful Dem challenger to Specter in the primary.
a well known atheist holding a press conference to declare his conversion to catholicism. then spending the next week explaining to everyone that he doesn't believe in god. or the other way around, whatever floats your boat.
So, he doesn't believe in Democratic ideals, he won't vote for Democratic programs, but he's .... Democrat?
On what planet? In what alternate universe?
Tell me again why any self respecting Dem would vote for "magic bullet" Specter over any - and I do mean any - REAL Liberal who ran against him???
Personally, I think we need some new political categories - and this applies to both parties - namely Corporatists and/or Careerists. Men and women who don't represent us, but rather only represent transnational corporations or their own egos.
And if either set would like to form their OWN party, I heartily encourage them to. But please stay the flipping hell out of MINE!
Said it better than I ever could!
Would be to have Arlen LOSE the dem primary and whoever the dem candidate is, beat Toomey. Thus dems get the seat, and everyone is happy cause there is one less asshole in the senate.
Say what? A basic Senate institution? So he's saying the filibuster has been institutionalized? He's saying that now it is the basic institution of the Senate to require 60 votes on everything? This is what's wrong today. The filibuster is the Republican's way of holding on to power with their fingernails. They've used it so much, they now call it a basic Senate institution.
The only thing I can hope for is that this will backfire and their obstruction will lead the country to keep pushing back until there are only 38 Republicans in the Senate and they have no power to do anything, even in an ideological emergency. . .which is what the filibuster was always supposed to be.
Someone once told me that Republicans always destroy themselves in politics. It's been a long road, but I'm beginning to believe it.
Nice going Harry Reid. You've got a real winner here.
Arlen Sphincter is a political opportunist. He knows the Republican brand is toxic, so he brands himself a Democrat. And then he proceeds to spout the same Republican rhetoric thinking his electorate is stupid.
I don't live in Pennsylvania, but if the party doesn't run a primary opponent against this snake, they're crazy.
Remember how Reid allowed Lieberman to keep his seniority and how Lieberman repaid the party standing beside Lindsay Grahmn as a McCain bookend all through the campaign. Spectar is another Lieberman. He will be a bigger thorn as a DEM than as a Republican. I hope Sestak runs against him in the primary. The guy is a much better candidate that Spectar and I think he has a good shot at winning. Spectar is not only a self serving pain in the behind, but is getting long in the tooth for running a successful campaign. Sestak is extremely articulate, energetic and a good candidate.
Specter says screw off, gets plush committee assignments by decree of Harry Reid. He then tells Reid to bite the chain, votes against the majority wishes. He knows how effective this is, because he has seen an example in Lieberman. Change party, get perks. A party that doesn't need them, and loses when the work they do for the opposition is taken into account of the total obstruction created by their gop agenda. He doesn't seem able to understand that traitors do not generally provide allegiance. Yet he rewards them as if heroes? If these junior senator punks found out they were of questionable value and dubious merit, and powerless nothings, would they threaten to go back to the GOP? Oh sure, like they would be welcomed back.
What kind of game looks like it was created by an 8 year old and grown ups play it? I mean besides religion?
This shows once again that we don't need more Democrats in Congress - we need BETTER Democrats in Congress.
I mean who thought he was going to be loyal? He left the dems when being a repub was better for his career, and now he's leaving the repubs when being a dem is better for a career.
I mean I don't believe in 'party loyalty' anyway, pols should vote what they think is right regardless of party. Nonetheless, anyone expecting loyalty from Specter hasn't been paying attention.
He is nothing if not a an opportunist. Worse than worthless, he is a distraction.
With respect to health care, Specter has a lot of company, including many Democrats, including Obama.
The savings that the American public would receive if we copied the way health care is provisioned in Europe, Canada, or Japan probably exceeds $600B. Do we expect corporate America to relinquish those amounts? Hell no, their political minions will fight mightily to continue to rip the public off.
One thing, on Face the Nation, where Specter makes sense is to increase medical research. Cures will decrease costs, whereas maintenance regimes are good for enhancing shareholder value. So, for profit research is unlikely to yield cures.
And remember, the media is doing a good job of keeping the dollar amounts out of the public debate and keeping the focus on ideology, namely capitalism versus socialism. (However, I say that national self insurance is the fiscally conservative approach.) The media hasn't changed since the days that they cheer leaded getting us into the Iraq war, not a bit. The $600B argument would sway many Americans who are undecided on this issue.
Is only a ploy to get elected yet again!
To screw the people while making money for specter.
I hope the people of penn see through this lying sack of shit and send him home for good.
With friends like specter we don't need enemies!
If the Democrats don't run a primary against this asshole, they're fucking hopeless.
Remember O'Reilly when someone called him a republican he got upset and stated that he was an independent, until someone came up with a copy of his voter registration that showed him as a registered republican? So he went and changed his registration. Now Specter is doing the same thing. He feels like O'Reilly in that he thinks by changing the label, you change the contents. Like going to the market looking for peas but buying beans instead. So when you get home you just put a PEAS label on the can, and VOILA! You now have a can of peas.
Not so fast! You see all the republicans now claiming that they are not republicans, that they are really conservatives. Just change the label.
