Specter to switch parties

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It's true guys.

I know Specter is liberal on social issues, but is he that left?

He's pro-choice but a bit law-and-order-ish

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Is he going to support card check now? 

I wouldn't be surprised if he does.  It still won't have the votes.

"as is" will be an important phrase as the bill gets debated.  A compromise version will emerge that previous opponents can claim they "now support" [read: they'll only support it if it's guaranteed to pass]

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Democrats are like an ugly girl who needs a prom date: They'll take anyone.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how stupid should htmldon feel right now for backing Specter over Toomey in 2004?  I say... about a 47.  Kerry & Specter for working families!

Anyone else looking forward to the Toomey general election ad that points out that four years ago, Arlen Specter begged George W. Bush to come save his bacon in the primary and now he's pretending to be a Democrat?

Some people care more about…say, real health care reform than ideological purity for every single politician in their party

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Obviously as a crazy liberal, I am not too pleased.

Crazy liberals prefer not to have health care reform get past a filibuster?

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I don't see how anyone could view this as a positive for the Republican Party. It only decreases our big tent even further.

Regardless of who one wants to win the primary, it would have been better for the GOP to have Arlen casting conservative votes instead of liberal ones over the next two years.

Potentially damaging too reinforcing the GOP's image as a Southern conservative regional one...

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Indeed, Arlen's Democratic opponent, should there even be one, can just rerun Arlen's old ads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3HOb0NEJ1E

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Sam:

Health care reform is happening differently this time... to lazy to list all the differences and how Obama is avoiding making the same massive mistakes [he'll make new ones but probably not as behemoth as Hillary did in '94]

Ironically for your economic doomsday predictions Sam, I recently went to a talk by one of the key vote-counters on health care reform in DC, and they are worried that the economy is going to recover too quickly to the point that people won't want it anymore.  If people can easily pay for their own health care and are satisfied with their coverage, they are going to be far more afraid of upsetting the status quo.  If the recession keeps people's incomes and employment down, the public is going to be a lot more receptive to some sort of massive reform.

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Or it was maybe because the Republicans have turned into the Party of Palin (alternatively Bloc Dixie) and have shifted far to the right, and the in PA Republicans have lost 200,000+ registered Republicans to the Democratic Party thus shifting the Party Primary electorate even more and maybe it has something to do with the Republicans not tolerating moderates.

That all was obvious before he made firm claims he'd never switch parties and started to reverse his positions on labor

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I wonder how many crazy right-wingers switch registration to the Democratic party to vote against Specter in the primary.

There's going to be a real Democratic primary?  With Reid, Obama, and Menendez supporting Specter?

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I wonder how many crazy right-wingers switch registration to the Democratic party to vote against Specter in the primary.

There's going to be a real Democratic primary?  With Reid, Obama, and Menendez supporting Specter?

What's Menendez got to do with anything? He's not even from the same state.

I didn't realize the guy who recruited and nationally funded Senate candidates had anything to do with Senate races, ok, nevermind. 

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A lot of gibberish gets fed into the system when there's such a massive political vacuum as we've seen today.

 Any politico who remotely likes a certain candidate is talking to reporters and speculating about their favored candidate

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Specter said something like "this isn't good for the management of government" when Jeffords left. Stay consistent, Arlen.

He legislatively and publicly fought the ability for Senators to switch parties mid-term.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0409/Specter_tried_to_block_party_switching.html

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1. Specter's desperately trying to avoid the image of doing a 180 the day after his party switch.

2. He's still going to give the finger to Obama's agenda whenever it doesn't make the difference between the bill passing and not.  I'd bet half of my income that that was the deal he made with Obama, Biden, and Reid.  That his vote could be counted on ... when it actually mattered, in exchange for the establishment not seriously challenging him in a primary

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check the PA-2010 thread for my posts...just today Biden was saying confidently that Specter is going to end up having an "open mind" when it comes to the bill [veiled threat]


 Specter's going to vote for a compromised version of Card Check and claim he was only against the original bill ... IF his vote makes the difference between 59 and 60.

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Why would Pennsylvania want an octogenarian turncoat scum to represent them in the Senate?

Yeah, Pennsylvania hates pandering moderates and always votes them  out and votes in candidates that represent true change.   Also, Alaska hates pork.


That's why PA usually require a candidate run statewide several times before even considering them (Santorum seems  to be the notable the 1994 exception, ironically enough).