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Author Topic: Republican Arlen Specter switching to Democratic Party  (Read 3142 times)
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oldiebutgoodie
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« on: April 28, 2009, 02:02:28 PM »

The moderate Pennsylvania senator says the GOP 'has moved far to the right.' The move means that Democrats will likely be able to block any Senate filibuster.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced today that he is switching parties and plans to seek reelection next year as a Democrat, in the meantime likely handing the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Specter's switch could hand the Democrats a 60-seat advantage in the Senate, provided that Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota prevails in his court fight for a long-contested Senate seat there. However, Specter said today that he will not become an "automatic" 60th vote to close debates in the Senate.

A three-judge panel has concluded that Democrat Franken defeated Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in a razor-thin Nov. 4 election, and the state Supreme Court will hear the case in June.

For Specter, the party switch also addresses an acute political problem at home, in a state whose political base is shifting and helped elect President Obama in November.

Specter was elected to the Senate in 1980, he said today, as part of Ronald Reagan's "big tent." But the party, he complained, "has moved far to the right."

"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," he said in a statement released by his office.

"I have been a Republican since 1966," Specter said in his statement. "I have been working extremely hard for the party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view.

"While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my party has not defined who I am," the five-term senator said. "I have taken each issue one at a time and have exercised independent judgment to do what I thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation."

[...]

Last year, Specter noted, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania switched their party registrations to Democrats.

Specter was one of three Republicans who helped the Democratic majority pass Obama's $787-billion economic stimulus in February, which not a single Republican in the House supported.

"When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party," Specter said today. "But I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing."

MORE...


Beyond even Senator Specter's "defection," I think the Republican Party has a bigger problem and question to answer. If this famous Republican is deserting the Republican Party, what does that say about the just plain folks - not extremists - who are registered Republicans and are questioning the ethics of the Bush administration and the damage done to this country over the last eight years by Republican rulers? How does the Republican Party rebuild on top of that? Why should Meghan McCain's dislike of extremism be the aberration in the Republican Party and the buffoonery of a Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter be the norm and does Republican leadership really believe their salvation lies in radical right extremism? Look who they just lost. If he can't hack it, what about Joe Public?
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oldiebutgoodie
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« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2009, 02:15:08 PM »

Moderates blame conservatives

Two leading Republican moderates say Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to become a Democrat highlights the hostility moderates feel from an increasingly conservative GOP.

“You haven't certainly heard warm encouraging words about how [the GOP] views moderates,” said Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, one of the few remaining moderate Republicans in the Senate.

Snowe said the party's message has been, “Either you're with us or you’re against us.”

Her frustration was shared by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), who slammed right-wing interest groups for pushing moderates out of the party.

Specter switched parties Tuesday after a recent poll showed him badly losing a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year to Club for Growth founder Pat Toomey. Toomey’s staunchly fiscally conservative political action committee backs only those Republicans who support a low-tax, limited-government agenda and comes down hard on those who break with party orthodoxy.

"I don't want to be a member of the Club for Growth,” said Graham. “I want to be a member of a vibrant national Republican party that can attract people from all corners of the country — and we can govern the country from a center-right perspective.”

“As Republicans, we got a problem,” he said.

The internal criticism came less than an hour before Specter walked into the Republicans' weekly Senate luncheon, where members discuss strategy, policy and other key items on the party agenda.

Snowe criticized party leadership for failing to change its tone after Republicans lost six Senate seats in the 2006 election.

“I happened to win with 74 percent of the vote in a blue-collar state, but no one asked me, 'How did you do it?'” she said. “Seems to me that would have been the first question that would have come from the Republican Party to find out so we could avoid further losses."

“Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history, the way things are unfolding,” Snowe said.

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BETH HOLLOWAY: "We will not let this go until we take Natalee home. It will never end."
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« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2009, 07:59:41 PM »

THE SPECTER SPECTACULAR.


Today (April 28, 2009) Arlen Specter announced a jump to the left of the electorate tracks.  Agile Specter has managed to jump around for years.

CNN carried Specter’s announcement that he would seek election under the Democrat Party.  After making Stimulus excuses, Senator Specter said, “In the course of the last several months, since the Stimulus vote, I have traveled the State, surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania; done public opinion polls, observed other public opinion polls, and have found that the prospects winning the Republican Primary are bleak.  I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican Primary Electorate.  Not prepared to have that record decided by that jury.—the Pennsylvania Republican Primary Electorate.”

Rather than gracefully retiring, the 79 year old Senator prefers to call up the Obama, Clinton, Clinton, ACORN electric train to barrel down the tracks.  Power to the train!  Power to the tracks!

He jumps left; he jumps right; but, this time he may have miscalculated.
 
It’s a phenomenon rarely seen:  Biting the hand that fed you, while leaping onto the THIRD RAIL.  Senator Arlen Specter may have intended to jump to the left side of the track and landed on the THIRD RAIL. 

Pennsylvania will be an interesting place from now until November 2010.  If he isn’t run over by the train, we could see an amazing show. . . culminating in the fireworks as a crispy, incumbent-critter is fried before our eyes—The Specter Spectacular.
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oldiebutgoodie
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« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2009, 08:40:35 PM »

This has similarities to Joe Leiberman who also knew he couldn't get nominated by his own party so he went "independent" and became Sean Hannity and Fox News' poster boy of what every Democrat should be like. However, if Senator Specter acts out of deep conviction as much as for the sake of political expediency, he may have a few redeeming qualities.

