Pa.‘s Specter switching to Democratic Party
2008, Lauren Victoria Burke/AP
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,“ Sen. Arlen Specter said.
Published: April 28, 2009
Updated: April 28, 2009
WASHINGTON — Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter disclosed plans Tuesday to switch parties, bringing Democrats closer to the 60-vote supermajority they need to push Barack Obama’s agenda through the Senate.
Specter would give Democrats at least 59 Senate seats. One vacancy remains from the state of Minnesota, where Democrat Al Franken holds a narrow lead in a race being disputed in courts.
With 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber, Obama’s fellow Democrats could stop Republican filibusters, a stalling tactic used to delay or defeat legislation.
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,“ Specter said in a statement posted on a Web site devoted to Pennsylvania politics and confirmed by his office. Several Senate officials said a formal announcement could come later in the day or Wednesday.
Specter, 79, and a veteran of 29 years in the Senate, is one of a handful of Republican moderates remaining in Congress in a party now dominated by conservatives. Several officials said the White House as well as leaders in both parties had been involved in discussions leading to his move.
Specter faced an extraordinarily difficult re-election challenge in his home state of Pennsylvania in 2010, having first to confront a challenge from his right in the Republican primary before pivoting to a general election campaign against a Democrat.
“I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,“ he said in the statement.
“I don’t have to say anything to them. They’ve said it to me,“ Specter said, when asked in a Capitol corridor about abandoning the Republicans.
Spector’s move came a day before Obama marked 100 days in office.
A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because no announcement has yet been made, said Obama was handed a note while in the Oval Office during his daily economic briefing. The note said: “Specter is announcing he is changing parties.“ A few minutes later, Obama reached Specter by phone and told him “you have my full support” and that the Democratic Party is “thrilled to have you.“
Specter had publicly acknowledged that to win in 2010, he would need thousands of Pennsylvania voters who switched from Republican to Democrat last year to vote for Obama to flip back to the Republicans to cast ballots for him.
As one of the most senior Republicans in the Senate, Specter held powerful positions on the Judiciary and Appropriations panels. It was not clear how Democrats would calculate his seniority in assigning committee perches.
Specter has long been an independent Republican, and he proved it most recently when he became one of only three members of the Republican party in Congress to vote for Obama’s economic stimulus legislation.
As recently as late winter, he was asked by a reporter why he had not taken Democrats up on past offers to switch parties.
“Because I am a Republican,“ he said at the time.
___
Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti contributed to this story.
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Reader Reactions
Glad Reps are done with this RINO. He and the two from R.I. who still claim to be Republicans. What a joke. He is only doing this to extend his stay in Congress and increase his own worth and pension benefits. Guess he doesn’t have enough millions to pay the future obama tax increases!! I would rather lose every election than support people like spector. He had not problem taking Republican dollars to get re-elected and asking Bush and others to support him, even begging Bush to keep him on an important commission. Forget him.
The government should be limited in it’s scope and powers to what is outlined in the constitution.
The GOP is no longer the republican party, it is the conservative party. Conservatives wanted Specter out, so they were running a conservative against him in the primaries.
Toomey would have smoked Specter in the primaries for one reason. The only people who care enough to vote in primaries are the extremists (on both ends). The real test for Toomey comes in the general election, when a more moderate electorate comes out to the polls.
The problem is Toomey probably won’t win the general election against Specter, who will still have the support of the moderate Republicans in PA and the democrats.
The irony is, that by refusing to allow moderate republicans into your conservative tent, you just handed over another seat to the democrats and it’s a pretty big seat (probably #60).
“We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty. As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.” - Ronald Reagan
The Fed has already shown their hand. $350 Billion to buy up mortgage backed securities and treasuries is just the beginning. The fed has been printing money like crazy already and more monetizing the debt is on the way. The Inflation of the 1970s will look tame. Obama is going to look like another Jimmy Carter when this is done.
Gold, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Just remember.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The best part of this train wreck is all those of the under 30 crowd that are Obama bots won’t escape the numbers. With the government running TRILLION dollar annual deficits those of the under 30 crowd will have to pay higher taxes, endure a lower standard of living, while living with the Jimmy Carter misery index of high inflation and high unemployment. Enjoy kiddies.
I enjoy a good train wreck and I will sit back and watch this one unfold.
I agree rvaman, let the Republicans vote opposition to everything the Democrats pose, that way all that happens down the road will be on the Democrats heads with no one else to blame but themselves.
But, what if things turn out better and we have to end up (gulp) thanking them? Then the Republicans will really be blamed for all this mess and not the Democrats.
Who of the Republicans are willing to remain ridgid to this Democratic train that’s coming through. Obviously not Spectre.
[LESS TAXES! LESS SPENDING! LESS INTERFERENCE IN CITIZEN’S LIVES! STRONG NATIONAL DEFENSE!]
That’s all fine and good, reverand, but it doesn’t make a bit of difference. Why? Because the average American—while paying lip service to those ideals—votes against them when elections come around. Why? Plain and simple. Selfishness.
Everyone’s for less taxes—FOR THEMSELVES. But when election day comes around, 50% vote for Democrats so that they can tax the “fat cats”..the top 5% of whom are already paying 50% of the income taxes.
Everyone’s for less spending—except for spending on THEIR ENTITLEMENTS. “We should definately spend less—but not on Social Sec./Medicare/Medicaid/education/welfare/farm subsidies/social services/transportation/green energy/arts endowments! I NEED THAT!!!“
Everyone’s for less govt interference—as long its not interfering in our selfish pursuits of instant gratification. But the govt owning the majority of the country’s mortgages? “No problem.“ Govt controlling the financial sector that fuels our economy? “So what?“ Govt controlling your health care? Your retirement? The car you drive? The energy you use?. “Yawn…who got voted off of Idol last nite?“
Since WWII, 3-4 generations of Americans have been riding on a gravy train of govt spending…they’re not going to voluntarily get off. As a general rule, people only make hard decisions when all of the soft ones are gone.
And that is exactly what’s going to occur in this country. We’re not going to CHOOSE to stop…we’re going to keep barreling ahead until reality FORCES us to stop.
And it isn’t going to be pretty, since there are only three possible outcomes to these levels of ever-expanding spending coupled with ever-expanding debt: 1) national bankruptcy, economic depression, and extreme hardship; 2) marshal law and tyranny; or 3) total societal collapse and civil war.
And if you’re under 30 years old, one of three is probably going to happen in your life time.
Who does Arlen Specter think he’s fooling? What he is telling the voters of Pennsylvania, and America, is he has no integrity or moral compass from which he operates. Contrary to Joe Lieberman, who lost a democratic primary and then proved his popularity and integrity by running as an Independent and winning re-election to the Senate, Specter chooses to try to make everyone believe he is something or someone other than an “opportunist” or a politician who is unwilling to let the voters determine his destiny based on his actions in the Senate.
Hopefully, the voters of PA will see through this and vote him out of the Senate in 2010.
Just to remind people of the Conservative Core Values:
LESS TAXES! LESS SPENDING! LESS INTERFERENCE IN CITIZEN’S LIVES! STRONG NATIONAL DEFENSE!
rvaman-Now that was one terrific post!
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