you forgot something about "Defector Spector"....when he was on the Warren Comission he authored the "single bullet theory", the first clue he was a wacko.
Arlen Specter has waddled and quacked and strutted his webbed feet for years.
Now we find out that he's a duck after all. We're shocked! Shocked!
The Pennsylvania senator, though wearing the GOP label, never has paid Republican principles much mind. He helped block Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, used his Judiciary Committee chairmanship to more or less threaten to prevent other pro-life judges from being appointed -- and, in the unkindest cut of all, earlier this year was one of three senators voting to break the federal bank with the stimulus bill.
If it walks like a Democrat and talks like a Democrat and votes like a Democrat, it's probably a Democrat. Specter simply made it official this week, announcing he's switching from the Republican Party.
When Specter seemed to revel in the problems President Bush was having with pro-life nominees, we urged the Senate leadership to take him off not only the chairman's seat but the entire committee. Instead, Republicans showed unwarranted forbearance and kept him.
Now, at a moment that can only enhance his own self interests, Specter is jumping ship and into the waiting arms of the Democrats.
And he's doing it little more than a month after saying he wouldn't.
"I think the United States very desperately needs a two-party system," he told The Hill newspaper. "And I'm afraid that we're becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party.
"I think each of the 41 Republican senators, in a sense --- and I don't want to overstate this --- is a national asset, because if one was gone, you'd only have 40, the Democrats would have 60, and they would control all of the mechanisms of government."
That's how quickly the wind can blow around things that aren't anchored.
If the still-contested Minnesota Senate race falls to the Democrats as expected, Specter's switch would give President Obama the 60-vote majority he needs in the Senate to ram his agenda through. Even a majority party needs 60 votes in the Senate to end debate on a matter.
It's clear, though, that Specter acted out of enlightened self- interest: After all his liberal votes -- the American Conservative Union gives him a lifetime rating of 45 out of 100 -- Republican voters were increasingly likely to toss him out at the next primary election. His decision to break future generations' backs by saddling them with the stimulus bill debt was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
This incident is yet another wake-up call that says we need term limits desperately. Specter is like most members of Congress, only more so -- putting self-preservation above everything else. He put his finger in the air and felt the political winds shifting in the direction of Democrats. To save himself, he switched parties.
If he was more principled than that, he should have switched parties long ago.
Comments
you forgot something about "Defector Spector"....when he was on the Warren Comission he authored the "single bullet theory", the first clue he was a wacko.
Sen. Specter is most assuredly NOT a "wacko" (where's the proof of your allegation, HTN007?). And the fact that the ACU scored him 45 out of 100 proves that he is what he has always said he was: a MODERATE. Unfortunately, there is no longer a home in the Repuglican party for moderates.
Of course the GOP is the big tent party. How else would the Repubs have tolerated a Dem this long? The Dems NEVER tolerate a conservative. The one SLIGHTLY moderate in the entire senate is tortured daily. Lieberman was forced to run as an independent because even a slight moderate is a sore in national socialists Dem party. Specter doesn't offend. He's never been a moderate.
"Republicans actually picked up two seats in the Senate (to 26) and convinced four Democrat senators (Jack Hill, Don Cheeks, Dan Lee and Rooney Bowen) to switch parties within a week after the election" gagop.org. WITHIN A WEEK AFTER THE ELECTION. Don't forget "Zig Zag, where's my dueling pistols " Zell. The AC didn't seem to have a problem with others switching parties, as long as it goes their way.
Zell was another pariah. The national socialist Dems hated the conservative Democrat. "There's no place for his type in our party" said the metro-left. Zell ignored them and remained a Dem.
I will never understand the AC, they support the socialist Saxby and Johnny but throw rocks at a moderate. Our 2 Socialist Senators voted for TARP, with Saxby getting over $2,500,000 from the banks yet he can do no wrong according to the AC. Augusta needs a CONSERVATIVE paper rather that a no matter what they do the Republicans are always right rag.
To everyone griping about the Augusta Chronicle: What was said in this piece that is not true?
Specter is only the first and best known Republican to switch to the Democrats. Trust me, there will be others as the GOP hunkers down and becomes even more right wing and delusional in its approach to government.
A thorn in the Democratic Party side, Sen. Specter switched parties to secure a victory in the 2010, election ,as a donkey, but he will suffer defeat in upcoming election. I say"if he talk like elephant and vote like a elephant he still a Republican"
Now let's get Susan Collins and Olympia Snow to turn from the dark side. We should pick up 2 or 3 more seats in 2010 so we'll have 64 or 65. Then we'll see how little the Repubs really care for our representative form of government and hear more of the "I'll take my ball and go home" rhetoric.
I hope Susan Collins and Olymbia Snow go to the "other" side. They belong on the left. They are not conservative. The Republican party needs to clean up and shape up or we need a third party. There are alot of people like myself that dont fit in with either side as they stand today.
Collins and Snow already vote 95% with the ultra liberals. They are Dems in all but name.
Yeah, Republicans like those in Columbia County are reactionary extremists out of tune with America. I can see that rabble rousing Ron Cross and others making trouble by securing excellent bond ratings for the county and such. Veterans, law abiding citizens who work hard and save a little are so weird these days. If you don't borrow some money and not pay it back, you are just trying to cause an uproar. Democrats rule.
