Arlen spector switching parties!

[mostpost]

All of the major cable news networks are reporting that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector is switching to the Democratic Party.

[Overlay]

Here's a link to the story:

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

Doing what he had to do to get re-elected next year in a blue state. Farewell to another RINO.

[ArlJim78]

goodbye and good riddance Benedict Arlen.
don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on your way out.

[Tom]

Huh?
He's been a democrat for a while now.
Oh, maybe officially. ;)

Maybe he will take McCain with him, and Collins and Snow. Good riddance to the lot of them.

Just thinking, though, he ran as a republican, made promise to represent his constituents, now abandons them, took campaign money under false pretences.....will he have the integrity to give it back? Naw, probably mot, People of his limited character never have integrity. His only concern is getting his butt re-elected. At least he picked the right party this time.
Now if the other three turn-coats would do the same......

You can't rebuilt the party until you purge the trash from it.

[boxcar]

goodbye and good riddance Benedict Arlen.
don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on your way out.

I second that motion. Time to take out the RINO trash. Arlen and the Dems deserve one another.

Boxcar

[ArlJim78]

I second that motion. Time to take out the RINO trash. Arlen and the Dems deserve one another.

Boxcar
Spectacle could read the handwriting on the wall, he wasn't going to win the Republican nomination, so he bailed out.
you're right, time to take out the trash.

[Show Me the Wire]

Just another self serving politician interested in preserving his own status instead of improving life for his constituents.. Started as a Dem, switched to the 'publicans and now back to his supposed roots. Simply a non-news event, nothing to be seen here, keep on moving.

[ddog]

as the guru said , the problem is all that's LEFT o the pugs is trash.

They are done.
The dims will preside over the complete failure of this country and the pugs will be missing in action.

RR's ghost is dead, even the fumes have left the building.

They are toast, Mcconneell, bohner, pain-en --- give me a break.

They couldn't run a lemonaid stand.

[Bubba X]

The GOP's new motto:

"We're still strong in Alabama!"

[cj's dad]

quote - lemonaid stand. :lol: :D

[ddog]

Just another self serving politician interested in preserving his own status instead of improving life for his constituents.. Started as a Dem, switched to the 'publicans and now back to his supposed roots. Simply a non-news event, nothing to be seen here, keep on moving.


guru, i am starting to worry about you, your point about a pol improving life for his constituents, that sounds about as socialist leaning as anything you have said.

It's the other way around , when and if it works, the constituents do the improving , the pols just sort out the spoils of the work done by the constituents.


It is amazing to me the fine film of decay that covers this country and it's not even remaked on much anymore.

[ddog]

quote - lemonaid stand. :lol: :D


that were esp fer u.

stalker fishy.

[Show Me the Wire]

guru, i am starting to worry about you, your point about a pol improving life for his constituents, that sounds about as socialist leaning as anything you have said.

It's the other way around , when and if it works, the constituents do the improving , the pols just sort out the spoils of the work done by the constituents.


It is amazing to me the fine film of decay that covers this country and it's not even remaked on much anymore.

I am a socialist, in that, I beleive in people helping people and in the principle that elected officials are the representatives of the people. In the midst of this economic crisis instead of focusing on the financial condition of this country and as a result his constituents lives, he decides to play politics for self-preservation.

And of course the dems are happy to have him, because they love to play political games too.

[ddog]

I am a socialist, in that, I beleive in people helping people and in the principle that elected officials are the representatives of the people. In the midst of this economic crisis instead of focusing on the financial condition of this country and as a result his constituents lives, he decides to play politics for self-preservation.

And of course the dems are happy to have him, because they love to play political games too.


Once the "principle" has been shown not to obtain at all for the vast majority of the pols(imo) then can the construct hold water anymore?

Are not all the pols at this level all about "winning" since that's in the best interest of "their" country, the idea that THEY are the saviour?

What flows is that any action any bribe and any shading is worth it since the loss of "their" contribution is a disaster for "their" people.

I don't like the tone up there anymore at all.

[BlueShoe]

This RINO has a lifetime ACU rating of 44,very poor for a Republican.With the switch,he goes from being a Liberal Republican to becoming a "Conservative" Democrat,and likely will become a "Blue Dog".Labels,labels,they do have a way of changing things,dont they?

