I’m waiting to watch Arlen’s press conference and gather some more information before I write about his party switch. In the meantime, tell me what you think about it. There’s a lot to consider.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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If he plays ball with the President and doesn’t become a Bayh-esque obstructor, I think he’ll be all right.
The thing I’ve read around where this damages the GOP more than it strengthens the Dems certainly rings true for me. If a moderate like Specter can’t get a fair shake, something is terribly wrong in GOP land.
Amen to where the real damage comes.
What Robert said.
nalbar
I dunno. In a lot of ways Specter is worse than Lieberman. He’s always been a grandstanding, smarmy flip-flopper and waffler.
In the past, though, he’s often managed to wind up standing on his party’s side of an issue, regardless of how he yammered up to that point. That suggests he’s quite vulnerable to being bullied by his party leadership. Which makes him a useful idiot if he oozes, otherwise unchanged, over to the Democratic side.
Ah, but our leadership sucks at bullying.
Yes, you’re absolutely right. Make that “potentially useful idiot.”
Wonder whether the quid pro quo coming out now — no primary opposition, no vote promises — is an accurate reflection of what transpired. If so, what a spectacular waste of an opportunity…
it’s a cowardly, calculated move that has nothing to do with principle.
if you want to know what a principled jump looks like, you have about as far as Jim Jeffords.
Specter is facing the hostile rump of the party. he can’t win, and he can’t pull a lieberman. his only choices are “retire” or “switch”.
he’ll be a super-shitty democrat that makes evan bayh look like a bleeding heart liberal. he sucks. I want no part of him. I will work against him in the primary. If he is the candidate, i will not vote for him.
brendan work for joe!!!!!…we have to defeat this two faced monster.
all i have to say is remember the hot tub arlen….remember the hot tub.
somebody should do some digging into arlens back yard plus a few hundred yards…thats where the skeletons are.
please do go on anna, i can’t find anything…
I am not sure if it really matters if this is ‘good’ for the Democrats. But there is not doubt it is bad for the Republicans, and REALLY bad if it gives cover for other defections or even cover for more moderate stances (which might be the most important impact) on some votes.
And for me, being bad for Republicans is good enough.
nalbar
Not sure how much of a positive effect this will have on improving the odds of getting progressive legislation through. It could likely just add to the frustration level we already have with so many of the “moderate” Democrats we have floating around. Those whose motives seem to primarily be doing things that show they won’t be pushed around by that damn Obama guy.
But I have to say this. Watching the GOP reactions to this will be pure gold. Michael Steele came out with at least a half-truth, though. With an added twist of comical at the end.
Yeah, to be certain the move was based on Arlen’s personal political interests.
But only in today’s GOP could someone like Specter be considered a “left-wing” voter. Freaking hilarious.
I’m most curious about the idea of how Specter’s committee seats will be handled and whether or not they would take to the idea of blocking an organizing resolution on them until an agreement to seat Franken is made (as suggested by David Waldman). That would be a double whammy of super delicious fun. Arlen’s defection along with Franken in the Senate will really make their heads explode.
I wish he had become an independent who caucused with the Democrats, like Jeffords did.
This idea that a Republican, who feels he has been been left high and dry by a Republican Party controlled by extremistsm, should join the Democratic Party is imo hogwash. He should only join the Democratic Party if he is a Democrat. If the Republicans left him, by all means he should leave them – but he should call it for what it is. He is now an independent.
What is the litmus test for being a Democrat?
One test for me would be not railing about Dawn Johnsen’s appointment as OLC. She’s not only a highly competent attorney, she’s practically my neighbor;-)
I know that sounded like I have a litmus test, but I’m just deeply suspicious of people who switch parties right before what’s going to be a tough election when it looks like being in the new party might be better for them.
I don’t have a litmus test. But when someone joins the Democratic party they should espouse all the reasons why they they think they are a Democrat. They shouldn’t simply say that the Republican party has left them and, by the way, don’t worry they don’t intend to vote with the Democrats all the time. This is not someone who sounds like a Democrat – he sounds like someone left behind by the Republican party who needs to be an independent.
Tough on Republicans, but not so great for progressives. 2 Liebermans does not make for change I can believe in. EFCA and Koh are still in trouble and the war machine goes forward, etc. etc. etc. Specter is only doing what serves his interests (re-election.) Where have we seen that before?
The media keeps talking about the extremism on the far right and left. I worry more about the massive stagnation in the middle when it comes to politicians.
From Jackass Joe Lieberman:
Jesus, if that doesn’t make the hair on your neck stand up, nothing will.
The rats just keep jumping off the ship. The danger here is that the moderate dems join with the rats and kick the progressives to the curb.
OT — Meadowlands with Branford Marsalis tonight.
Should be a demoralizing hit to any moderates left in the GOP – all, like, 9 of them. Anyone who’s been sticking around hoping that the GOP would start to wise up is probably feeling kind of dumb right now.
I wonder if it puts any kind of extra pressure on Collins or Snowe. The obvious reaction would be that the party leadership would loosen its reigns a bit and essentially turn them loose in the hopes that they could rebuild the moderate brand in the Northeast. But I’m betting that there will be added pressure to get them to toe the party line and prove that they aren’t also RINOs getting ready to switch parties. Could be interesting to see which way things go with the two of them.
Are there any other “moderate” Republicans left at this point? I can’t think of any real moderates – at least in the Senate. I guess McCain and Voinivich sometimes have the label applied to them, but McCain dropped the moderate mask during the campaign and really doesn’t look like he’s going to pick it up again. And Voinivich is retiring and since that announcement has been pretty much a reliable Republican obstructionist (much to the disappointment of many moderate Independents I know here in Ohio who really thought Voinivich was a real moderate).
As far as the moderate label goes I think Voinovich has, for the most part, fit the bill pretty well over the years. Considering the toxic atmosphere which has developed within the GOP over the last decade or more, I am surprised he has waited until the end to suddenly have a desire to show this streak of marching lockstep with the current hard-right fringe of his party.
Not exactly the note I would think George would want to go out on. He’s not been an ideologue in the past. Just don’t understand why is he starting now?
Yeah, I agree. Actually I thought that by announcing his retirement he might feel free to actually vote more like a centrist, instead of mouthing disagreement and then voting for cloture anyway. Now he doesn’t even bother to disagree, which suggests to me that he’s actually more conservative than he’s seemed for the last couple of decades and realized that Ohio isn’t as conservative as folks like Ken Blackwell like to think it is.
Where will his paycheck come from when he retires? Dollars to donuts that his only options come from those who fund the rabid right…
i think this totally completely sucks
we had a chance to get arlen out and joe torsella whom i idolize in there….and what is rendell gonna do…torsella is a good friend of his and so is arlen but i will totally freak out if he butt fucks us all once again and clears the field for arlen spector….seriously im frealing out…cant we throw him back to the republicans?
I don’t want him.
He was more useful when he was screwing up the GOP.
Sadly this was a winnable seat for a ‘good’ dem.
OTOH, if the dems want to increase their magrins in the senate in 2008, there will be more dinos because most of the easy wins have been won.
The dems have always had them, and always will. It doesn’t mean good shit can’t get done.
Meanwhile, back at KAOS Headquarters Conrad Siegfried rallies the faithful.
Keep on weeding. Eventually you’ll have nothing but scorched, bare earth.
Will Arlen vote to Seat Senator Al Franken? Either your with us or Arlen should be an Indpendent.