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SPECTER A DEM: super majority


budcarson

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he wasn't much a republican anyways, but it's still pretty big:

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/se...ch-parties.html

 

Specter To Switch Parties

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.

 

Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next Senator from Minnesota. (Former Sen. Norm Coleman is appealing Franken's victory in the state Supreme Court.)

 

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."

 

He added: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

 

Specter as a Democrat would also fundamentally alter the 2010 calculus in Pennsylvania as he was expected to face a difficult primary challenge next year from former Rep. Pat Toomey. The only announced Democrat in the race is former National Constitution Center head Joe Torsella although several other candidates are looking at the race.

 

The precariousness of Specter's political position -- a Republican in a Democratic-leaning state -- was on display earlier this year when he was one of three GOP Senators to back President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan. That vote was strongly condemned by conservative Republicans and Toomey used that vote as the launching pad for his candidacy.

 

Because of the shrinking Republican vote in the state, Specter was seen as a dead man walking politically in the primary with polling showing him trailing Toomey by ten or more points. The bar for Specter to run as an independent was also extremely high due to the rules governing such a third party candidacy.

 

That left a Democratic candidacy as Specter's best option if he wanted to remain in the Senate beyond 2010.

 

 

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Stunning. Guess this Toomey challenge made the decision for him.

 

I see this as mostly a political decision designed to save his own ass, but the question will be asked - what happens when the Republican Party gets even more ideologically rigid than it already is? Who is going to be left but the tea party people, the 30%?

 

The lesson of the election shouldn't have been "we need to get more right wingish", but that's the one the party is taking from it. It's become a purity test.

 

Good luck with that.

 

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Guest Aloysius
The lesson of the election shouldn't have been "we need to get more right wingish", but that's the one the party is taking from it. It's become a purity test.

 

Good luck with that.

Seriously. Specter's a Democrat and conservatives are organizing a semi-serious primary challenge to John McCain (would have been much more serious if Napolitano hadn't gone to DHS).

 

All I can say is...keep up the good work!

 

 

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Specter is Dennis Kucinich on meds.

 

How that pile of crap (specter) got elected in PA, I have no idea.

 

Wait, they helped elect John "other pile of crap" Murtha.

 

Got it.

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Snow isn't a moderate.

 

Specter is NOT a moderate.

 

They are rhinos. They lie to get in office, then

 

they do whatever the hell they want to do -

 

in general, share slurpies with the mean and nasty aggressive left

 

and it's media minions.

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When Mr. Magic Bullet himself is embarrassed to be aligned with you and your outlandish ideology, you know you have serious, serious problems...

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I'll take the compliment. Now i just need to find one of them to commiserate with. Budcarson, let's grab a beer.

 

The semiquincentennial inspired Guinness 250 is a nice change of pace. See you there. (It might take more than one before you start to feel better about yourself though...)

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Having one party in charge of the House, Senate and the President, is never a good thing, no matter what the party. The Democrats now have carte blanche to do whatever they want, and that is not a good thing. We need checks and balances in this government, as both parties cannot be trusted to do the right things, they only do what is right for THEIR particular party. Specter changed parties to save his own poitical ass.

 

 

I, as an independent, fear this is not going to be a good thing.

 

Oh well, 3+ more years of extreme liberalism coming up. :angry:

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"The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows the depth of the party's problems. Just 21 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Republicans. That's the lowest since the fall of 1983, when just 19 percent identified themselves as Republicans. Party identification does fluctuate with events. But as a snapshot indicator, the latest figures highlight the impact of Obama's opening months on the Republican Party. From a high-water mark of 35 percent in the fall of 2003, Republicans have slid steadily to their present state of affairs. It's just not as cool to be a Republican as it once was.

 

The Republicans have many demographic challenges as they plot their comeback. Obama has attracted strong support from young voters and Latinos -- two keys to the future for both parties and once part of the GOP's calculation for sustaining themselves in power. Suburban voters have moved toward the Democrats. Specter can see that problem acutely in the suburbs around his home in Philadelphia home. Obama is also holding a solid advantage among independents, the proxy measure for the center or swing portion of the electorate.

 

Reihan Salam, co-author of "Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save America," said this week that the danger for Republicans is to believe they now represent a vast, silent majority that is waiting to reassert itself. A louder voice from a smaller cadre of supporters is not the answer, he warned. "That will just prevent Republicans from reassessing their old agenda, developing new ideas and once again learning to reach out broadly."

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Reihan Salam, co-author of "Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save America," said this week that the danger for Republicans is to believe they now represent a vast, silent majority that is waiting to reassert itself. A louder voice from a smaller cadre of supporters is not the answer, he warned. "That will just prevent Republicans from reassessing their old agenda, developing new ideas and once again learning to reach out broadly."

Sounds like he and his co-author are still on the same page.

 

The semiquincentennial inspired Guinness 250 is a nice change of pace

Beer wonkiness is a welcome addition to the board.

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Having one party in charge of the House, Senate and the President, is never a good thing, no matter what the party. The Democrats now have carte blanche to do whatever they want, and that is not a good thing. We need checks and balances in this government, as both parties cannot be trusted to do the right things, they only do what is right for THEIR particular party.

 

Funny, Specter said almost the exact same thing when he vowed that he wouldn't change parties. Of course, times change and so do people sometimes; when Specter said that it was all the way back in mid-March.

 

Was it the tea parties, Arlen, that made you decide you were a Dem? Because I'm having a hard time remembering anything besides that, the draft, and swine flu that has happened since then.

 

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/specte...2009-03-17.html

 

He just realized that he wouldn't be long for the senate as an indie.

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A whopping 13 days ago:

 

Have you considered running as indepdendent or Democtrat?

 

I am a Republican and I am going to run on the Republican ticket in the Republican primary.

 

Some Democrats have approached you to switch, why not take them up on it?

 

How do you know that as a fact just because Rendell and Biden said that publicly?

 

Sure, why not take the path of the least resistance.

 

Because I am a Republican.

 

 

http://blogs.mcall.com/penn_ave/2009/04/ar...unfiltered.html

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Yeah, I almost felt bad posting those poll numbers because I don't think Specter's turn has to do with anything more than self-preservation.

 

Almost felt bad.

 

I just think the larger point is still true, and I feel bad for the crop of sincere, stable, problem-solving conservatives who are having a tough time fitting in with today's Republican Party.

 

It'd be nice to have a debate about, say, global warming that is how best to address the problem, rather than one side addressing the problem and the other insisting that CO2 is plant food and that God decides when the earth ends.

 

That's not really an opposition party. I'd like one back, since I'm hardly convinced the majority knows what it's doing.

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So do you think that Specter will return all the money he just raised from his Republican base?

 

I bet they are Pissed Off!!!! He just ignited a fire in PA.

 

Specter Raises $1.3 Million, Holds $6.7 Million Cash on Hand April 18, 2009

 

http://senatus.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/sp...n-cash-on-hand/

 

He could almost be included on the list of infamous american traitors. :P

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That's not really an opposition party. I'd like one back, since I'm hardly convinced the majority knows what it's doing.

 

 

I would like to have a common sense party, neither one of our existing parties seem to have any of that. Or how about the anti-bs party? Both our current parties are so full of shit, I've had it with both of them.

 

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Let's see you say this when your taxes start zooming through the roof.

 

I kind of wish everyone would lighten up on that.

Our "taxes" probably aren't going up significantly.

 

What we all need to worry about is sharp hikes in the price of everything we use, eregy and inflation that will wipe out our savings.

 

Not to mention the death blow to what remains of US manufacturing.

 

WSS

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