[46zilzal]

That was a surprise but, reading his statement, it makes a lot of sense

[The Judge]

this is some funny stuff. Any Republicans left? Just this morning I was thinking about how slimy politicians were in general. I wondered how many so called Republicans would change parties if it meant it was the only way they could be re-elected ,or how many would change to pro-choice if it meant it was the only way they could get re-elected.

I guess they all would.

[Tom]

So Judge, you're happy to have the slimy pols under the Dem tent? :lol:

Me too.

[ArlJim78]

Spectacle is an opportunist, merely looking to keep his gig. the whole country and the GOP has moved sharply left in the time he has been in office, and now he wants to leave because he says the party moved right? huh? are we talking about the same party that just nominated John McCain? please. he's nothing but a carpetbagger.

[The Judge]

is there in no fundamental differences between the two parties. They are both the same. Even with Obama in the little guy is going to lose a lot more then win. When Big Corporations fail they still win.

The Democrats do a' little better" than the Republicans as far as helping the working man.

[Show Me the Wire]

Yes, this move shows the political moral bamkruptcy of the dems. Spector believes he is so special that the country can't survive without his special brand of leadership so he jumps ship for the promise that the dems won't run a candidate against him in the primaries.

His leadership is so special that he would not win the primary to retain his own seat in the Republican Party. Also his special brand of leadership would lose if he ran as an independent. So his special brand of leadership is only viable if he runs without opposition.

This is where the dems have gone wrong. The dems had a great opportunity to win the seat with a real dem candidate by giving the people the choice between Spector's special quality for self-preservation and a viable Obama supporter.

Instead the dems opt for a retread politician and turn their backs on the people of PA and America.

The people of PA and America do not need an incumbent candidate that would lose in his party's primary and would lose in the general election as an independent retaining his seat through backroom deals. If the people of PA. vote for Spector, as a Dem, they really deserve this backroom dealing leadership, but the rest of us do not.

[ddog]

Yes, this move shows the political moral bamkruptcy of the dems. Spector believes he is so special that the country can't survive without his special brand of leadership so he jumps ship for the promise that the dems won't run a candidate against him in the primaries.

His leadership is so special that he would not win the primary to retain his own seat in the Republican Party. Also his special brand of leadership would lose if he ran as an independent. So his special brand of leadership is only viable if he runs without opposition.

This is where the dems have gone wrong. The dems had a great opportunity to win the seat with a real dem candidate by giving the people the choice between Spector's special quality for self-preservation and a viable Obama supporter.

Instead the dems opt for a retread politician and turn their backs on the people of PA and America.

The people of PA and America do not need an incumbent candidate that would lose in his party's primary and would lose in the general election as an independent retaining his seat through backroom deals. If the people of PA. vote for Spector, as a Dem, they really deserve this backroom dealing leadership, but the rest of us do not.


if this wasn't a typo it was a neat shot.

o'bamkruptcy
:lol:

[Show Me the Wire]

typo.

BTW the above is a rant about political backroom dealings that allow and encourage self-seving politicians to hang on to power to the detriment of the people and not sour grapes about Spector's party switch.

[Floyd]

BTW the above is a rant about political backroom dealings that allow and encourage self-seving politicians to hang on to power to the detriment of the people and not sour grapes about Spector's party switch.
Understood.
What it leaves us with is a filibuster-proof majority and the only opposition party in complete disarray. (21% Republicans? Really?) (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/parsing-the-polls/21-percent.html)
This is not healthy for the Republic.

[jballscalls]

clearly the conservatives in America have to get rid of the republican party and start their own real conservative party.

As for spector, he was on Stern the other week and he sounded like he clearly was becoming more liberal. But people change and there is nothing wrong with changing parties, cause really all the parties are, are an initial next to the candidates. Nothing worse than politicians that tow party lines instead of do whats best for their constituents. I wish they would get rid of parties altogether

[Burls]

Spectacle is an opportunist, merely looking to keep his gig. the whole country and the GOP has moved sharply left in the time he has been in office, and now he wants to leave because he says the party moved right? huh? are we talking about the same party that just nominated John McCain? please. he's nothing but a carpetbagger.I'll tell you what, we'll give you Nancy Pelosi in exchange for Spector.
That's an even trade.

