Glorious News
Senator Arlen Specter‘s switch to the Democratic party is obviously an enormous boon to President Barack Obama‘s legislative agenda. Presuming that Al Franken ‘s Minnesota Senate race victory will eventually be ratified, Specter’s vote will bring the Senate Democratic tally to 60, which will enable Dems to cold-cock any Republican filibusters that may arise in response to this or that legislative measure.
In a statement issued about 90 minutes ago, Specter said “he had concluded that his party had moved too far to the right, a fact demonstrated by the migration of 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans to the Democratic Party,” says a N.Y. Times story that went up at 12:13 pm.
“‘I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,” Specter said, acknowledging that his decision was certain to disappoint colleagues and supporters.” Specter will run as a Democrat in the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate race, and of course there’s the matter of his health, which hasn’t been perfect. But as long as Specter is fit and voting and plugging away, this is great news for Team Obama.
“The news shocked Senate Republicans, who had been hanging on to their ability to block legislation by a thread,” the Times story said. “Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called an emergency meeting of party leaders who had no forewarning of Specter’s plans.”
Quick question. Why not wait for Franken to be sworn in? This will only help push that fight further.
Coleman only held on this long because the GOP leadership wanted it to prevent the Dems from hitting 59. Olympia Snow hates filibusters and will vote against her party to end them. I predict Coleman will issue some sort of “for the good of my family” BS statement by the end of the week and withdraw his appeal. That gambit is now dead.
The stalemate is over. The GOP is either about to become a footnote in history or undergo a major housecleaning. They cannot continue as they have been.
Only 21% of the country identifies itself as Republican in a poll last week. That’s less than believe in UFO’s…
Sweet.
The reality is…Democrats have had 60+ since the last election.
Specter is 79 years old. I’m no ageist, but, Jesus, what’s up with these ancient men holding onto power in the Senate? Can’t they fade away like all good politicians are supposed to do?
Mowkeka – last I checked there were still dozens of appointments alone being held up.
No, today was a watershed if you follow politics. It means the GOP doesn’t even have the 2 years they thought they had left to checkmate Dems. They were probably going to get over 60 in the 2010 cycle, but now Obama gets this gift early.
I’m just waiting for Zell Miller to admit he was wrong.
Deathtongue,
If Specter caucusses with the Democrats does that mean he’ll automatically vote for those appointments/the Obama agenda?
Specter isn’t a Republican, nor a Democrat. He’s a true Independent. My guess is, Specter will vote his own beliefs, regardless of whatever Party he’s with.
I have a fundamental issue with this. As a democrat I’m happy to have another one on our side, but the people of PA who voted for him as a Republican have been betrayed and there should be a special election held. Continuing to call himself a republican would simply be a matter of semantics, of course, so he has every right to switch parties, but Pennsylvanians (or people from any state) shouldnt be forced to swallow a switch like this. It’s kind of like paying for a Dean and Deluca pear cake and finding out it’s really Entenmann’s.
For once we’re in agreement Mccool, sort of.
As a democtatic voter, and a Pennsylvanian, I don’t think I can bring myself to vote for Specter even if he is on the ticket. It’s almost as weisel of a move as Lieberman’s (almost). The Independent will get my vote the next go around.
Although, the guy has been leaning moderate for quite a while now, so frankly, it’s the Republican voters faults for re-electing him over and over again in the first place. Personally, I’m all for term limits on Senators, so if it were up to me he’d have been gone years ago.
He’s too old and been around too long not be corruptible – this almost proves it. It’s only a matter of time before someone finds a ziplock bag full of cash in his freezer.
term limits for senators … that makes two areas of agreement.
the thing about Specter is that as a young staffer to the Warren Commission he was the one who came up with the SINGLE BULLET THEORY … the WALL OF SOUND wasn’t bad either
Arlen Specter is just another hate-mongering, sexist ReThugLican who lies about everything…… wait a minute…. (AP-”Specter Announces Switch to Democratic Party”)….
Arlen Specter’s a man of courageous honesty and goodness.
It’s more of a double edge sword. Yes, Obama can now gets anything he wants without the Republicans having a say. But he no longer has a scapegoat to blame when everything isn’t roses and unicorns. If people still have a massive anti-incumbent, anti-establishment grudge in 2010, that can only hurt Democrats, because they ARE the establishment now.
Bwahahahahah, Travis!
Expect to see that spin over and over again from the liberal press.
Sweet.
mccool: “but the people of PA who voted for him as a Republican have been betrayed and there should be a special election held.”
