[J-Dubs]

Once Franken gets seated there isn't much standing in the way of Specter getting the votes in PA.

Not that this is foolproof, or a license for the Dems to pass whatever they want, but .....................HELLO HEALTHCARE!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/specter-to-switch-parties.html

 

[J-Dubs]

Norm C may be able to use this for fund raising purposes, but legally, there is little that he can do to change the likely outcome.

 

[dante]

dammit, sniped. healthcare isn't that big of a deal, though, since the Dems were planning on maneuvering around the filibuster anyway (just like the Republicans did with GWB's tax cuts) but now maybe the Democrats will be able to get things done.

 

[J-Dubs]

dammit, sniped.

Only by seconds.

I disagree about healthcare. Now it has a chance of passing as it's own piece of legislation which would make it better.
We'll see which way the administration takes it.

 

[sanjuro]

Forget about those stupid roadies and the idiot deputy. This is huge f-king news!!!

 

[dante]

quote from Olympia Snowe:

But Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who also supported the Obama administration’s economic stimulus legislation, said Mr. Specter’s decision reflected the increasingly inhospitable climate in the Republican party for moderates.

“On the national level of the Republican Party, we haven’t certainly heard warm, encouraging words about how they view moderates, either you are with us or against us,” Ms. Snowe said. She said national Republican leaders were not grasping that “political diversity makes a party stronger and ultimately we are heading to having the smallest political tent in history for any political party the way things are unfolding.”

 

[Plummit]

quote from Olympia Snowe:

The R's better get down on their hands and knees and start kissing her ass, lest she jump ship as well.

 

[dante]

Or Lindsay Graham:

Her frustration was shared by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), who slammed right-wing interest groups for pushing moderates out of the party.

Specter switched parties Tuesday after a recent poll showed him badly losing a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year to Club for Growth founder Pat Toomey. Toomey’s staunchly fiscally conservative political action committee backs only those Republicans who support a low-tax, limited-government agenda and comes down hard on those who break with party orthodoxy.

"I don't want to be a member of the Club for Growth,” said Graham. “I want to be a member of a vibrant national Republican party that can attract people from all corners of the country — and we can govern the country from a center-right perspective.”

“As Republicans, we got a problem,” he said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21802.html

 

[stevew]

what a piece of sh!t.

 

[dante]

Wow, you actually sound generally upset. I thought republicans were supposed to cheer this move, as it gets rid of all those damn RINOs? At least that's what Coulter says...

And Limbaugh is happy.

 

[Silver]

“I want to be a member of a vibrant national Republican party that can attract people from all corners of the country — and we can govern the country from a center-right perspective.”

And puppies. Puppies that believe that Jesus is Lord...

Good luck, Lindsay...

 

[stevew]

Wow, you actually sound generally upset.

no, i think he is human debris.

no different than lieberman switching parties to keep his job.

 

[dante]

Last I checked Specter hasn't switched parties to win an election, then switched back, then campaigned for the opposition party candidate, then spoke at the convention of the opposition party while spouting attacks on his own party, then when the opposition party got CRUSHED scampered back to his own (supposed) party and begged to not be stripped of his committee chair.

Maybe once he does all of that then he'll be another Lieberman.

 

[stevew]

is he not switching parties because he is trailing the other republican who is running against him?

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), who has been mentioned as a possible Senate contender in Pennsylvania, is sending some pretty strong signals that he's not going to swallow this Specter party-switch thing whole, and that he might go after Specter in a primary.

In a statement, he says Specter switched because he couldn't win the GOP primary.

Could Sestak be the liberals' hero once they realize Specter is going to annoy them as much as he annoyed Republicans?

A statement from Sestak's office:

"This shows the principle rule of politics: tomorrow is always another day — as today was. This may be good for Arlen, politically; however, two key questions need to be answered. First, after 31 years in the military, I learned that you run for something, not against someone. Arlen has made a decision to leave a race because he could not win against someone. What needs to be known is what he is running for. Second, I watched then-Gov. Clinton and then-Sen. Obama take a leadership position in the Democratic Party and shape it. The leadership that would have been most impressive would be if Arlen had used his role to reshape the Republican Party that he said he had entered when it was a "big tent," but now is leaving because it has gotten too small. In short, I believe that the principles of what he is running for and his commitment to accountable leadership are questions that still need to be addressed."

whether he is a republican or democrat...i wish his fvcking head would explode.

 

[dante]

It's working just like a normal democracy should work. The anemic 21% of Americans that self-associate as Republicans get to decide their nominee, and if Specter thinks he has a better chance as an Independent or Democrat, that's his choice. PA is a closed primary, so even if Specter has greater appeal to independents and democrats, they wouldn't be able to vote for him without switching party affiliation. This is the exact same reason Lieberman ran as an Independent in CT, as the primary was going to be won by Lamont.

Most Democrats have far less of an issue with Lieberman running (and winning) as an independent as they do with his shenanigans afterwards.

 

[kidwoo]

And puppies. Puppies that believe that Jesus is Lord...

......and puppies that believe the peanut butter trick is okay when you can't get over that gosh darn perpetual bachelor syndrome. I mean gee whiz fellas, I'm an attractive single man in the republican party with a ferocious lisp. What's wrong with that?

 

[dante]

Aaaaaaand that's 60.

 

[X3pilot]

Well, let's see what they do with it, if anything. Meanwhile, someone was happy..