[riskman]

that the dems won't run a candidate against him in the primaries.
he would not win the primary to retain his own seat in the Republican Party. Also his special brand of leadership would lose if he ran as an independent. So his special brand of leadership is only viable if he runs without opposition

SMTW hit the nail on the head.

This merely confirms that both parties are corrupt, and the longer their elected members are in Washington, the more corrupt, sanctimonious, and hideous they will (and have) become.

Both parties are hell-bent on breaking the back of free America and putting us in a straitjacket designed by a faceless bureaucracy, but eventually by the jackbooted Ministry for State Security, AKA as Department of Homeland Security.

[falconridge]

Just thinking, though, he ran as a republican, made promise to represent his constituents, now abandons them, took campaign money under false pretences.....will he have the integrity to give it back? Naw, probably mot, People of his limited character never have integrity. His only concern is getting his butt re-elected.
Loath though I am to "pull a PA"--as in the weeks-back thread (http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54648&page=4&pp=15) in which our moderator upbraids Obama supporters for giving the newly elected chief executive a pass for an early sojourn at Camp David, after the "Bush bashers" (PA's phrase) had lustily jeered our 43rd president for spending an all-time record 977 days (487 at Camp David, 490 at the Crawford hideaway) away from the Oval Office--I must ask Specter's critics if they expressed similar outrage at the defection of former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-/R-Colorado) in 1995. Campbell, you'll recall, entered Congress in 1986 as a Democrat, and served three terms in the House of Representative before being elected, again as a Democrat, to the Senate seat vacated by his retiring predecessor, Tim Wirth, in 1992.

When, on March 3, 1995, Campbell announced that he was switching horses in mid-stream (presumably the one befouled with the greenish taint of William J. Clinton's extremist environmental policy), few colleagues, pundits, politicos, or journalists--from any position on the political spectrum--questioned his motives. Instead, they focused on Campbell's ancestry (not on the damside, which is purebred Portuguese, but on the predominantly Northern Cheyenne sire line), bolo tie, ponytail, and Harley hog. Might Campbell (never, by the way, referred to as simply "Benjamin Campbell" or "Senator Campbell," but always as the onomastically full-feathered "Ben Nighthorse Campbell") have noticed the reddening of the state he'd been elected to represent (Colorado--the very name of which, after all, connotes ruddiness--went for Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004), or was his decision based on conscience and conviction rather than political expediency? Was Senator Specter's?

Do we know that Specter, in switching parties, has withdrawn his long-upheld support of Second Amendment rights or renounced his decidedly conservative views on crime and national security (bread-and-butter G.O.P. fare)? If he hasn't--and I haven't heard that he has--why the uproar over the letter-change? Hasn't boxcar--and many another in this forum--prayed that Democrats would eventually come around to his way of thinking on these issues? Why not think of Specter's color-change as camouflage, a stealthy infiltration of enemy lines? He'll be among them, but not of them.

Or is it all, like toddlers' blocks, about letters and colors?

[exactaplayer]

I would like to take the time to thank a couple of posters here for driving another person out of the Republican party. Your numbers continue to shrink. Keep up the good work.

[Burls]

I'll tell you what, we'll give you Nancy Pelosi in exchange for Spector.
That's an even trade.And if Olympia Snow crosses over, you guys have to take Harry Reid. :lol:

[Secretariat]

Not surprising Specter would switch parties. Tough to be looking up at Limpballs as your leader.

Obviously, he wants to keep his Senate seat, but at 79 I think he'll have difficulty in the Dem primary as well as the Repub one. He'd be 85-86 is re-elected and with his health issues I wonder.

A bit surprised Obama ruled out red carpet for the guy. He's primarily a Rethug with some moderate tendencies.

He'll help with the onslaught of fillibuster attempts down the road, but overall he'll vote along the lines of McSame, Snowe and Collins and Ben Nelson on the Dem side.

Personally, I think we're ruled somewhat by these moderates as they form the swing votes in so many bills. The right cancels out the left, and the middle rules so the true Progessives and right wing extreme nutcases remain unhappy.

[Hank]

The GOP's new motto:

"We're still strong in Alabama!"

