Another hypocritical politician. Please don't be a trend.

[relic2279]

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania intends to switch parties
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-specter-switch-042809-cnap,0,7397725.story


Is this going to be a new trend? Congressmen and Senators flip flopping parties?
I'm a democrat, so this should please me, but it doesn't. It makes me think of Joe Lieberman, biggest douchebag politician of them all.

If you have values and an ideology, why change it? I should be happy that he's "changing his mind" after all these years to become a democrat but I'm not. I think I'm just angry because politics is becoming more like sports. Everyone wants to be on the side of the winning team. After being on the losing team for the last 8 years, I resent people like this. Fair weather politics.

I'm guessing the guy has been in the game a long time at 75 years old. If the nutjobs like the religious right and neocons are the reason for him leaving, that would probably be the only valid reason. You can only listen to Glenn Beck, Rush and Bill O'Reilly for so long before having an explosive aneurysm of ignorance. (I call it the "Fox News syndrome")

If this guy does indeed flipflop parties, I hope they vote him out. Sure, I wouldn't mind a democrat being voted in over a republican, but at least he won't be turning on his ideals he had held for years.

[AceHigh]

Could it be that both parties are so similar that if you happen to change a few small details like abortion and you suddenly go over to the other team?

Or maybe it is because the NeoCons have taken over the Republican party making it so nazi that some republicans are confused at where they stand?

[vicious796]

No, he clearly stated it. He doesn't want to risk losing his job because he isn't what the party in PA wants. That's it.

[AceHigh]

Hah! It will be a miracle if he keeps his job after that statement!

[Semnae]

Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to become a Democrat significantly raises the stakes in a contested Senate race in Minnesota, with the outcome of that fight now set to determine whether Democrats gain procedural control of the Senate.

The Minnesota Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on June 1 in the election dispute between Democrat Al Franken and Norm Coleman, who was the Republican incumbent until January. Mr. Franken currently leads the race by 312 votes, and many analysts say the state supreme court could reaffirm his victory within weeks.

The Minnesota contest is now pivotal because, with Mr. Specter's decision to join the Democrats, Mr. Franken's victory would make him the 60th vote for the Democrats. With 60 votes in the Senate, Democrats could overcome the minority party's parliamentary tools for blocking any of their initiatives.

Mr. Coleman could appeal to the federal courts if the state supreme court rules against him. But once the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled, Gov. Tim Pawlenty could face considerable pressure, and possibly a legal requirement, to certify Mr. Franken as the state's next senator.

An initial vote count suggested Mr. Coleman had won re-election on Nov. 4, but by such a narrow margin that a recount was mandatory. After a recount, the Minnesota Canvassing Board declared Mr. Franken the winner by 225 votes out of nearly three million.

Mr. Coleman challenged that result in state court, but a seven-week trial led to Mr. Franken extending his lead to 312 votes following a recount of contested absentee ballots. Mr. Coleman is appealing that ruling to the state supreme court.

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), who heads the Republicans' Senate campaigns, signaled on Tuesday that he would accept a ruling by the state supreme court. "We'd be happy to have the Minnesota Supreme Court decide the issue," he said, though he didn't rule out a federal challenge.

Eric Schultz, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which coordinates the Democrats' Senate campaigns, said Republicans have been using Mr. Coleman to keep the Minnesota seat vacant.

"Now more than ever, Norm Coleman should give it up," Mr. Schultz said.

Brian Walsh, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the Specter and Franken issues were unrelated. "The issue in Minnesota is about the fundamental principle that every vote should be counted and no voter should be disenfranchised," he said. "In contrast, Senator Specter's decision was not about principle, it was about political self-preservation."

Both campaigns said Tuesday that their positions hadn't changed as a result of Mr. Specter's move.

Minnesotans are apparently becoming impatient at being deprived of a senator. A recent Minneapolis Star-Tribune poll found that 64% of Minnesota voters believe Mr. Coleman should concede now, and 73% believe he should do so if the state supreme court rules against him.  -The Wall Street Journal

It's all up to Franken now!  Come on Franken!!!!   

