GOP senator Arlen Spector switching to Democrat

[CarmelHP]

No, the premier RINO is Dick Lugar.

I have to admit, I voted for the puke (Specter, that is) twice '80 and '86, and I apologize. He fooled me by maintaining a good record on gun votes which was my only gauge at the time (it's still my primary criterion but not the only one now). When I came to Indiana, Lugar convinced me to not vote for him in '94 by voting for the Brady bill and the AWB, something even Specter did not do. I've withheld my vote (not voting for the Dem though) ever since.

 

[Fletch]

OMG! We agree! I think I just threw up a little......

You'd probably be surprised at just how much we agree on.

 

[Coach]

Don't forget Arlen is the jackass who invented the single bullet theory to make LHO the lone assassin.

 

[agentl074]

THEY ALL NEED TO GO!!!

Most....There are few true patriots in Congress. Congressmen Ron Paul and a few others are good though.

 

[TRWXXA]

I'm gonna laugh my farking @ss off if he switches parties, AND LOSES!!!

 

[slow1911s]

Where, exactly, are his responsibilities to the constituency who voted him in as a Republican? I understand that he votes the way that he votes, but those voters voted for a Republican senator.

If this country votes for a filibuster-proof senate or house, fine. Yeah democracy! But if Franken wins, the senate will be filibuster-proof by the decision of a single member, not the voters. There is a lot of things wrong going on, but this is at the top of my list.

 

[txgho1911]

Ok so most of us agree that Lugar needs to join him. I would add John McCain to the list of those willing to cross the aisle who we would like to stay across the aisle.
How many other RINOs do we need to get into the sunlight.

 

[BloodEclipse]

He thinks his job is more important than his honor.

 

[4sarge]

Thoughts on Specter



Mark Hemingway:

I read that he was switching parties, but I was disappointed to learn he's still a Democrat.
​

David Freddoso:

The departure of Arlen Specter looks very bad for the GOP. You never want to lose anyone. But could Senate Republicans have stopped it? No, not once it became clear that he was going to be trounced in his primary. Specter's problem is not the party in the sense of its leadership or direction, but rather with the Republican voters in Pennsylvania.

Arlen Specter switched from Democrat to Republican in 1965 so that he could win an election. He is now doing the reverse for precisely the same reason.

If we take Arlen Specter's word for why he is leaving, we have to accept the idea that the stimulus vote represented some kind of huge turning point for him. In fact, Specter's apostasy on that vote was less remarkable than several others — for example, his vote on the Employee Free Choice Act, or his courageous refusal to vote either "yes" or "no" on Bill Clinton's impeachment. The reason the stimulus vote matters is that it matters to voters and has become an issue in the primary — which again, is the only reason Specter is leaving the Republican Party.

If we take Specter's word, then the GOP has become intolerant of moderate politicians like himself. On this score, Specter appears to have a severe case of amnesia. Exactly five years ago, the national Republican Party swooped into Pennsylvania and saved him from certain defeat at the hands of Rep. Pat Toomey (R). Valuable presidential time was sacrificed on his behalf. Also sacrificed for Arlen Specter was the reputation of his conservative colleague, Rick Santorum (R), who never recovered. From that moment forward, he lost his core constituency, and was easily defeated two years later by a pro-life Democrat.

Without essential help from the party that is so intolerant of people like him, Arlen Specter would already be a former senator today. It is not the party but the voters in Pennsylvania who have stopped tolerating Specter.

If we take Specter's word, then conservatives act in bad faith when they become involved in the political process and try to elect the candidates of their choice. Conservatives should disengage from the political process and stop challenging people like Arlen Specter. They should not organize — whether through groups like the Club for Growth or otherwise — nor should they participate in the political process, nor donate to nor vote for candidates they prefer.

Specter noted this afternoon that the Club worked against several moderates, including Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R, R.I.), who won his primary but lost his general election in 2006. Chafee did not even vote for President Bush in 2004, but like Specter he received a great deal of money and help from the Republican Party in his primary.

Reps. Joe Schwarz (R, Mich.) and Wayne Gilchrest (R, Md.) are two moderate victims of the Club for Growth whom Specter mentioned today. They were not being sore losers, but rather acted in good faith when they lost their respective primaries to conservatives and then turned around and endorsed the Democratic nominee in the general election. (Note that when he lost to Specter in 2004, Pat Toomey endorsed him immediately.) Conservatives must be team players in the GOP, but if moderates behave differently, we blame the conservatives who challenge them for subsequent disunity and defeat.

What is funny is that without any action so far by the Club for Growth, social conservatives, or anyone else, Republican voters in Pennsylvania have been lining up to end Specter's career, as the polls demonstrate. That is why Specter does not want to be judged by them. It is the only reason he has left the party.
​

Jonathan Tobin:

Attributing to Arlen Specter a coherent or consistent “political philosophy” is giving him more credit than he has ever deserved. Specter, who originally switched in from being a lifelong Democrat to a Republican in a 1965 move to be elected Philadelphia’s district attorney, is the quintessential opportunist. Though he was elected on Ronald Reagan’s coat tails in 1980, he has always been in business for himself. As former Congressman Joe Hoeffel, his Democratic opponent for the Senate in 2004, put it to me in an interview, “It’s very hard to run against Arlen on the issues because he is on both sides of every question.”

As in 1965, this is a move dictated solely by political survival not principle. In 2004, he survived a stiff primary challenge from conservative Pat Toomey and won only by virtue of the strong support given him by George W. Bush and former Senate colleague Rick Santorum. But only hours after that narrow primary win, Specter began distancing himself from both of them. Given the fact that there would be no such help forthcoming in 2010 against Toomey, who jumped into the race after Specter voted for President Obama’s stimulus boondoggle, it was a given that Specter would lose the Republican nomination and his Senate career would come to an end. So rather than go down as a Republican, Specter will jump ship.

This is very good news for President Obama who will presumably now have his 60th vote in the Senate when and if Al Franken is seated for Minnesota. But Obama and other Democrats should be prepared for a difficult marriage with Specter. He is bound to be as feckless and faithless a Democrat as he was a Republican.
​

And, lastly, Arlen Specter himself on Jim Jeffords switching parties in 2001:

I intend to propose a rule change which would preclude a future recurrence of a Senator's change in parties, in midsession, organizing with the opposition, to cause the upheaval which is now resulting.
​

 

[right winger]

I can think of a few more that need to cross the aisle.
Susan Collins,Olympia Snowe,Richard Lugar,Lindsey Graham and last but not least John and Meghan McCain.

 

[agentl074]

Well we all know that there are conservative democrats - as well as liberal republicans. I just don't play into the false L/R paradigm. This is the true left/right - AND upper/lower:


-Courtesy of political compass.org

 

[Prometheus]

When that happens I'll buy you a beer.

I want to see someone run against Lugar in the primaries. I won't vote for Lugar. Period.

As to arlan... screw him. He's a true dirt bag. Same goes for mcAmnesty and lugar.

I'd love to see the dems not nominate him, that'd be FUN-E! I do Toomey hands him his @$$ in general.