Status Quo
Everyone is reporting the non-event of the day, Arlen Specter is going to call himself a Democrat, but, while better than a similar announcement from Phil Spector, the Pennsylvania Senator is acknowledging what everyone already knows: the Pennsylvania Republican Party is controlled by the wingers and he was going to get a well-funded primary fight if he runs for re-election as a Republican.
He isn’t going to change his position on anything, so he isn’t going to improve the filibuster problem. He is another member of the LIEberman/Blue Dog problem in the Senate which helps the Republicans screw up the system.
If he had retired and allowed a real Democrat to be appointed to the Senate, something might have changed, but this is just shuffling labels.
6 comments
“He isn’t going to change his position on anything, so he isn’t going to improve the filibuster problem. ‘
I must disagree. Is Specter really a Democrat? Of course not: he’s an opportunist, an undependable voter on either side, and sometimes a hypocrite. But if he prevents even one filibuster on even one significant issue… health care, for instance… I am willing to tolerate his self-serving hypocrisy in exchange. Specter is LIEberman with a different label of origin. Just as LIEberman is offensive but occasionally useful, so Specter may be useful. Politics is seldom tidy, and we are, in this case, discussing politics, not principle.
Of course, we need to see Franken seated before the issue even arises. That will happen about two weeks after Coleman steps in the grave…
Has already voted for cloture as a Republican. This is about Pennsylvania politics, not policy.
We have employment problems, so he should just accept his comfortable retirement and give someone a job opportunity.
He can’t afford to lose his taxpayer funded healthcare.
cookie jill´s last blog post..the real reason for arlen spector’s party change?
Oh, it’s included. You didn’t think they would risk having to deal with the “free market” did you. Some how Congress doesn’t think government programs are so bad when their lives are affected.
Specter is going to be a very good boy. The last thing he wants is to be persona non grata. He was a Dem to begin with, he only changed parties to play the game back home. Of course he voted for this and that over the years, Republican-wise. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t get anywhere as a Republican.
Arlen Specter is out to serve PA. He hates to lose. There is no way he will screw the Dems over right now. Ed Rendell will make sure of that.
His first vote as a Dem was no on Obama’s budget. Not a good start.