Don't forget about the great state of Mississippi.The Pugs are tough down there.:lol:

[ddog]

Loath though I am to "pull a PA"--as in the weeks-back thread (http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54648&page=4&pp=15) in which our moderator upbraids Obama supporters for giving the newly elected chief executive a pass for an early sojourn at Camp David, after the "Bush bashers" (PA's phrase) had lustily jeered our 43rd president for spending an all-time record 977 days (487 at Camp David, 490 at the Crawford hideaway) away from the Oval Office--I must ask Specter's critics if they expressed similar outrage at the defection of former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-/R-Colorado) in 1995. Campbell, you'll recall, entered Congress in 1986 as a Democrat, and served three terms in the House of Representative before being elected, again as a Democrat, to the Senate seat vacated by his retiring predecessor, Tim Wirth, in 1992.

When, on March 3, 1995, Campbell announced that he was switching horses in mid-stream (presumably the one befouled with the greenish taint of William J. Clinton's extremist environmental policy), few colleagues, pundits, politicos, or journalists--from any position on the political spectrum--questioned his motives. Instead, they focused on Campbell's ancestry (not on the damside, which is purebred Portuguese, but on the predominantly Northern Cheyenne sire line), bolo tie, ponytail, and Harley hog. Might Campbell (never, by the way, referred to as simply "Benjamin Campbell" or "Senator Campbell," but always as the onomastically full-feathered "Ben Nighthorse Campbell") have noticed the reddening of the state he'd been elected to represent (Colorado--the very name of which, after all, connotes ruddiness--went for Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004), or was his decision based on conscience and conviction rather than political expediency? Was Senator Specter's?

Do we know that Specter, in switching parties, has withdrawn his long-upheld support of Second Amendment rights or renounced his decidedly conservative views on crime and national security (bread-and-butter G.O.P. fare)? If he hasn't--and I haven't heard that he has--why the uproar over the letter-change? Hasn't boxcar--and many another in this forum--prayed that Democrats would eventually come around to his way of thinking on these issues? Why not think of Specter's color-change as camouflage, a stealthy infiltration of enemy lines? He'll be among them, but not of them.

Or is it all, like toddlers' blocks, about letters and colors?


no, it's about being a toddler.

he wants what he wants (the power and glory of "THE SEAT") and doesn't care what he has to do to keep it.
he eats what he is fed and says what he thinks will please his feeders.
read feeder=party.
The Senate has devolved into a kind of royalty , albeit corrupt to the core, on a par with the landed English royalty this place was started to escape.

I believe B. Sanders(?) maybe the only honest one in that whole bunch, at least he takes a position and seems to actually stand for something outside of just staying in office.

God save King Obama and his court.

[Rookies]

I think pols that cross over (as opposed to cross dress) are the lowest form of scum. For whatever reasons, you ran under the party banner during the good times and people voted you in because of it- not the other ticket, so sack up when they're bad! Frankly, what is it? 30 years for Specter to find lukewarm left religion- smacks to me of trough feeding even more than opportunism. Always hated it when it happens in Canada and ALWAYS want the person destroyed in the next election.



Just 'cause you now have read the tea leaves of an Obama tsunami, doesn't make you a rocket scientist. I hope the Dems cross him up by running to the LEFT OF HIM IN THE PRIMARY.



Now that it's happened though, I'm taking bets on whether Franken will show up for his investiture in the Senate as the 60th. member a la Bobby Riggs, avec canopy and starlets! GREAT THEATER, AL! Don't screw it up

:lol:

[NJ Stinks]

Just out of curiosity if Specter said he was becoming an Independent, would he still be a bum?

Arlen was a moderate for years. At 79 why would he change his MO now? The guy votes based on his own beliefs period. PA voters know that and have voted him to victory every chance they've gotten since 1980.

Anyway, here's my take on the switch. Specter, who battled cancer a few years ago, decided he can have much influence on many important issues down the road if he stays in the Senate. At his age what can be more important to him? Sitting on the sidelines while most fellow senators vote strictly along party lines or having a real say in what goes on?

It's a no brainer. He's still alive and has the confidence in himself to believe he can make a difference in a postive manner. Why toss it all for a party that barely can tolerate him? It makes no sense.

