Specter switches parties.

[BlueHair]

Not if your side has said majority. For example: Robin, HFN and BlueHair will have no problem with it. Meanwhile, UtahDan, Indy and Tex will.

For the record, it scares me, too.

Easy there Tiger. I am a Libertarian. A filibuster proof anything scares the shit out of me. I always vote against the majority in elections. I want things nice and even. With an balanced Congress, nothing gets done and that's the way I like it.

[RobinFinderson]

Now can't we hurry up and seat the new Democratic Senator from Minnesota?

[SeattleUte]

That's why he switched. Pat Toomey declared his intention on running and Specter knew he would lose in the primary.

Is he going to apologize to Anita Hill for calling her a perjurer?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Not if your side has said majority. For example: Robin, HFN and BlueHair will have no problem with it. Meanwhile, UtahDan, Indy and Tex will.

For the record, it scares me, too.

Where did I say that? I have long been against either party having a filibuster proof hold on the senate. Julio thinks you are off base.

[YOhio]

Is he going to apologize to Anita Hill for calling her a perjurer?

I just got off the phone with him and he pointedly refused to answer that question.

[myboynoah]

Is he going to apologize to Anita Hill for calling her a perjurer?

He gained absolution via his "not guilty" vote on Clinton's impeachment. We should have known then.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Does Specter switching parties really matter that much? It seems like the one issue that supposedly (even after eight years of Bush) unites Republicans is at least paying lip service to fiscal conservatism. The stimulus package in February seemed like the one Democratic initiative that would bring all the Republicans into the same voting block. But it didn't stop Specter from going with the Dems. Without Specter on board on these kinds of bills, plus a couple other GOP Senators defecting, then the GOP never really had a filibuster proof minority anyway.

[RobinFinderson]

The real question of the Specter switch is this: Is the Republican party capable of holding on to moderates?

Specter, by his own admission in the NYT, is switching parties because he could not win his (former) party's nomination against a more conservative candidate. Under Bush's leadership the Republican party handed the keys over to the most conservative members of the coalition. That is good for people with conservative views, but does it make it impossible to have a majority party?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

[QUOTE=Under Bush's leadership the Republican party handed the keys over to the most conservative members of the coalition.QUOTE]

Says who?

Bush spent like crazy and it pissed off a lot of conservatives AND moderates. Guys like Flake and Coburn have been getting along fine mostly because they had the balls to say no to a lot of the spending.

I never cared about Specter's stances on abortion and other social issues. I did care that he voted for the stimulus package. After that vote, I was trying to figure out exactly why Specter was still a member of the GOP. On top of that, he initially was for the Employee Free Choice Act (or whatever it's called) and then he came out against it when it became clear that people weren't forgetting about his vote on the stimulus package. You can be moderate and be in the GOP, but that means that once in awhile you have to VOTE with the GOP and it seemed like Specter abandoned the party on every key piece of legislation.

[JohnnyLingo]

My apologies to BlueHair and HFN. I had you pegged all wrong.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Rush says good riddance. And wishes McCain would jump ship too.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

[Jeff Lebowski]

Easy there Tiger. I am a Libertarian. A filibuster proof anything scares the shit out of me. I always vote against the majority in elections. I want things nice and even. With an balanced Congress, nothing gets done and that's the way I like it.

Agreed.

[TheAzzuri]

Agreed.

Yep, now the pendulum swings to the other side. This could get scary.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Rush says good riddance. And wishes McCain would jump ship too.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

Rush is an idiot. Specter jumping ship isn't a complete tragedy because Specter doesn't ever seem to be on the GOP's side on key votes. The vote that really sunk Specter was the vote on the stimulus package. I just can't possibly see how any Senator that is a member of the GOP can reconcile his membership in the GOP and a vote for that bill. There's room for social liberals (increasingly less so given the rising power of the Huckabee Hillbilly wing of the party) in the party, there's no room for fiscal liberals who vote for a bill that fills the pockets of Democratic constituencies.

McCain usually gets the big things right. He's sometimes wanders off the reservation with his campaign finance bill and his immigration bill, but consider at least with the immigration bill that other GOP members, including the President Bush, was on board with that. In addition, didn't Reagan enact similar immigration measures? The immigration bill wasn't completely at odds with core GOP beliefs. The stimulus bill was.