I knew we were led by a bunch of political whores on both sides but few have been as blatant as arlen sphincter. If you doubt that democrats wouldn't do the same thing to save their sorry skin, you're wrong.

Enjoy the majority because now you have given up all rights to blame Bush for anything.

In related developments the Democratic Party is changing it's name to the Republican Party, and the Republican Party is changing it's name to the Nazi Party.

Just what the Democratic party needs, another craven opportunist. Dailykos has lots to say. Looks like Harry Reid demanded nothing in return and perhaps promised to not support another Democrat in 2010. I'd rather see Arlen lose to Toomey and see PA enlist a progressive next year. I have Feinstein...nuff said.

The unions in PA are in the catbird's seat now. If Spector doesn't flip back on signature card voting for unions, the unions will run another candidate in the Democratic primary. And he's such a crass opportunist, he will flip back.

On the other hand, this news has probably already resulted in millions of dollars in donations to the Norm Coleman Legal Fund. Franken ain't getting to Washington this year.

The irony is that, even with 60 votes, the Dems may very well still not be able to break a filibuster.

It looks as if the Blue Dog Democrats have another member of their caucus.

Mr. 'Magic Bullet' switching to the so-called 'winning team'? What a surprise. Just what we need... another Lieberman.

Maybe I am unduly elated over the Arlen Specter switch, but ever since I saw/heard him speak along with Pat Leahy during the Judiciary Committee hearings on the outing of Valerie Plame, I figured him for a decent, stand-up guy in spite of his being a Republican ... if he's an opportunist, then he has me fooled...

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Sen. Specter is a spineless SOB.

His previous Anti-Catholic and Anti Union record will defeat him in November.

End of Old Arlen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Arlen, the Darling of the Democratic Party, stated, 3/17/09:

"I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That's the basis of politics in America. I'm afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle atlantic...."

The video is well worth your time. Over at The Hill's briefing room:

briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/28/specter-had-disavowed-a-switch/

Democrats, Republicans, just a fat two headed pig.Vote them all out.

Arlen Specter switches parties and becomes a Democrat, a party run by Bill Clinton's successor, Barack Obysmal. The Democrats are now like the Republicans were in the '50's under Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller and politicians like that. Meanwhile, the dominant Horst Wessel wing of the T-Bangers, in the persons of Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin, et al, are claiming that Islamic terrorists created the present swine flu virus, injected it into the Mexican population and then sent them north to cause a pandemic in the United States.

This is the future of mainstream politics in the United States, ladies and gentlemen.

I wrote this post on an identical topic elsewhere on this site but here goes. Sorry to repeat.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GOOD ! And now, NO MORE EXCUSES ! Either the Democrats unite and fight or they're GONE GONE GONE ! No more filibuster excuses for GOOD this time. :)

P.S.: Sorry to get emotional here but after hearing the filibuster excuse for so long, I lost control of my mind.

And what about Bob Casey? Isn't he too conservative? Not that I see a difference between him being a Democrat or Republican anyway. Is there anything truly progressive Casey has done since winning that senate seat in 2006?

Specter, welcome. Republicans are self destructing. Moderates disappearing. A party exclusively of the far right. The rageful teabaggers can only fume. They can't win.

Is George Orwell's Three Headed ONE PARTY HYDRA Alive and Well in the United States Congress?

If 29 year EXTREMIST REPUBLICAN Arlen Specter is allowed to just move from the REPUBLICAN PARTY right over to the Democratic Party, then YES, Congress has George Orwell's ONE PARTY Hydra with three heads, and will be first hand evidence of the political duopoly's hydra government that George Orwell saw coming and wrote about in his book "1984" being put into political practice in the government of the United States.

George Orwell writes about a "one party" hydra with three heads, the first head being "THE PARTY", a coalition of cooperation between "THE INNER PARTY" and "THE OUTER PARTY", a second head being "THE INNER PARTY" and a third head being "THE OUTER PARTY" for dual political party control of government by "THE PARTY". Both "THE INNER PARTY" and "THE OUTER PARTY" being politically representative of only the one party,"THE PARTY", and "THE PARTY" represented not only the "INNER PARTY", but also the "OUTER PARTY", and all opposition to "THE PARTY", and was of course funded by the elite capitalists, with "THE OUTER PARTY" being the functionaries for "THE PARTY"; with neither "THE INNER PARTY" nor "THE OUTER PARTY" being representative of the majority of the people of the common population, "THE PROLES", who were NOT REPRESENTED AT ALL. "THE INNER PARTY" representing the RIGHT-WING'S ELITE CAPITALISTS, and "THE OUTER PARTY" representing only the ASPIRANT TOADY YEOMAN LEFT-WING'S COMMONER functionaries.

