Sen. Arlen Specter switches to Democratic party

[Hot Mega]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Senior Republican Senator Arlen Specter announced Tuesday that he was becoming a Democrat, boosting President Barack Obama's ability to drive his audacious agenda through the US Congress.

"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," the senator from Pennsylvania said on his campaign website. "I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary."

The decision may give Obama's Democratic allies the 60 votes needed to break through a parliamentary delaying tactic called a filibuster, provided Democrat Al Franken wins the long-delayed Minnesota Senate race.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090428/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticssenatespecter_20090428164834
:wave:

 

[Friday on my mind]

Beat me to it!:thumbsup::1orglaugh
http://board.freeones.com/showthread.php?t=296958


Mods should merge the two.

 

[Neutron66]

He's switching parties because if not he'll lose his re-election.

Very principled man, Arlen.

 

[hedonis]

Shawk.... surprise....


ooh.... aaahhhh.....



Oh wait, no. He was pretty much a democrat anyhow. Well, maybe this will make him sleep better at night. He'll probably lose his re-election bid anyway.


H

 

[DukeLaCrosse]

obviously specter didn't want to have to explain on Judgement Day why he was a party to torture and unnecessary wars and other republican principles that go against God (such as love of money)

 

[Hot Mega]

He's switching parties because if not he'll lose his re-election.

Very principled man, Arlen.

Well consider this, it's likely the seat would have gone Democratic in any event...If his challenger had won the primaries over him, he most certainly would have lost in the general to the Democratic challenger as Pennsylvania went for Obama and is increasingly more democrat.

If Specter believes he's principally aligned with Democrats to begin with, why lose in a primary where the platform doesn't reflect his views to only have the guy that beat Specter get beaten in the general by a guy who is more like Specter??

 

[NavyBlue]

I always like his policies so it's a good move for him. Now if only Snow would follow suit.

 

[bodie54]

What can I say? He's obviously a socialist, commie, fascist, terrorist sympathizer :dunno:

I predict that within a week Alan Keyes and Phillip Berg will file lawsuits demanding he produce his birth certificate.

 

[Friday on my mind]

What can I say? He's obviously a socialist, commie, fascist, terrorist sympathizer :dunno:

I predict that within a week Alan Keyes and Phillip Berg will file lawsuits demanding he produce his birth certificate.

Wasn't he also involved as a young lawyer with the "Warren commision",you know that commision that white washed and hid the truth of the assasination of JFK.I bet he is part of a lot of conspiracies.Has he been to bohemian grove or belonged to the masons? Will E!!!

 

[titsrock]

I never understood why he was a Republican to begin with because while he does "believe in fiscal responsibility" he's also Pro-Choice. I can't see any Pro-Choice Republican surviving any Republican primary anymore. I think the GOP will try to rally around Social Conservatism for 2010 elections. It's pretty much the only move they have left.

Welcome aboard Arlen! Joe Lieberman switched out of the Dems and went "Indie" to save his neck and cozy up to McCain and the GOP.

Turnabout is fair play....

 

[Will E Worm]

obviously specter didn't want to have to explain on Judgement Day why he was a party to torture and unnecessary wars and other republican principles that go against God (such as love of money)

HUH?

Both Republican and Democrat alike are hell bound.

 

[NavyBlue]

I never understood why he was a Republican to begin with because while he does "believe in fiscal responsibility" he's also Pro-Choice. I can't see any Pro-Choice Republican surviving any Republican primary anymore. I think the GOP will try to rally around Social Conservatism for 2010 elections. It's pretty much the only move they have left.

Welcome aboard Arlen! Joe Lieberman switched out of the Dems and went "Indie" to save his neck and cozy up to McCain and the GOP.

Turnabout is fair play....

Exactly. GOP is now so veered to the right that if you aren't a gun-toting, anti-abortion, anti-tax, small gov't fanatic you don't belong in the party. There's a reason why people calling themselves Republican has dropped to around 24%. Only the most stauch ultra conversatives are still around while everybody else would rather be Independent or a Dem.

 

[Friday on my mind]

Exactly. GOP is now so veered to the right that if you aren't a gun-toting, anti-abortion, anti-tax, small gov't fanatic you don't belong in the party. There's a reason why people calling themselves Republican has dropped to around 24%. Only the most stauch ultra conversatives are still around while everybody else would rather be Independent or a Dem.

Much like the turmoil the dems went through trying to figure out who they were in the late 70s and 80s after being trounced in elections is where the republicans are now at.There is and will be for quite some time a battle for the soul of the party.Some like Michael Steele,Christie Whitman even maybe a McCain and even a Bush realized they can't just pander all the time to their right wing base just as dems realized they needed to appear more moderate and hence we got Clinton and the moderate DLC.Clinton won as a moderate and so did Obama,but you wouldn't know that from what you read here about both lol.

The more the right wing of the republicans causes trouble and demands their agenda be pushed the longer the republicans will be out of power.

 

[Hot Mega]

I think the GOP will try to rally around Social Conservatism for 2010 elections. It's pretty much the only move they have left.

The biggest problem with Republicans today is they have very little credibility among average Americans.

If you spend all of your political capital making specious, intellectually dishonest arguments that don't pass the common sense test...you will lose all credibility as soon as you're proven wrong.

Unbelievably they still haven't learned as they apparently plan to use what political capital they have left trying to convince people with common sense that repeatedly subjecting someone to the brink of drowning is somehow not torture..lol.

They'll be enjoined by the usual suspects in their echo chamber, Fox News, and talk radio.

 

[The Paulinator]

I have a dream...that our elected office holders will someday represent the best interests of their constituancy and not represent a political party while in office.

Both Republican and Democrat alike are hell bound.

This deserves larger and redder font and exclamation points:

Both Republican and Democrat alike are hell bound!!!

 

[titsrock]

Some Republicans believe they must go "full Libertarian" because it will allow them to make intellectual arguments against "taxes" and "big government." But, that will mean adopting liberal views on "personal freedoms" --drugs, abortion, homosexuality, marriage, non-committal towards any religion, open border policy on immigration, etc.

In this view--they get to recapture the anti-tax position but they have to completely ditch "social conservatism."

Even though the Rush/Hannity/Coulter/Fox News view seems to be that Republicans can "have it both ways"...in reality, they can't.

It is going to be very interesting to see how the GOP tries to regroup. The "tea party" campaign seems to suggest full-throat wig and musket Libertarianism, but when they go begging companies and churches for donations and PAC Lobbying...they seem to go the other way...

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

And? He was always a liberal. Further blurs the line of the supposed "decisions" we have. Sick.

 

[boobfan]

Benadict Arlen Spector...

He never really was a Republican to begin with, he will lose his next election and be replaced by a actual Republican.

Of course by then Obama will have the country into a full on depression and probably have nationalised the banks by then.

 

[icerfan]

How should these issues be handled by the Senate for the future? I intend to propose a rule change which would preclude a future recurrence of a Senator's change in parties, in mid-session, organizing with the opposition, to cause the upheaval which is now resulting.

Did somebody say this about Senator Specter today? Nope! :nono:

Someone said it about Senator James Jeffords after he switched parties in 2002.

It was Senator Specter. :eek:

So that makes Specter a sellout AND a hyprocite. Swell.

 

[LootyK]

So, I'm confused, does this mean that Specter is okay with porn and violent video games?

Listening to the ultra-conservatives bitch on and on about that "horrible" porn, those violent video games, those gosh darn violent and sexy movies and television shows, and all that "harmful" heavy metal and rap music, is exactly what made me leave them in the first goddamn place!