Specter Saw His Internal Poll Numbers On Friday-- Switched Parties On Tuesday

[1voice1man]

Awesome! thanks We'll take him Yeahhhh! I can taste 60 seats, and it's sweetaaah.

[spareaxe]

Shouldn't this crusty old fart retire instead of making a fool of himself again!!

[eurohim]

Republicans and Democrats are wastes of space.

[WKaliberr]

good! more Democrats the better

[tunifang]

it is good but he is a FAKE_o_Crat

he saw his poll numbers and was worried about losing. hes a republican in democrat skin.

what makes anyone think that his ideals are going to go dem? i hope that the other democrat wins and that the ppl of this district can see pass this r

[Greg78X]

HE has always been a Dem he LEFT the dem party when they lost power and became a GOP, now he is going back. you want him you can have him.

[sachaput]

This shouldn't be a shock that a politician would do what is good for himself. Still he probably did the right thing for himself and the Dems.

He was being marginalized by the current GOP anyway, so why bother. Even if he only votes with us 25% of the time we can use him on some of the big things that need to be done.

Can't wait for more Republicans heads to explode when Al Franken is finally seated. Ha ha!!

[TedinLasVegas]

He should've never left the Democrat party in the first place.

The entire time he was a Republican, he was a RINO anyway.

[SevenSixTwoNato]

Spineless political expediency, any way you slice it.

Specter knows he has no future with the GOP. Having been one of three to vote for the Omnibus bill, he's already been lauded for his purported bipartisanship. Who needs principles when one can have appointments?

[mejdrich]

What else should he have done? Let the GOP end his career, as they continue to radicalize?

[squidb8]

Meh, Dems, GOP. They both want your money, other than that its just a game 'em.

[ver506]

Atleast he's honest about it....

[3star2nr]

hes one smart fucker jum off a sinking ship unto a life raft dont go down with the ship.

[milkgodnl]

A cynic would say that Senator Spector is whoring to the poll numbers ..

First of all that applies to just about *every* politician, since every politician faces re-election .. Spector is a survivor for one reason .. he realistically assessed the situation .. those were my exact feelings when the opposite happened, namely when Senator Campbell of Colorado switched to the Republican column during the Reagan administration .. I was definitely not crazy about that .. but somehow I understood.

[SabuPtolemy]

I always sort of respected Spector (for being levelheaded and bi-partisan) but this is another politician bitch move. Just like Joe LIEberman who deserted the Dems to retain his seat as a *cough* Independent *cough* after he got his ass kicked in the Primaries.

[mejdrich]

To me, this is far less of a political bitch move as McCain abandoning all of his principles to appeal to the GOP base. At least Spector is being honest about it.

[Richardgwm]

Wow!!!!

A Republican who can do math.

AMAZING!!!!

[lamouchemorte]

It is good to have a gop defector but the guy looks like he has one foot in the grave.

[SubmarinerAndroid]

I agree, he doesn't look good. But other sick-looking old men have stayed alive and held on to their Senate seats well into their 90s and beyond.

[SabuPtolemy]

Well, he is a recent cancer  survivor so of course he is not gonna look good at that age.

Trying to look good at that age when you're healthy is enough work.

[lamouchemorte]

Whoops, I didn't know that. His appearance makes more sense now.

[lamouchemorte]

Yeah I understand. But still it seems that evil makes these guys live forever, just look at Cheney and Strom Thurmond. I'm just saying, now that he has left the dark side, maybe he forfeit his prospects of reaching 100.

[allgoo19]

I think this is a result of all those conservative entertainment shows that gave the public a negative image on the repubs.

For the long run, this is not good to the country having one dominant and another very weak opposition party. It's best to have two equally strong parties go back and forth, so that keeps it in the middle.

Repubs should cut the tie to religious right, defense industries, NRA etc. And of course, all those conservative shows.

[OlivierdeAthos]

"Repubs should cut the tie to religious right, defense industries, NRA etc. And of course, all those conservative shows."

And you think that will make the Republican party BIGGER/STRONGER? At the peak of the Republican party's strength, those special interest groups constituted half of their base. Now, having alienated the moderates, they're 100% of it. Cutting them off will win back the moderates, but they'll still only be at half strength.

[allgoo19]

OlivierdeAthos:

Forget about BIGGER/STRONGER for now. They have to figure out how to stop the free fall and why it had to happen that way.

Pushing half doesn't mean voting half. You can't satisfy them both. That's a dilemma repubs have. You can't win the primary without far right but you will lose because of them at the general election.

[terpis]

Fuck'im.

Just what the world needs...another blue dog democrat.

So his knuckles don't completely scrape along the gravel. Big deal.

Let's see what good he is for EFCA, or for single payer...let me predict now:

worth nothing.

Atrios passes along a Harry Reid quote (and he's another one):

"Spector is always there for us except when we need him"

[voyeurdug]

And what of Joe Llieberman?

[Ryguy1450]

Specter was always a man of integrity and stood up against the Bush Neo Con War profiteering and other abuses.

Good man Specter.

[eksdem]

Specter was ORIGINALLY a Democrat.

He only became a Republican so he could run for DA in 1965.

Hear Specter explain his first party switch at

/watch?v=JUB_hQmnkqc

Could it be, he is an opportunist?

[DoctorMeh]

I wouldn't call a change every 45 years an opportunist. There are lots of people in the US that don't feel particularly comfortable with either side. They are called normal.