George Orwell must have been a prophet, because in 1980, what Orwell wrote about came to pass. "THE PARTY", the first head and the body of the hydra, which is representative of a 30% minority population coalition between the elite capitalists of the REPUBLICAN PARTY and the Democratic Party's DLC NEW (neo) Class, the DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, or right-wing lobbyist led NEW DEMOCRATS that are still alive and well in the Democratic Party, as the only way to kill a hydra is to kill its body [http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254926&kaid=85&subid=108] and the body of the DLC hydra is not dead yet, because their leaders appear on right-wing television as representatives of the Democratic Party quite often. The second head of the hydra is representative of a 10% minority of the population,"THE INNER PARTY" -- the REPUBLICAN PARTY, and the third head of the hydra is representative of a 20% minority of the population,"THE OUTER PARTY -- the right wing of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Today, the 70% majority unrepresented common population are "THE PROLES".

If long-time EXTREMIST VOTING REPUBLICAN Senator Arlen Specter can just skip from REPUBLICAN PARTY conservative orthodoxy to DEMOCRATIC PARTY progressive orthodoxy and not miss a lick, after twenty nine years of following EXTREMIST REPUBLICAN conservative orthodoxy, 1984 has arrived in full force and the one party hydra is in full political power in the government of the United States, even if Obama is trying to change the political scene.

Arlen Specter has been in and of the INNER PARTY of the "THE PARTY'S" duopoly for 29 years, as the political hydra started during the Reagan administration whenever Specter arrived in Congress.

Specter is of extremely high linear intelligence, and talks like he has compassion for the left, therefore, it's possible that it could have taken him 29 years voting EXTREME RIGHT-WING CONSERVATIVE before he all of a sudden realized he should have been a progressive all along, but my opinion is NO. In my opinion Senator Arlen Specter is a cut and dried EXTREME RIGHT-WING CONSERVATIVE, who talks like a progressive, but when you check out how he votes, he votes conservative orthodoxy, he always votes lock step as an EXTREME RIGHT-WING CONSERVATIVE carbon copy. The Democratic Party doesn't need any more RIGHT-WING REPUBLICAN EXTREMISTS.

If our United States Congress is not "1984 one-party rule", Sen. Arlen Specter should not be allowed within the ranks of the Democratic Party even if it will keep the Republicans from being able to filibuster. Specter is an autocratic conservative, whose cooperation due to his lack of character and values helped get our country in the economic mess it is in today, no matter what he says.

Yeah, Specter is a diseased whore, he fits right in on either side of the aisle.

But now this walking STD, if you are a Democrat like me, is OUR diseased whore, is pimped by Obama not the GOP. Right On. He'll help push through Obama's Health Care Legislation. Diseased whores can be useful, long as dey workin YO side a da street.

Meanwhile, you all unpave this parking lot and put paradise back and we won't need whores. It will be about angel's hair and ice cream castles in the air once more.

both sides now

Hi Red Rick & Jenny, Both Sides Now is an old Frank Zappa lick, check it out.

Cheers Senator Specter. I think it's a good move in favor of getting rid of a party that has become the most destructive force of the USA in it's history.

I hope you not only move over in name, but in spirit, to represent the best of what the Democratic party, since the Founding Father's days, has represented.

Stop dividing and deceiving the country and start rebuilding it for the many wonderful years yet to come.

hey how about a socially responsible environmental party. WOOAHH.. WEIRD.

Regardless, A Specter still hangs ominously over Congress.

I was amused to read of Specter's defecation--er, defection--this morning. It's certainly a sign that the GOP gunboat is taking on water, but I'm not convinced that having 60 (Franken included) seats on the Democratic side means very much.

With the exception of some small social-issue policy changes, it's pretty much business as usual. We have a Neocon 2.0 president and a spineless Congress, so we'll continue lavishing hundreds of billions of dollars on the Wall Street swindlers who plunged the world into an economic crisis and precluding meaningful re-regulation to prevent future episodes, escalating the war in Afghanistan and driving nuclear-armed Pakistan over the precipice into extremist governance, supporting any and all atrocities Israel might want to commit, keeping on illegally spying on American citizens, pretending we don't support torture while praising torturers and murderers, keeping them in their posts and granting them immunity, taking feeble steps towards dealing with global warming, making our occupation of Iraq indefinite, and generally perpetuating the errors of the Bush era while pretending we've changed.