Here's a link from FOX News that summarizes Specter's positions over the years. This guy is nobody's puppet.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/28/raw-data-biography-sen-arlen-specter/

[Show Me the Wire]

NJ Stinks:

To answer your question, no. The correct move would have been to declare himself an independent. This particular move by him and the Democratic party is corporate welfare for politicians.

[Tom]

Just out of curiosity if Specter said he was becoming an Independent, would he still be a bum?



Yes, he would be.
He ran as a voice for and accepted money from REPUBLICANS.
What he is doing is fraud. I don't miss him a bit, good riddance, but, Arlan, baby, pay back the money.

Lieberman had the decency to run as an independent.

[JustRalph]

It probably had nothing to do with the latest poll that found that Toomey leads him in Republican Primary by 20 points...........

Sure, nothing to do with it...........you can't stay in the Senate when you aren't on the ticket.............

[Tom]

He won't be the first republican to play for the other team.

Remember Larry Craig?:D

[Burls]

Just out of curiosity if Specter said he was becoming an Independent, would he still be a bum?

Arlen was a moderate for years. At 79 why would he change his MO now? The guy votes based on his own beliefs period. PA voters know that and have voted him to victory every chance they've gotten since 1980.Ya gotta admit he's got some political saavy, if he's been able to stay on for all those years. These days, Arlen can tell which way the wind is blowing. He's going Democrat all the way because he wants Barack Hussein Obama endorsing him when he goes up for election again.

[Bubba X]

It's not like he has to worry about any burned bridges hurting his next career. Greedy old politician, no different than most. He'll be in his mid-80's at the end of his next term, if he makes it.

What a joke.

[Rookies]

Just out of curiosity if Specter said he was becoming an Independent, would he still be a bum?

Anyway, here's my take on the switch. Specter, who battled cancer a few years ago, decided he can have much influence on many important issues down the road if he stays in the Senate. At his age what can be more important to him? Sitting on the sidelines while most fellow senators vote strictly along party lines or having a real say in what goes on?

It's a no brainer. He's still alive and has the confidence in himself to believe he can make a difference in a postive manner. Why toss it all for a party that barely can tolerate him? It makes no sense. / (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/28/raw-data-biography-sen-arlen-specter/)

NJ, to me that's a fair question and one I forgot to include. Unlike FOX, I am fair and balanced :D I would be much happier if he opted to be the Independent AND stayed as that. Of course, as an Indy, you can't poop the bed like Lieberman did with his vendu tactics with the RNC and gobbling at their convention !

While he may have more differences with the Party of NO than the Dems, if I were the Dems, I'd be grooming a more Left-Center alternative immediately.

The other point is that these arrangements get tolerated because of the intrinsic, cozy, scratch my back nature of pols. I mean you don't need to be an insufferable pr like Rove, but you should stand your ground on ethical questions. EVERY party should throw out the Larry Criags of the world and replace them with more honourable replacements. I am, of course talking about somebody from the SAME party. But today, people are loathe to do that as they believe they are giving away future chit$.

Very bad state of affairs and not just in the U.S. democracy- many, many places.

[NJ Stinks]

Greedy old politician, no different than most.

What a joke.

I disagree, Bubba. He is different from most because he doesn't vote along party lines no matter what.

I don't love the guy but I do think he is different.

[Warren Henry]

Ya gotta admit he's got some political saavy, if he's been able to stay on for all those years. These days, Arlen can tell which way the wind is blowing. He's going Democrat all the way because he wants Barack Hussein Obama endorsing him when he goes up for election again.

If enough people wake up (I bet against), having BO endorse him may not be such a good thing.

[Burls]

If enough people wake up (I bet against), having BO endorse him may not be such a good thing.On that note, do you remember Cheney's endorsement of the McCain ticket a few days before the election? ... Talk about the kiss of death. ...

[Tom]

McCain had lost long before the endorsement.
I bet it swayed no one.

[hcap]

Imagine that!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_anqVy8b414Q/SfhXSRk1RnI/AAAAAAAABj4/-QaEFpXaTuo/s400/266-jm042909_COLOR_Arlen_Specter_Defection.standalone. prod_affiliate.56.jpg

[Tom]

Looney toons for breakfast today, huh?

[hcap]

More loony tunes for my loony pals on the right. :D

http://www.bartcop.com/specter-reelected.jpg