Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, currently the 12th-most senior Senator, is switching to the Democratic Party. For those keeping score, that makes 60 Democratic senators, a frightening prospect as the Senate is now filibuster-proof. I may be in support of POTUS, but now I'm scared to death of the U.S. Congress. We now have no effective opposition party in the Senate.
here's a link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/specter.party.switch/ i personally don't like the titles of democrat and republican. like me or hate me, i'm a per issue sort of guy. people who vote the party without much knowledge of the issues.... well its frustrating
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/28/source-specter-intends-switch-political-parties/ http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/specter.party.switch/index.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8023460.stm It's actually interesting to see how the two sides of the media spectrum (CNN vs. Fox News) are wording this thing.
Yeah i just saw the news while I was on my lunch break......I guess we'll have to just wait and see how it plays out
Specter was going to get trounced in the Republican primary. He was polling 1-3 against his challenger. Him keeping that seat is no sure thing, and this is just a move for a politican to attempt to stay in power. This is to further his own personal political career. Nothing else. Murtha and Specter, both from PA. They must be so proud.
Not many places do, and even with the discounts, the prices are still nuts. And if you meant to imply that we shoot a lot in the Navy, you are mistaken. I have fired a gun 3 times in 9 years on Uncle Sam's dime.
Unfortunately, Washington has become an industry of followers. If you don't vote with your party, then you soon find yourself losing needed support (in Washington there is safety in numbers). There is no republican leaderhship in congress and even if there was, there are not enough of them to do anything. Don't worry though, Clinton started out like this and in two years, he lost the congress to the republican party...
2 observations: (a) Wouldn't want to be in a foxhole or sinking ship w/ Specter, and (b) Watch the doorknob, Dude!
Farewell to bad rubbish, for you independent thinking Ron Paul supporters, hope you're happy now. We are officially fucked and to those who gave me "bad rep" (like I care) for me stating the voting age should be raised, well go **** yourselves. These kids that don't know their asshole from a hole in the ground that voted for the "change you idiots can believe in" are the difference.
His party is getting more red, his state is getting more blue...no surprises, here. It has been said that the Republican party hasn't been too friendly to moderates lately with the "you're with or against us" mentality. And Sen Specter has always been independent voting w/ the Dems in the past, so it is no surprise that he faced a serious challenge in the Republican primary. Sen Snowe...are you next?
Specter and Snowe always leaned more to the left than Lieberman ever leaned to the right (Bailout). But like the consensus says, I'm sure this was more of a way to keep his hopes up for keeping his Senate seat. I don't see such a senior senator rubber stamping his name on every dem bill coming by. Remember it was he who initially stopped up the whole Employee Free Choice Act which would have had massive reprocussions on all small businesses if passed.
I'd love for Snowe and Collins to go to the jackass party as well....probably McCain and his idiot daughter too for that matter.
The minority party generally has to enforce party discipline. When the Dems were in the minority they did pretty much the same thing. A guy from my parent's church is one of the MD reps and when he got elected in 2002 he was generally pretty moderate, but during his freshman term he went waaaaaaaaaay left.
Don't worry guys. He just likes his job. Senator Specter is just gaming the game so he's not ousted by his own consituency. Character and principles be damned. Gawd, I hope he loses in the general election. I gave not a damn when I saw this story come up. A politician changing his party affiliation isnt exactly the story of the century. However, he has demonstrated that he no longer has the qualities needed for public service. Do we have to witness any more jack-assery before we demand term limits?
How is this any different than what Senator Lieberman did? Except he dropped his party after losing the primary.