They voted for Obama, too, so I imagine they’re on the same page.
Crabtree: I think even liberals can stand Specter, because he doesn’t just toe the party line.
Farris: “But he no longer has a scapegoat to blame when everything isn’t roses and unicorns.”
Sure he has: Bush. That guy’s going to be remembered for quite a while, especially since Cheney still thinks he’s VP, and just had to remind people of why Obama’s wrong for the job after the public already voted for him.
“If people still have a massive anti-incumbent, anti-establishment grudge in 2010, that can only hurt Democrats, because they ARE the establishment now.”
Doubtful. What matters is who’s doing more to fix the damage, and who’s doing more to complain, rather than offer an alternative solution.
shut the fuck up, you stupid piece of shit.
“but the people of PA who voted for him as a Republican have been betrayed and there should be a special election held.”
I’m pretty sure that, if you look into the law, voters are actually voting for a person, not a political party. Now, they may be choosing to vote for the person solely because of what letter is next to their name, sure, but I don’t think we should be codifying blind party loyalty of that sort into law.
Spin it any way you want, but Specter currently enjoys a 62% approval rating in Pennsylvania – from Democrats. Just seems he is simply joining his supporters.
And if you want to see what happens when you have term limits, just take a look at the clusterfuck that is the current state of affairs here in California.
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.
Deathtongue: “And if you want to see what happens when you have term limits, just take a look at the clusterfuck that is the current state of affairs here in California.”
You’re saying Arnie being done after next year is a bad thing?
The annoying scale of DZ’s posts is usually about a 4.
Gordon27 flipping out on him every time is a 9.
I live in Minnesota. Norm is never going away. Despite the fact that the majority of Minnesotans want him to go away. He even had eggs thrown at him the other day and still…just won’t take a hint.
As much as I’d like to believe otherwise, I don’t think the Senate is going to be voting as a filibuster-proof 60 that often after Franklin is eventually sworn in.
All it takes is 1 or more of the so-called Blue Dog senators (who are decidedly more moderate and/or conservative than the majority) to decide not to vote with the others due to pressure from their voters or the Republican leadership.
I guarantee that some/all of these Senators got calls after Spector’s announcement from either Eric Cantor, John Boehner etc to ask for their help in preventing the so-called Socialist president from ramming his agenda down the rest of the country’s throats.
The Repubs can keep this asshole.
az: The blue-dogs will have hell to pay with constituents if they buck the filibuster-proof majority.
Specter has been riding the fence for 29 years, his constituents are fully aware of his moderate tendencies. Sure there are some GOP ticket voters that will be upset, he will probably pick up some Democratic ticket voters to offset. He owes his seat to moderate voters and this will not change. The Right Wing radio personalities have targeted him in the past as an undesirable ’5th column’ Republican and now they can promote someone of idealogical purity like Santorum, I suppose. The big deal is that all the Party line, whip-enforced votes like filibusters is broken. Yes, if BHO nominates Lani Guinier, Blue Dogs will join ranks with the GOP to defeat and possibly filibuster the nomination, but that was always the case. There are far more political posture motivated filibusters that will disappear now.
Gordon, you are completely discounting the importance of both the primary and campaign processes and the way this undermines them. The man has no integrity, switching parties to avoid a difficult primary fight in 2010 and to ride the democrat momentum sweeping PA. It’s despicable. We were all up in arms over Lieberman, now suddenly this is an ok thing to do?
This web site is really a walk through for all.The Quick News Update | Book Teraget Quick News | Book The Quick News | Social The Quick News | Buku The Quick News | Links The Quick News | Post The Quick News | Submit The Quick News | Child Pro Tech | Alpha The Quick News | Beta The Quick News | Gamma The Quick News | Delta The Quick News | Epsilon The Quick News | Zeta The Quick News | Eta The Quick News | All The Quick News | Theta The Quick News | Iota The Quick News | Kappa The Quick News | Lambda The Quick News
very nice post i certainly love this website keep on it.Factors Thought of Bonus coupon codes | Issues Recalled Voucher codes | Items Valued Online codes | Points Appreciated Online coupons | Things Remembered Coupon codes | Affordable wedding invitations | Budget wedding invitations | Invitations for Wedding | Wedding invites | Wedding invitations | Marriage Thoughts | Marriage ceremony Concepts | Wedding party Tips | Wedding ceremony Suggestions | Wedding Ideas | Stunning wedding dress Models | Bridal gown Variations | Bridal dress Types | Wedding gown Designs | Wedding dress Styles |