Specator is an excellent example why our goverment is so inept. He is only concern is for himself and getting reelected. It is hard for me to understand how anyone with any morals could vote for such a slimball. Term Limits!
We need term limits on Congress, but who would vote themselves out of a JOB? What can be done? Is it possible to have a national referendum? If we can't have a National referendum, I know we can have a state referendum. They make bribery legal, example a congressman and a lobbiest go out for a golf outing. The lobbiest says here use these golf clubs, give them back when your done. HA HA you think they give them back? Why don't Americans want to admit our political system is corrupt? I have seen stuff like this with my own eyes, not on a federal level, but with city and county officials. Free foot ball tickets, Nascar tickets... I wonder what its like on the national level?
Every one of these wolves in sheep's clothing who switch sides opens up another seat to be reclaimed in 2010 since the replacements won't have to run against an incumbant in the primaries. I love it!
PTHS: Did you gripe about Don Cheeks and other "wolves in sheep's clothing who switch sides" when they changed from Dem to Repub?
I agree with the Repugnican whiners that Specter changed for preservation reasons. So did Strom & Sunny and lots of others, and if exposed by a shrinking party electorate most politicians will do the same thing. The GOP response is quite worrisome but I'm not bothered. They tell moderates to get out and don't come back. Review the last election, with this kind of attitude the GOP tent will be shrinking, and their base will be all that's left. Good luck with being narrow minded since it will not benefit you at all.
He's only switching to ensure he'll win because people are stupid enough to vote on party rather than policies in the first place. What a sell out! That's why I'm an independent. Voting based on party, and bashing based on party, is the stupidest thing you can do. I will always stick by my statement that most Americans are idiots.
Just look at the swine flu hysteria for support to my statement.
The Republicans can't learn. Their far-right agendas have been rejected, and rightly so, since the last eight years were such a disaster. As long as the religious fanatics are in charge, the Republicans will fail.
And I will go a step further and say that I actually agree that we need to lower taxes and have less government (main GOP platform). The trouble with the GOP is they have great ideas that they can never implement in reality. The two party system needs to work together or the USA is in for a rough time. We need to spend now to stimulate the economy. When things get rolling again, the party in power needs to trim government where it is not needed. The GOP has had the chance at implementation for the vast majority of the last 3 decades and quite frankly did not perform well. Now it's the Dems turn at the helm and with the GOP obstructionist attitude you will be forced into following Obama & Company because you are too narrow minded to seek the center or the common ground. You will lose future elections with that attitude, and be back in the 1860's again. But anyone eho mentions secession is just a blowhard, like Texas Governor Perry. A branch off the old Bush.
Once again, when it goes against them, Republicans start crying. Someone switching parties isn't new and this isn't the first time that its happened. I personally don't like my elected representatives being able to switch parties. Sometimes when I vote, if I don't know much about the candidates, I'll vote for the party, not necessariyly the person but that's usually in the smaller more local races. When they switch, they take my vote with them so I don't really like them being able to switch. That's the system we have and we either have to change it or live with it, much like everything else.
Spector was a dim before he was a republican; before he is now a dim. Now this is a person that really deserves the dims respect and vote. A man with real scruples. A man whose pocket is his priority. He could care less about the people he is suppose to serve.
Zell Miller should just switch to the Republican Party -- he is simply the worst of all the DINOs we have. Why did it take Specter TWENTY-NINE years to know what a majority of Americans knew long in advance? That the GOP is a far right fringe party? If you ever wanted to know why the GOP was removed from office in the Northeast, urban Midwest, and the far West -- it is because of their extreme misogynist views. Not to mention that North Carolina ousted Elizabeth Dole, and Virginia has a Warner of a different kind in the US Senate.
And BTW, we ALREADY have term limits. It is called voting out the incumbents. That is what I plan to do in regards to Jim DUMint and Joe Wilson in 2010 -- vote them out of office.
When will less than 20% of the country identify themselves as Republican? Once all the moderates are gone, and it is happening very quickly, the only thing left will be radical right wing homophobic xenophobic bigoted racist lillywhite ideologically pure CONServatives. Where in history have we seen that before?
Unfortunately, for those who refuse to study the issues & how their candidate votes on the issues that truly matter to them, politicians are treated like sports teams. If you are a Braves fan then it doesn't matter what individual team members do (as long as they're winning) - you are loyal to your Braves. If you are a Yankee fan - same goes. But politics is not a sport. The decisions politicians make affect YOUR LIFE. The "team" the politician joins (Republican, Democrat, etc.) does not matter - how does your politician vote on the things that matter to Americans? Does your politician support less government, lower taxes, is he or she willing to defend the US against all enemies foreign and domestic, does he or she support the right to life for all, does he or she support civil rights for all, does he or she define marriage as between a man & a woman, does he or she oppose illegal immigration & amnesty for illegals? And, more importantly, do their actions and votes & speeches back up what they say they will do? I dare say the majority of Americans would support the above list - if we get a candidate of ANY political party who stands for them - it will be a landslide!
GaValues, you can always buy either the New York Terrorist Times or the Atlanta Journal and UnConstitutional. No one forces you to buy the AC. Try the Metro Spirit for more local liberalism.
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