Specter crossing the aisle - good bad or indifferent?

Partisan

Partisan

Active member
So a 76 year old man has decided to change parties, presumably not enough Viagra in the last one!

But seriously is this good, bad or nothing? He's already said that he will continue to vote his mind - as long as it holds!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/specter.party.switch/index.html

Arlen has already acknowledged he wouldn't have got the republican vote next year. So has he changed sides for ideology or just because he can't tear himself away from the trough in DC - my money is on the latter, where's yours?
 
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He's changing because the demographics in his district are changing. He never was wedded to the Republican Party line of thought anyway.
 
Arlen Specter is a Class "A" Politician.

He was a democrat in his youth and he went Republican when he started his career because that is what the majority of the voters where in his constituency. He made the switch because he isn't a true Republican.

He's a R.I.N.O. - Republican In Name Only

He is a moderate leftist on many core Republican issues. And he himself said that he does not follow the current view of the party. Which is Reaganite in thought and belief. So he jumped ship to save his job. He was fearful of losing the 2010 elections during the primaries because his Republican constituency favors challenger Pat Toomey. Which he said he will run against Arlen Specter in the primaries.

Over 70% of the Republican constituency was against the Stimulus Bill and Arlen Specter was in favor of it. He's also for amnesty for illegal aliens and once again the Republican constituency was against it.

So in the end... Arlen Specter is a professional politician. He'll tell people what ever they want to hear and do what ever he wants to do to keep his job. Hence why he jumped ship. Because he knew he'd lose his job in the 2010 primaries.

I say good bye.... but my fear is that with him on the side of the Democrats and Al Franken more then likely winning Minnesota. That means the Democrats will have a 60 seat majority in the Senate.... which is filibuster proof. So the socialists will push and approve what ever sweeping commie pinko bill they want.
 
Benedict Arlen jumped ship because polling numbers already showed him losing to Toomey in the Republican primaries by 21%, even at this advanced stage. He is the type who treasures his Senate seat over principle, another Republican in Name Only who drove us nuts by his continual "reaching across the aisle" when it was important.

However, the true insult here is that it delivers a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority to the Far Left Socialist Democrat Party. Now they can shove their anti-capitalist socialism right down our throats without so much as a roadbump.

Frankly, I don't like the change of parties in mid-term, whether it benefits my side or harms it. To me, it is a bait-and-switch and unfair to the voters on BOTH sides of the political divide. I try to be fair about elections especially, because they are the cornerstone of the Republic, and switching parties just means that the person switching sees themselves and their own careers as the most important factor, as opposed to the primacy of the will of the voters and the energy and money spent by the ones who supported them in the primaries and the general election.

Specter saw the handwriting on the wall, though, that the Conservative grass roots movement is retaking the Republican Party, and the RiNOs are not going to get too many more "it's my party, so I better support the guy" votes in 2010, and further, in 2012. We held our noses and voted for POLITICAL turncoat John McCain (his military service notwithstanding), the most liberal of Republican Senators, in the last election and we are not going to accept his version of Republicanism anymore.

It's back to small government, responsible spending, and demanding that REAL people represent us in Washington, instead of the perfumed, privileged pultroonish elites who get foisted upon us. Yes, there is a civil war brewing in the GOP, and the end result will be a party of conservative principles that will stand for constitutional rule and not for the "go along to get along" logrolling garbage that caused so many of us to sit out elections (not me) or vote for people who shared very few of our values because the choice on the other side was so much of an affront to our core beliefs (me all the way).

Sarah Palin for me, Benedict Arlen, no mroe of thee!
 
He is my kind of guy. He votes his conscience on the issues and party politics be damned. He's also a realist, as 03 said, his state's demographics are changing and he's changing with it.
 
Whether he is to the left or the right, the fact that I find truly scary is that he is 76 years old!! I'm not saying that he should be in a retirement home, but this has got to be a short term gesture on his part, just so he can keep the money flowing into his bank account.
 
Yeah but he also realizes that an independent is not likely to get elected.

He's a guy who thinks both sides are bull sh*t and knows it means nothing to him unless he's got a place in the driving seat.
 
