I guess he's not into tea bagging.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

And, when Franken is seated, the minority won't be able to filibuster.

He just did it so he can get reelected. Talk about thinking of yourself!

No, that's for Barney Frank. Maybe Specter IS into it.

Naw, he's just a traitor. He knew he was going to lose his seat, so he switched. I say good riddance to the turncoat.

See, I don't care what side of aisle you're on. If you have certain beliefs and believe in those beliefs then stand on those beliefs! You shouldn't kowtow or waffle just to "win".

I think most politicians pander to the public, but Specter is way beyond pandering....

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Toooooo funny!!!!

I agree.

If he'd abandon his values to be elected, they weren't his values to begin with.

He didn't abandon his values. He's always been pro choice, pro labor and pro gay marriage. There's no room for a centrist in the Republican Party.

How is he abandoning his values by switching parties? His values and principles are more in line with the Democratic party. Smart man.

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Reading is Fundamental.

He has refused to follow the GOP party line. No deviation is allowed.

Did you see where pro choice GOPers are threatening to switch?

I guess that would explain why my dad asked me today if I could find a bumpersticker for him online that read Arlan = Judas. I told him you can probably find anything if you try - now I know why he wants me to try (lol).

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Meddle ye not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crispy, and taste good with Ketchup!

No independent thought is allowed. Scary world, that GOP place.

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Reading is Fundamental.

If you represent yourself as a republican to the people that you voted you in, than you stay a republican. My personal opinion is if you want to switch parties, your butt is out of there!

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Check out my homepage http://julie.mycoupons.com/

Why? He wasn't just elected for a party, he was elected for his stance on the issues. If he votes the same no matter what party banner he runs under, what difference does it make what party he's affiliated with?

My personal opinion is you vote your conscience. Specter is absolutely right -- the GOP of today is for sure not the GOP he was elected under years ago. Whackjobs like Cheney and Palin, Huckabee and Boehner prove that point. A party that allows itself to be terrified by a bully like Rush Limbaugh isn't a party any self-respecting person ought to want to be associated with.

The 2010 election will tell what the people of Pennsylvania really think. I suspect the Commonwealth that told Rick Santorum to go suck an egg is going to stay with Specter.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Not as scary as the zombies blindly following the libs and their agendas......

A blog, but, these are things that can be proven. Looks to me like he was acting like a Republican......and now that the Republican party is such a mess, he fears not getting re-elected and has jumped ship to ensure he gets re-elected.


What Specter's switch says about him, the Democrats and our political spectrum - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com


(1) The idea that Specter is a "liberal" Republican or even a "moderate" reflects how far to the Right both the GOP and our overall political spectrum has shifted.
Consider Specter’s most significant votes over the last eight years, ones cast in favor of such definitive right-wing measures as: the war on Iraq, the Military Commissions Act, Patriot Act renewal, confirmation of virtually every controversial Bush appointee, retroactive telecom immunity, warrantless eavesdropping expansions, and Bush tax cuts (several times). Time and again during the Bush era, Specter stood with Republicans on the most controversial and consequential issues.


UPDATE: In his Press Conference, Specter just reiterated that he opposes the nomination of one of Obama's few truly excellent nominees: Dawn Johnsen as OLC Chief. What a great Democrat Specter will be. Specter also just detailed how key Democratic officials promised to support him and raise money for him in the 2010 election if he switched, so now Democrats -- Harry Reid and the rest -- are committed to keeping him in power for another 8 years, committed to keeping the Pennsylvania Senate seat in the hands of Arlen Specter.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Surely you jest.

From committee chairmanships to pretty much every power position there is, from what bills get introduced and what gets killed in committee, the "Power Party" is key to accomplishing things, and being a member comes with perks the out-of-power party can do absolutely nothing about.

Surely you learned about some if this in a history class along the way?

The Republican party is more liberal today than it ever was, IMHO. They've tried to please too many people with the whole "Big Tent" philosophy. Other than Ben Nelson of NE, I don't know of any pro-life Democrats who have survived the wrath of the DNC. From the Log Cabin Republicans to the Pro-Choice Republicans, you'll find many areas where the tent has been widened with the intention of pulling in voters who agree with the platform except for one or two key issues. The result has been a loss of identity.

Look back to the time of Nixon and Ford and Reagan and Bush 1 and read a speech or two and see if the Republican party of 2009 is more or less conservative than it used to be.

It has certainly drifted Left.

Therefore, Spectors claims are not at all true. He just wanted re-elected and saw this as the best chance he had.

The thing is...as much as I don't care to see the Democrats in power all across the board, I have to say that from what we've seen from King FlyOver and his Band 'o Merry Men, it won't be too long before the American people are just weary of the whole lot of 'em and will send them back home. I've never denied that Obama is an eloquent speaker, but I've gotta tell ya... despite the fact that I was terribly impressed the first time I heard him speak (not so much with what he said, but with his delivery), he's wearing on me. Today I had the radio on as I was picking up my kids from school and he was on and waxing eloquent.

And... I'd like him to just TALK once in awhile.

It's not necessary to make everything sound like it went through twenty-seven editors and three PR firms. Just get up and talk, Man! For the State of the Union address, fine - use your fancy wordsmithing. Otherwise... lose the facade, please.

There has to be a happy medium between Bush's stumbling and Obama's pontificating.

Nixon expanded Johnson's Great Society; that was pretty liberal. He also made overtures to Communist China and opened relations. He did expand the war in Vietnam; that was very Republican.

Ford didn't really do a whole lot of anything. Other than pardoning Nixon, I can't think of much. Not much regard for the rule of law there. I liked him and loved Betty.

Reagan was very Republican. Likable guy but not much of a leader. He did cut taxes for the rich. That's when we learned that defecits don't matter. Boy, did he spend. He was very anti abortion. He also raised taxes, but not back to where they were before.

Bush 41 raised taxes. He responded well with the first Gulf War. The economy did him in along with a little help from Perot.

Bush 43 gave speeches with the words you wanted to hear just as all the others did.

The Civil War changed this country.

The Great Depression changed this country.

Vietnam changed this country.

Iraq and the collapse of the banks has changed this country.

The only Republican strongholds left are the South and the Jello Belt.

Republicans drifted to the extreme far right under Bush. The more people you exclude, the weaker you get.

By the way, Harry Reid is anti abortion as is Bob Casey. That's off the top of my head.

Obama outlined a very specific agenda. People voted for him knowing all about it.
So far, he's well on his way to accomplishing everything that he outlined.

How is that blind? He won, you know.

If there ever was a kettle....

Well you are right in that he campaigned on "change" and that's what we are getting. It's just not the "change" I want. Get back to me in 4 years and see if you are better off......

IMHO, what has happened is that the Democrats have gotten more liberal, not that the Republicans have gotten more conservative.

The contrast level is way up between the two parties in some ways... in others, not so much.

Both seem way too happy to spend spend spend.

It seems to me that you and many others, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Bill Frist, and Jim DeMint would all be more at gome in the Constitution Party.

Don't forget the lovely Virginia Foxx!

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush
/0409/Matthew_Shepard_killed_in_nonbias_robbery_Foxx_say s.html

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Reading is Fundamental.

No, but if it makes you feel better, go ahead and think so.

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Reading is Fundamental.