[zherok]

Could it be that both parties are so similar that if you happen to change a few small details like abortion and you suddenly go over to the other team?

Or maybe it is because the NeoCons have taken over the Republican party making it so nazi that some republicans are confused at where they stand?

I'm inclined to agree. The assumption that it's all the individual shifting ideologies because the party is apparently some immutable and unchanging force is kinda silly. I'm a democrat, but that doesn't mean I have to like how the party handles things or like a particular direction. If he was a fairly liberal republican to begin with it wouldn't have been that big a shift to begin with.

He might be doing it just to save his ass, but I don't think he'd have to flip his entire political ideology to switch parties.

[fuddle36767]

Hah! It will be a miracle if he keeps his job after that statement!

The general consensus is that he would have taken the general election against all comers.  The problem was getting to the general, since he was badly losing a primary challenge from a hardcore conservative within a vastly-shrunken, further-right Pennsylvania Republican electorate.  Pennsylvania went from a nearly 50-50 registration state to one where Democrats have over a million more registered voters since 2004.  You could (cynically) argue that he's just following the will of his state by switching parties.  He's won his past elections by wide margins, which means he's had broad support from Democrats.


Add:
Just ran across this in the NYT, that Specter has voted with the Democrats 40% of the time in his Senate career of 30 years.  In the age of polarized politics, that's middle of the road.  Another indication why he can garner cross-party support but still alienate an ossified base.

[thedrkoneaox]

Could it be that both parties are so similar that if you happen to change a few small details like abortion and you suddenly go over to the other team?

Or maybe it is because the NeoCons have taken over the Republican party making it so nazi that some republicans are confused at where they stand?

The second answer is just about right... There is extremist there, also most republicans dont want to be on a ship that was seen as a bloody warship due to one of their own. Now next thing I say is just theory, has no fact to it... But what is the BEST way to defeat an enemy? From there inside where he/she is most trusting, where they should have nothing to fear... So in otherwords, to drag Obama down, put a couple people next to him that supposed to be friends who can find a way to drag him thru the dirt.... But as I said, its just theory... has no fact to it, but think about it this way, the reason female ninja were so good at they job is because they could get so close to the men because they let their guard down, and trusted them...

[nates1984]

Another hypocritical politician. Please don't be a trend.

Most politicians are hypocrites, it isn't a trend, just a fact... Come on relic, you're smarter than this. =P

[Pigeon]

It's all up to Franken now!  Come on Franken!!!!   

Ok. If I had a choice between Dennis Miller and Hillary Clinton for Senator, I would chose Hillary. Seriously, I would. Why can't you admit that practicality is more important than blind, stupid idealism?

Ok, maybe I'd trust the seat to George Carlin, but Al Franken is no George Carlin.

[Xanthic]

I think the main problem is that politicians have come to treat their positions as jobs rather than a service. Instead of them thinking "how could this country be better" it's now a matter of "how can I stay in office the longest". And if that means switching ideologies to the other party that's in power, then so be it.

[kyanwan]

It's all up to Franken now!  Come on Franken!!!!  

If he won, he won.  But from what I hear - they had weird standards in MN - and applied different standards to counting in different districts.   If that's truly the case, then that's a load of BS.

If the Coleman really lost - he should seriously step out.  He's making a real Gore Loserman of himself.  

( BTW: Don't forget the senators from Maine.  Snowe and Collins.   They're like Specter. )

It's all up to Franken now!  Come on Franken!!!!   

Ok. If I had a choice between Dennis Miller and Hillary Clinton for Senator, I would chose Hillary. Seriously, I would. Why can't you admit that practicality is more important than blind, stupid idealism?

Ok, maybe I'd trust the seat to George Carlin, but Al Franken is no George Carlin.

Oh man he would have been an awesome senator.  XD