PA now needs to get the grassroots together and start pushing for a real Democrat to run in 2010. Specter says he is not representing a party or an ideology, but the people he represents. Please inform the turncoat that the people have shifted - significantly - to the left and if he wants to represent the people, he too needs to shift to the left. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WANT HEALTHCARE, and claiming that private industry, not the government runs things more effectively and efficiently, one needs only look at the pervasive corruption caused by greed that got us where we are today, then compare that to Medicare and Social Security. as they are just simply humming along like a well-oiled machine.
Also, I have never asked this before, but Harry Reid needs to resign, or needs to removed from his leadership position. What he is doing is slapping loyal Democrats in the face by recognizing his longevity. Specter will want a chairmanship, under no condition should that be allowed. He needs to first prove that he is worthy of sitting on the other side of the aisle and having voted against the budget was not a way to start that process.
I will also point out that I have never liked Specter. Too much Hee and Haw. Talking about this and that and the voting the opposite.
Nothing gets changed by just changing the label.
I'd like to see Obama back out of this one. I suspect Obama will find some way...like one crucial vote of Spector's over the next year in which he fails to deliver as promised.
Why Obama just didn't say "Welcome!" and leave it at that surprises me. Why make promises of political support when there's no need?
... we did not recruit him - he came begging.
If Specter hangs himself, Obama and every other Democrat with a brain will ostracize his ass. Specter has zero leverage.
Where's he gonna go?
My first thought was he'd go the Lieberman route and run as an Independent, but Spector is so unpopular in Pennsylvania that he'd have trouble getting enough signatures.
Pennsylvania is tough on Independents. Spector may need about 27,000 signatures to run as an Independent.
In Pennsylvania, the standard is 2% of the number of votes that the top vote-getter received in the previous statewide election, one of the more daunting signature requirements in the country. The 2009 statewide judicial elections will determine exactly how many signatures an independent running for Senate in 2010 will need, but Ballot Access guru Richard Winger estimated based on previous elections it would be around 27,000.
Source:
http://ballotbox.governing.com/2009/04/27000-...
That he snookered Specter by saying all that.
If Specter wants to keep his political life going, he'll have to vote for a number of things with the Dems.
He's gone in the next election. It really doesn't matter.
The GOPers won't turn out for him. And the majority of Dems won't either.
So I expect Specter to vote GOP. All the way.
I think it was an attempt to snooker Specter on Obama's part. An olive branch if you will.
Won't work. This will all pass. But Specter will demand a few pounds of flesh for his votes. Each and every time.
...he may as well take his wrinkled ass back to the party that DOESN'T WANT HIM! Alren Specter has no chips to play. Prove yourself to be a loyal Democrat or go fuck yourself old man!
...traitorous, completely untrustworthy SOB. This sorry, arrogant selfish old bastard coming to the Democratic party and telling them who's in charge. Send this fucker back to the Republicans.
won't be a loyal democrat? HE'LL FIT RIGHT IN!
Absolutely no surprise here -- and there are TONS more people with sharper heads for politics than I. Best thing I could say is that, from time to time, the Dems don't have to work so hard to get Sen. Specter's support for/against a piece of legislation.
In fact, it was of such little shock to me that I posted a kitschy photo instead on the day of Specter's announcement. Just because I could.
Looks like Specter is a man who uses his mind more than the regular Republican.
From Wikipedia,
In 1965, Specter ran for District Attorney, on the Republican ticket as a registered Democrat. He handily beat incumbent Jim Crumlish, and subsequently changed his registration to Republican. Although a supporter of capital punishment, as prosecutor he questioned the fairness of the Pennsylvania death penalty statute in 1972.
In 1998 and 1999, Specter criticized his own party for its impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Believing that Clinton had not received a fair trial, Specter famously cited Scots law to render a verdict of "not proven" on Clinton's impeachment. However, his verdict was recorded as "not guilty" in the Senate records.
and the democrats always appear willing to be made fools of. their puppetmasters are quite adept. the dems don't even use stern language anymore.
Specter sounds just like Nixon. And just as tricky it would see,
Specter is toast. No way will any Republican vote for him after he bailed on them. He won't toe the line for the Democrats so his challenger will win the primary. If Specter voted pure Democratic then he may have a chance. But he won't do it.
Great. Just another friggin' Blue Dog! Here's hoping that the states who sent these bastards can replace them in the next election cycle. Enough sabotaging middle-class America!
I had more respect for the Senator when he was a repig. I'm not quite sure why the Dems accepted him into the fold, but this man is nothing but a rat. I wouldn't be surprised if one of his old gang members puts a shiv in his side when the Senators are out in the exercise yard after lunch break. For a man who has done almost 30 years in the big house, that would be a blessing... for us.
I'm a PA Dem and there is nothing he said here that would entice me to vote for him. He's Democrat in title only. I hope we can eliminate him in the primary.
I hope Congressman Sistak runs against him in the Dem. primary.
On an NPR gameshow yesterday they made a point of Specter being the guy who came up with the "Single Bullet" theory in the Kennedy assassination...saying that it helped explain his move, back..and to the left.
Just don't expect democrats to vote for you buddy. We don't lie down and roll over for crap like you.
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Another classic stupid move by Reid and the Democrats . The Dems are in need of new leadership .
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