[Dejibo]

Ok this Senator from PA has been a Republican for 35 years. Has been very active in the Republican arena. Now he learns that his party wont support him running in 2010, so he jumps ship, and has decided to declare himself a Democrat.

I personally wouldnt vote for a man that jumps ship after 35 years only to further himself. He has been quite vocal on many issues, and has never been one to follow strictly to party lines, and has been out spoken on tons of issues. He has been pretty well respected, and gotten many hard jobs done. Now he is bad mouthing the GOP and talking smack about many that got him, and kept him where he is.

I dont get it. Can someone explain this to me?

[AfterMyNap]

1) He's a politician (not to be confused with homo sapien— Latin: "wise human" or "knowing human").

2) Everything/one has its/his price.

3) He's at that age where he wants to be taken care of.

4) He's a turncoat, plain and simple.

5) Since when do career politicians make sense?

[Erin524]

He's a putz. I hope that the democrats that he jumped ship for dont vote for him in the next election. Since if he can turn his back on the republicans like he did, he could do it again against the democrats if it suits his needs. Kind of sounds like he studied at the Machiavelli School of Politics. (that's not a real school...Machiavelli is the guy who said "the end justifies the means".)

Nebraska had a republican senator who voted pretty much demorepublicrat. (Chuck Hagel) I think he retired from politics so he didnt bother jumping ship.

I dont trust any politician from any party that can just switch party affiliations like that.

[NurseNancy]

cindy and you just about said it all. he's playing both sides of the aisle because the climate has changed and he won't keep his job unless he changes to a dem.

gotta keep that big taxpayer pension ya know.

[DM]

He was a Democrat before he was a Republican and now he's a Dem again.

True~

[april1848]

As a democrat, I'm glad that there might be another one in congress. But as a person, this is disgusting. He figured he couldn't win the primary as an R, so he switched (again). It really makes me sick.

I guess I believe so much in my ideals that I can't imagine someone who can turns theirs on and off like a light switch. I mean, I can change my mind, but I don't think my basic beliefs could ever change that much!!

I'm very relieved that I don't have to decide on whether or not to vote for him.

[barb02]

I will try to not be too political here:

Since being in the Senate, Arlen Spector has been a moderate Republican and has often worked with senators from the Democrat party. Now he, along with a few other Republican senators, are being ostracized by the Republican party. There does not appear to be room in the Republican nationalparty for moderate Republicans at this time. The battle for the "soul" of the Republican party appears to have been lost by the moderates.

I have always admired Arlen Spector for his commitment to the issues that he feels are important regardless of his party stand. He has not changed his position on issues! It is true he could not be nominated by his party. Conservative and Evangelical PAC's have been targeting him with millions of dollars in ads since his last reelection in 2004. I would rather he had just stated he was switching parties because the Republican Party he identified with no longer exists. But he really does not want to lose his seat in the Senate!

[Dejibo]

Can you lose your senate seat, if mid stream you change parties? Lets say I am the purple party, and I get elected and put in the sentate. now I want to be on the Pink party, and I switch. Can they ask me to leave? Does it invalidate my contract?

hmmm...

[TXBatman]

Barb, I appreciate the effort to be non political about it, but I have to disagree with you. Specter has been a moderate for a long time and has taken many politically unpopular positions over his career. In 2004, the party went to bat for him and helped defeat a primary challenger who was much more in line with what is in the republican party platform. There was always a very vocal minority carping about his social positions, but the party stood by him and helped him get re-elected.

In 2009, he played a critical role in allowing the democrats to pass the spendulus without ever giving anybody a chance to read the bill. He, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe...all "moderate" republicans helped the democrats pass the largest spending bill ever put through congress without even giving anybody a chance to read it before they voted, much less a chance to vote for amendments or changes. He, Snowe, and Collins can carp all they want about how social conservatives are "shrinking the republican tent" (and I agree with them on that issue), but the reason Specter was going to be defeated in the primary was that he abandoned the FISCAL conservatives and voted for massive government spending.

Specter, Snowe, and Collins are on the outs with the GOP, not over social positions...but because they are helping the democrats spend like drunken sailors. We could take it when they were social liberals and fiscal conservatives, but you can't be fiscally AND socially liberal and still want to call yourself a republican.

The reality is that Specter had a really sweet deal being the swing vote the democrats needed. He could play both sides of the aisle and get everything he wanted and more. Then reality struck home when he realized he wasn't going to get re-elected running as a republican, and he jumped ship. Getting re-elected is the most important thing to him, so he doesn't really care if he has to do it as a democrat or a republican. If you want to know more about his character, go look up what he said about Jim Jeffords when he switched. Specter was trying to get the practice banned when that happened. 6 weeks ago, he said that keeping 41 votes in the minority was critical as acheck against unlimited power. 2 weeks ago he said he would never change parties. Now look what he has done. Is that the kind of man you would want representing you?

Political expediency at its best...

[Aarcyn]

TxBatman - you are such a Republican!

I think you honestly reflect the reason Specter left the Republican Party. I believe he was ostracized for his positions on many issues. He was probably in a similar position as Joe Lieberman was/is for the Democrats.

Joe Lieberman could not win as a Democrat so he became an Independent. Democrats probably tolerated him even when he openly campaigned for McCain.

There is no doubt that Specter could not keep his position in 2010 as a Republican. He cut a deal with the Democrats to try to keep a seat in Congress.

He will be on the center stage in many issues. He is like the wild card in the deck.

He is not the pond scum. Democrats are putting together a stimulus package, not a spendulus package.

Republicans seem to favor solidarity in voting, not individual voting. Does he reflect the voting public in PA? That is the question. He does not reflect the Republican voter in the majority rule of red states, I bet.