Welcome, Arlen Specter

[OscarGuy]

I think what it does it sends a signal to moderate Republicans across the country. I recognize it as political opportunism and I read an article where Specter admitted just that. But, when a moderate changes affiliations, you get other names speaking out about it. Olympia Snowe, for example, came out against the Pubes for creating the environment that would make such a defection capable. It will energize the Pubes to hopefully shed their right-wing image and start embracing anti-nutcase stances. This is a win for Liberals as much as for anyone as it further isolates the nutters from the power base instead of the well-defined place they have presently.

It also means that a lot of Pubs may also follow suit and switch to the Democratic party, especially if they feel a Republican can do so and still accomplish something. This will strength the base of the democratic party, which should allow further segmentation of the electorate and bring more races into the fold. We'll see, though.

[Mister Tee]

Apparently many people discovered this new board before I did. This news on Monday was the first time I found myself openly irritated I couldn't post on an issue.

Of course this was an act of pure opportunism on Specter's part. What is his career has not been (flashback to his disgraceful performance in the Anita Hill imbroglio)?

There are Democrats moaning over this, especially over the fact that Biden/Rendell/the White House are promising to clear the Dem primary field for him. Most were confident he'd have lost the GOP primary to Toomey, and then whatever Dem was chosen would have won easily in a state where the party now has something like a million-vote regsitration advantage. It seems to many that this is giving up a sure-win next year for an alliance with a Senator they expect to be as much a pain as Lieberman.

I don't see it that way. I see, in fact, Lieberman as a cautionary tale for Specter. The party machinery all got behind Joe in '06 as well, but activists angry at his voting record managed to upset him with a lightweight candidate. The threat of doing that to Specter -- maybe at the hands of a serious candidate, Admiral Sestak -- will hanging over Arlen's head for the next year (and PA has a sore-loser's-prevention law that precludes him running indy a la Holy Joe). Specter, who if nothing else has a keen sense of self-preservation, knows he'll have to please that Dem primary voting base, which I believe will lead him to vote for the Obama agenda -- at the very least on filibusters and judgeships -- far more than his current record would suggest.

And way far more than he would have had he continued to try (in vain) to appease the troglodytes remaining in the PA GOP. The other element I think many skeptical Dems are missing is the value of votes prior to 2011 -- which is to say, the votes remaining between now and the midterms, on health care and energy, which will likely define Obama's term. Given that Franken ought to be seated by July (I don't see any way Coleman can delay past then, Sonic), the Dems will have something very close to the full control they desire (give or take a Bayh/Nelson/Landrieu, who might also vote against bills but not against cloture).

GOP strategist Ed Rogers put this best: Specter switching parties is good for Dems, bad for the Pubs -- and anyone who doesn't think so should put down the Coulter book and get out in the fresh air.

[anonymous1980]

When the Republican party goes the way of the Whig, who will be there to replace them?

Libertarians, maybe?

[OscarGuy]

Is this Olympia's way of saying "ask me and I'll switch"?

from CNN.com:

Snowe calls Specter move 'devastating'
Posted: 02:57 PM ET

From CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Olympia Snowe — one of the three moderate Republicans including Arlen Specter who supported President Obama's stimulus package — told CNN Tuesday that she has also been approached many times about becoming a Democrat, but that it hasn't happened for a while.

"I've been asked, but not recently," she said.

Snowe said the Republican Party never learned its lesson from the "painful" party switch of Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2001.

"For me personally and then for the party, its devastating," Snowe said of Specter's move. "I've always been concerned about the Republican party nationally, about their exclusionary policies towards moderate Republicans. That's not a secretly held view on my part."

[Sonic Youth]

Bad timing. He should have waited until the Minnesota impasse ended. (And yes, it would have ended eventually. Now..... who knows?)

I won't deny this pleases me to no end, and I don't doubt Specter's disenchantment with the GOP is very real. (In Pennsylvania, he polls higher with Democrats than with Republcians.) But politically speaking, his timing suggests that his motives for making the switch at the precise moment he did are as questionable as Leiberman's were. Any reason to see the Republicans squirm is wonderful, but the truth is the truth.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1240943665

[Zahveed]

When the Republican party goes the way of the Whig, who will be there to replace them?

[OscarGuy]

From CNN.com:

Sen. Arlen Specter to become Democrat

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Veteran Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, intends to switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party on Tuesday, multiple sources said.

A Specter party switch would give Democrats a filibuster-proof Senate majority of 60 seats if Al Franken holds his current lead in the disputed Minnesota Senate race.

Specter, a five-term Senate veteran, was expected to face a very tough primary challenge in 2010 from former Rep. Pat Toomey, who nearly defeated Specter in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary in 2004.

Numerous Republicans are angry with Specter over his recent vote in support of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan.

Specter was one of only three GOP senators who voted for the measure.