From a Democratic standpoint I'm happy, because, hey, it's another vote. From a purely political standpoint it really supports the GOP's "reach across the aisle" policy from 2005-09 when they held the oval office but not congress. Nothing is going to be accomplished with the current "stonewall everything" policy; the change in votes allows SOMETHING to be accomplished without constant roadblocks.

bropous:
First off, the GOP preached reaching across the aisle to the Democrats for 4 years when Bush wanted to keep pushing his agenda. But the true insult is the whole socialist thing; first off the Democratic party are not a socialist party; the American Socialist Party is a socialist party. And the conservative ideals you are preaching died with Nixon. Reagan was the first of the neo-conservative line; which favored small government on big business but big military spending. It helped us outspend the Soviets but forced us into a recession in 2004 when funds dried up and allowed the banks to eat themselves until they exploded when regulations were removed at the turn of the century. Sarah Palin is the next in this line of succession. While I agree there will be a civil war in the Republican party it will cause it to split much like the Dixiecrats did in the 1960s and undermine the party for the next 30 years.

And comparing a congressman who changed parties to a Revolutionary war tratior has about as much clout as comparing Reagan to Stalin.
 
03USMC said:
He's changing because the demographics in his district are changing. He never was wedded to the Republican Party line of thought anyway.
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Thats correct, but more specifically, Specter supporters reregistered as Democrats for the 2008 presidential election. That unfortunatly left him with the very far rightwing conservative base for the GOP primaries, and these people have been gunning for Specter for quite sometime.

Basically Specter went where his supporters went.

Ultimately I think this will hurt the GOP. The GOP seems to be hellbent on eliminatating every liberal-moderate GOP out there. That is a path for self destruction as the country is far more to the center and has been of late drifting toward the left. Pennsylvania is case in point, the polls have all shown that Specter will easily crush any conservative politican (like Toomey) by at least 10 pts. Unless the GOP were to run another moderate (like Tom Ridge) against him, Specter will have all but won reelection...and as a democrat to boot.

Furthermore, pushing out Specter only angers the moderates the GOP still left such as the two ladies from Maine. Maine is a very leftwing state so a GOP moderate is about the best they can hope to do. Following the Specter departure Olympia Snow wrote an article in the NYT saying that party was too far to the right and that she too might switch. Does the GOP really want to give the Dems a 61 or 62 seat advantage? If someone could explain their strategy to me I'd love to hear it because it makes no sense. If the GOP strategy to regain political power is to let the Dems win all the elections in non-conservative states (which is most states) then they are doing a fantastic job.
 
I think that the Republicans have really lost touch with reality, they have no real leader & cannot agree on their "universal" message, apart from Obama is irresponsible - like last 8 years showed responsibility!

So Specter has crossed the aisle, I still think that it hurts the Republicans, but it hurts the Dems as well. A 76 yr old who does not want to give up his hold on power? Will get Dem party backing, but vote against them when he wants?

I'm wondering if there is room for a 3rd party in the US political mix - would Specter have gone there?
 
Partisan said:
I think that the Republicans have really lost touch with reality, they have no real leader & cannot agree on their "universal" message, apart from Obama is irresponsible - like last 8 years showed responsibility!

So Specter has crossed the aisle, I still think that it hurts the Republicans, but it hurts the Dems as well. A 76 yr old who does not want to give up his hold on power? Will get Dem party backing, but vote against them when he wants?

I'm wondering if there is room for a 3rd party in the US political mix - would Specter have gone there?
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You'd would be right, it would look like Specter is just doing anything to keep his job initially. However aside from the far-right Specter is still popular with the state as a whole (Dems and Indys). If his statewide polls were sagging then id be inclined to agree with you, but ultimately most keystoners are glad to have him. So I will say that his switch will only raise a minor blip on the political scandle meter. And remember he has got the Democrat big-guns (like Obama) backing him for reelection as part of the deal, so frankly I think he will come out ahead, as will the democrats. With Franken almost assuratly going to be seated, 60 votes in the senate opens a whole new ballgame.
 
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