I had tremendous respect for Joe Leiberman when he defied his own Democratic Party to vote in favor of impeaching President Clinton. Since then, I've seen him act as a toady to various Republicans and their wants and needs so that's kind of drained the respect I once had for him.

I'll wait and see if Senator Specter is more of the same only from the flip side.
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BETH HOLLOWAY: "We will not let this go until we take Natalee home. It will never end."
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« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2009, 09:03:12 PM »

McConnell: Specter defection a 'threat to the country'

Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch parties and pursue reelection as a Democrat is a "threat to the country," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asserted Tuesday.

Reacting to Specter's defection from the GOP, McConnell accused the longtime Pennsylvania lawmaker of having practiced naked politics.

"I think the threat to the country presented by this defection really relates to the issue of whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority to have whatever it wants without restraint, without a check or a balance," McConnell said during a Tuesday afternoon press availability.

"Obviously, we are not happy that Senator Specter has decided to become a Democrat," McConnell said. "If we are not successful in Minnesota…Democrats, at least on paper, will have 60 votes. I think the danger of that for the country is that there won't automatically be an ability to restrain the excess that is typically associated with big majorities and single-party rule."

MORE...

I don't think this is the end of the world as Mr. McConnell seems to believe but I do agree with him that it would be an uncomfortable proposition to have only one side represented in government. That gives an independent like me the heebie-jeebies no matter who the ruling party is.

However, I do not believe the Republicans will lose all voice in government. They may not be able to block some legislation that the Democrats are passionate about but I do not think Republican voters have lost their voice in government. Not by a long shot.

I think this whole brouhaha might actually be a huge blessing-in-disguise for the fading Republican Party. Maybe a defection as huge as Arlen Specter will WAKE THEM UP to the fact that the extremist takeover of their political party is not a good thing and maybe the rebuilding of the real Republican Party will find new strength and vigor to rebuild and courage to face down the extremists. If the Republican Party is to have any hope at all, they need to wrest control from the extremist wing and put it solidly back with the non-kool-aid-drinking realists.
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BETH HOLLOWAY: "We will not let this go until we take Natalee home. It will never end."
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« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2009, 11:33:20 AM »

Looks like we have approximately 21 months of the "will of the Democrats" unbridled.  Life is one party rule, anything goes, and pass it fast.

Both Parties court the extremists and then kiss up to moderate Americans to get elected.  Both Parties have drifted to the extreme.  Where is the representation for US monkeys in the MIDDLE.

We don't have representation; we have highly paid Muppets.

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Bearlyhere
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« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2009, 03:59:22 PM »

I wish he would defect to another country .  I have personal experience with Mr. S and can say from my longtime experience that he will turn on anyone at anytime.  Beware the S hole, jmo.

Have at it.

 

btw, I love the monkeys and the parties they rode in on!!!

 



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« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2009, 10:14:29 PM »

Bearlythere I have to say I am not fond of Specter either and I think perhaps he should lead the brigade over in Afghanistan !! I've never cared for him or his record.

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« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2009, 11:00:18 AM »

I wonder if we could recall Arlen Specter.

Over the years, I have recognized the possibilities of having a single party system--power completely in the hands of one party.  I've voted for Democrats, attempting to keep a balance.

In the 2008 Election, for the first time in my life, I voted straight party ticket.  The prospects for a one-sided government, controlling almost everything, looked very possible.

For political gains, Specter piled on . . . which is against the supporters who elected him for decades.  If we, the voters, can make score one point for "taking back the country" . . . it will be by shoving Specter OUT.

 
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oldiebutgoodie
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« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2009, 07:39:25 PM »

I wonder if we could recall Arlen Specter.

Over the years, I have recognized the possibilities of having a single party system--power completely in the hands of one party.  I've voted for Democrats, attempting to keep a balance.

In the 2008 Election, for the first time in my life, I voted straight party ticket.  The prospects for a one-sided government, controlling almost everything, looked very possible.

For political gains, Specter piled on . . . which is against the supporters who elected him for decades.  If we, the voters, can make score one point for "taking back the country" . . . it will be by shoving Specter OUT.

 

It does seem that Senator Specter has switched parties just because it looked like his own party was not supporting him in his next primary race. Is anyone familiar with his voting record? Has he cast any specific votes you agree with? Disagree with?
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BETH HOLLOWAY: "We will not let this go until we take Natalee home. It will never end."
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« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2009, 11:29:41 PM »

http://www.geocities.com/zrrifle99/
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« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2009, 04:03:56 PM »

Arlen has launched the "Arlen for Arlen" campaign in PA.  This morning he was promoting himself with a group from the Hershey Medical Center.  Singing the praises of the mysterious Health Plan, he failed to tell the medical students the cost to them.

The current students may have to pay back huge sums, while they receive government controlled wages.  Large loans, substantial interest, lower income may even out after a few years; but, the taxes will go on, and on.

Now, let's see those collective smiles for Arlen.  Whatta good old boy!
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Constitution101    hillsdale.edu/constitution/
Courtesy is requested; Respect is Earned.
Pace Yourself, for the LongHaul.  MOs
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