Welcome aboard, Mr Specter. Keep your life jacket on.

Bring America Back !!!!.........Good ol' Specter is a real game player !!

**His favorite trick on the Hill was to criticize Bush and regime for their terrible incursions into the constitution, privacy, & esp The notorious Patriot Acts......and he would lead the Democrat minority to believe they had his vote and support........But, when it came down to the actual vote==Specter was always on the lockstep Bush side of the Vote. He did this over and over, leading the Dems to believe they could defeat some of the Repubby legislation, then He pulls the rug out !!

**If Specter wins re-election as a Demmy, at best he will be a Blue-Dog Demmy--
a republican voter wearing the clothes of the donkeys.

**Not so much a condemnation to the Repubby establishment as it is a Gambit
to preserve his Capitol Hill Paycheck !!

**It would be Great if Specter would turn over states evidence, and testify
to the war crimes, and constitutional crimes of King George & Prince Dick !

This is just another perfect example of how little difference there is between Democrats and Republicans. They are an interchangeable party/label. Their ideologies are so similar, it is no wonder how easy it is for them to switch their party affiliation, like changing underwear.

Dumbocrats or Rethuglicans, they both stand for one thing, and one thing only: backing the elite and wealthy, and doing the bidding of the corporations.

Period. Who gives a shit what label they wear? It is the content under the label that matters. And they are all the same.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935

Remember Joe Lieberman--This is probably not what it seems. If PA is smart they will vote just enough (maybe 3-5%)for an independent so that Arlen "can spend more time with his family" in retirement.

Poet

President Obama is stupid to embrace Senator Specter with great fanfare. On foreign policy, especially Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, this super-hawk will be nothing but gigantic trouble for our country. Could he be trouble for president Obama also? Sure, he can be lots of trouble for him but I will never pity Mr. Obama. For me the trouble to our country trumps any pain Mr. Obama might and actually should experience for his folly. He is asking for it.
Another gigantic blunder by Mr. Obama. He might have expressed a muted "welcome" for Specter's shift but should have taken a "wait and see" attitude and he should have never promised that the Democratic Primary of Pennsylvania in 2010 would become a vile charade if a primary is even held. Instead he is going overboard with an invitation or Specter to a White House party.
This must be especially galling for those Pennsylvania Obama-Democrats who had planned to run against the Republican candidate in 2010 with excellent chances to beat Mr. Toomey! Apparently the entire Democratic "machine" has applied "Chicago style throwing under the bus" to these candidates. "Go away you party-poopers, make space for Arlen! The party members in Pennsylvania were not asked and will apparently not be asked in a primary whom they want to be their second Senator! Apparently the "Democratic Mincing Machine" is not so sure that Specter would win so it ruthlessly swept all other comers aside. This is Obama-style dictatorship in action. Judging from my experiences during the 2008 primaries this is the way the "Obama Machine" always operates. It is ruthless cubed.
This is also "business as usual" in Washington. Nothing new or "hopeful". We are indeed represented by mostly political hacks and whores and our President is one of them.
I pray that Specter is defeated in 2010 by a young and moderate Republican. He, Biden, and Obama deserve this outcome for their vile charade.
Another example how pragmatism kills idealism.

What a poser

A few minutes ago Mr. Axelrod has made it official on MSNBC's "Hardball". President Obama will throw every Pennsylvania Democrat under the bus who has the audacity of opposing Senator Specter in the Democratic Primary of 2010. Of course this abject coward will not get his hands dirty. Rahm Emanuel will do the throwing for him. Will Pennsylvanians accept this insult?

The Democrats have bought themselves a pig in the poke!

Bravo - but what took Arlen so damn long to bail out of the party of the dim bulb President Bush and evil bastard Cheney elected not once once but twice by the cretins in our electorate who are now howllng about being financially screwed? - Plus Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and others who are the cause of the deaths of thousands of our people and of our allies?
Indictment and trial should happen but, of course wil not. If the sweetheart John Yoo is somehow on our payroll, send this guy to investigate Mexico City hospitals. In 100 days President Obama has undone an immense amount of damage to our nation by the GOP. Speak of which the current chair (Steele) of the GOP RNP considers the current administration as a "band of radical leftists". Where do they find these idiots?
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