Specter Might Have Sealed His Own Fate
May 7, 2009 Political
Arlen Specter, the Democrat who came out of the liberal closet, has been stripped of his seniority even though he was promised he would keep it. Now he might not be able to bring home the bacon, so to speak, and that might just move Pennsylvania Democrats to select someone else in the primary. That would be the best slap of all. Imagine; Specter leaves the Republican party because he cannot win the primary and then loses the Democratic primary. This would be the best punishment for him.
There is an article in the Washington Post describing the strange things that have taken place since Specter defected. In the article there is discussion about the loss of seniority and how it might affect Democratic voters and then there is a major gaffe Specter made:
In a sitdown with the New York Times’ Deborah Solomon, Specter said he was hoping that the Minnesota courts would do “justice” and declare former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman the winner in the contested 2008 election. Whoops! Specter tried to walk the comment back told Reid that he briefly “forgot what team I was on.” WaPo
This is funny because no matter how he tries to get out of this he will end up looking bad. He already said that a victory for Coleman would be justice which means a victory for Franken would be an injustice. It is obvious that his rhetoric is all political because he admitted he forgot what team he was on. Then again, he was on the Democratic team so much he should have known his team…
Should this surprise anyone? He forgot what team he was on when he was needed for a number of critical votes. He forgot he was a Republican countless times so I can understand how he could forget the team he is on.
He also forgot the team of people who voted for him when he switched parties. The ones who voted for him were cheated out of 18 months of having the guy they voted for. Of course, since he did not represent their values too often it was probably not a huge shock.
Any way, it will be fun to watch this unfold and things might be unfolding now. The article states:
And, average voters are not likely to be following every jot and tittle of the Specter saga — especially so far from an election. Still, insiders are paying very close attention and, if Specter’s stumbles over the past week encourage Rep. Joe Sestak to run in the primary, then the damage will have been done.
Joe Sestak announced today he was considering a run. That cannot bode well for Specter.
Maybe the Democrats should put their least senior guy in the back of the room so no one will pay attention to him.
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Tags: arlen specter, coleman, democrat, franken, gaffe, republican, seniority
Arlen Specter Trusted The Democrats, Bad Move
May 7, 2009 Political
I am absolutely ecstatic that Arlen Specter finally went home to the Democrats where he belongs. I will not miss him in the party and I hope he gets his rear end handed to him on a platter in the next election. He changed parties for one reason and one reason only and that is because he could not win as a Republican. His switch had nothing to do with aligning more with Democrats because his views have aligned with them for a while. He was the guy who derided those who switch parties during a term and stated he would introduce a rules change to prevent it. He also said he would not switch parties as recently as March.
But then he found out that his narrow victory last time was no fluke and that Republicans were not happy with how he voted on the stimulus. He decided to switch parties rather than face the voters who put him in office.
He is a coward.
However, he has learned a tough lesson. The Democrats promised him the moon to get him to switch and that included him keeping his seniority on the committees on which he served. Looks like that promise, made by Harry Reid, had a shorter shelf life than an Obama promise. Now that Specter is a Democrat he will be moved all the way to the end of the seniority line except on one committee where he will be next to last. The Democrats stripped him of the seniority they promised him he could keep.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Now he is a non issue except he gives the Democrats enough votes to avoid a filibuster (assuming Franken wins his contested race). However, he has been screwed and will be all the way behind all the other Democrats, even those who were children when he was first elected.
HA HA HA
I think it is great. If this twerp had stayed a Republican he would have retained seniority. Of course he can’t switch back because the Republicans will not have him and even if they did he would lose the election in 2010.
I have always said that you should never trust a Democrat. Specter was a darling when he voted with them and when they were courting him. Now that they have him he is not so special.
Enjoy what little time you have left in the Senate Arlen. Enjoy your lack of seniority.
Big Dog salute to Gribbit
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Tags: arlen specter, coward, seniority, traitor