Arlen Specter switches parties; Democrats are now filibuster proof

RAWR majorities are bad!

>.>

I don't think this sort of thing should be allowed to happen without putting it before the voters. I mean, Republican money and voters put him into office and he's going to switch teams within six months? Fucking outrageous.

The last thing we need is either party having uncontested power. Especially if it happens this way, he got alot of votes for being a Republican and just switches teams? That's fucking shady.

Even if the roles were reversed I would be against this. He won by the support and votes from one party, and once in office switched parties. It should have to go back to the voters.

I'm not seeing this as a Republican/Democrat thing. If I vote for someone because of their political party affiliation and then they switched, I'd be mighty pissed.

Voting for someone based soley on their political party affiliation is not a good idea anyway.

His party is changing over too, the people who got him in are what he's responding to.

And if your voting on party basis only, you might as well be blind voting.

Meh. It's not like the same thing hasn't happened the other way around, so I could care less. This is a classic "get over it" moment for the republicans.

The "veto proof majority" talk is just silliness, as Specter will continue to vote as he has always voted, and some Democrats will always vote against their party. Democrats have never walked in lock-step EVER, unlike Republicans, so maintaining veto-proof numbers against controversial bills would be a problem if there were NO republicans in the Senate.

Anyhow, the Democrats need more moderates to prevent the Liberals from doing to the Democrats what the Conservatives (Social rather than Fiscal) did to the Republicans.

You know if Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi decided to become a Republican the dems would be pretty upset.....as they should be.

I'm just furious about it, and becoming increasingly disenchanted with the whole process. You're telling me that he's had an ideological reversal since November? It's fucking outrageous.

People change, maybe he's just seeing the Republican party fall apart and doesn't want to sink with them.

It's not the Pelosi's and the Gingriches who switch. The ones who do were already straddling the fence, so no voting record will change as a result.

Really, the only thing that has changed here, is a switch from a Donkey label to an Elephant label. That's it. WAY too much is being made of this. He has had no ideological reversal, but rather he merely finds the Democrats a marginally less-bad fit for his ideological mindset. (He is a NorthEastern republican, which means he's already more liberal than a Texas Democrat). I repeat, a filibuster now will have the same number of override votes as a filibuster on the same thing a week ago.

Specter has been a Republican Senator since 1980. For him to make an "About Face" after all those years of being reelected is a slap in the face of his constituents. But oh well. Like I said if a Dem did the same thing, the left would have the right to be just as pissed.

Look how pissed the left was when Lieberman spoke at the RNC! He didn't switch parties, he just endorsed John McCain and the left went ape shit.

It's an injustice plain and simple. People voted and paid for a Republican and now they have a Democrat. And if you think this won't serve the Democrats well I think you're being a bit naive. I say down with the two party system. Both are hopelessly corrupt and routinely abuse their power, and neither party truly represent me. I'm literally fuming, and that's unusual for me.

his term is almost up, and he said he would return any contributions upon request. and you should be voting for a person and his ideas and beliefs, not a party

Amen. The two party system (really any number party system) is a horrible idea anyway.

He didn't change his views at all. Rather he feels, like many moderate conservatives, that the right wing has shifted so far right, that they are disenchanted with the republican party as a whole and see their views actually starting to fall in line with the democratic party. The individuals aren't doing as much changing as the parties themselves, so, it's the people who were already on the border, the fence riders, the moderates who find themselves starting to vote in line with the other party.

I don't see how it's that big of a deal when most of his voters changed party too, when he's still falling in line with what his people want, what difference is the party title he uses?

True Story

Indeed, the Party system is just a way for those with the big bucks to control the whole system. Not too different from the time of the Roman Republic, just before it turned into an Empire.

Well, all the comments I had have already been said.

-He is responding to his electorate
-This won't change how he votes at all
-Voting based on party alone is stupid
-The two party system is crappy
-???
-Profit

OK, so let's approach this a different way. You vote for a candidate to reflect your ideological views and 6 months later he changes to a different party. You wouldn't feel outraged or betrayed at all? You all would be hopping mad, nigga please.

Only if you vote by party alone and not by judging his own voting record. That is what you are not getting here.

Hard line Republicans have been calling him fake Republican for a long, it's no secret that he is a moderate and has not held the line of the party.

You know, maybe that is why people voted for him in the first place?

I'd almost agree with you, except in this case, Specter would merely be following his general election voters, who have already mostly changed parties themselves.

In addition, the Republican Party Base has pretty much already written him off, over his vote on the Stimulus package, for daring to not stay in lock-step in opposition. Sort of how Lieberman ended up as an independent after his party tried to push him out of the election by backing someone else during the primary election. His voters and his Party are two different things.

Parties forget this fact at their own peril, when they try to "get tough" on their fringe members instead of listening to them.