Specter, former slimy Republican turned slimy Democrat, has lost in his bid for the Democratic seat for his state. Since he admitted changing parties for the purpose of getting re-elected, I can’t say I’m shedding a tear for him, as he would probably have continued to vote with the right anyway. Buh-bye Arlen.
I am hopeful that his ol’ buddy Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (they both started in the Senate on the same day together, back 36 years ago) will get the message and decide to retire in 2012…
The odds of that actually happening are the same as Brother Orrin announcing that he is a bedwetting crossdresser who has developed a taste for black gummy-bear opium and 14 year-old Czech rentboyz, and hopes that the good people of Utah will support him in his new life choices and elect him Senator-for-life as a show of Mormon tolerance and inclusion.
I think he’s been a good Senator, very much in line with my centrist politics, who did the right thing by disassociating himself from the Republicans. I also think that your celebratory dance is a bit misguided, because Pat Toomey is going to beat Sestak quite handily and Toomey is very much a right-winger. Last, this is going to be devastating for Pennsylvania in that we will have two newly-minted Senators is a body that bases committee assignments on seniority. While I’m not keen on that particular aspect of doing business, it is what it is. I hope Pennsylvania citizens know what they just did and are OK with the idea of having some lean times for the foreseeable future.
I can see how it would seem cynical that he switched parties if you think he did it only because he was going to get beat by Toomey in the primary, but I think there was more to it than that. YMMV.
Maybe. From five days ago,
[Howard Cosell/] Down goes Specter! Down goes Specter! [/Howard Cosell]
This is a good thing from the Democratic point of view. Sestak has a much better chance in the fall against Toomey than Specter would have. After all, if Specter was afraid of Toomey in the primary, what made him think he could win in November? So instead of a conservative Democrat having no chance against a right wing Republican, we have a real Democrat with a fighting chance against a right wing Republican. I just don’t see the downside here.
Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS.
Many have changed parties in the past, but none that I know of have publicly pronounced that one big reason was to get re-elected. The cynicism and arrogance of that remark was breathtaking.
There was a lot of garment rending when Ted Stevens lost the last election in Alaska to Mark Begich. The money flow has not slowed even a little, AFIK, so the predictions of doom regarding loss of committee assignments were just political whitewash.
Senators and Congressmen should have mandatory retirement ages like the rest of us, IMO. At 80+ years old, they’re so completely out of touch and institutionalized that their lives are parodies and nearly all their work is for the sole purpose of getting re-elected.
The downside is exactly equal to the number of centrists who flip to “holding nose for Toomey” instead of “holding nose for Sestak”. After all, can you imagine a Democrat letting Toomey get in, even if the other choice is Specter? I don’t care how left wing you are, that’s like voting for Nader in an election between, say, Kerry and Hitler.
– Z, is definitely voting against Toomey but wishes he was voting for Specter.
Current political wisdom says Sestak’s chances against Toomey are better than Specter’s were. So another reason to rejoice!
Arlen Specter is one of many, many arguments in favor of term limits on the House and Senate. I’m glad he’s gone. He needed to get booted out a long time ago.
The voters in a Republican primary are not equivalent to voters in a general election.
True. Pennsylvania has a strict closed-primary system. Only registred members of a party may vote in it’s primary (independents don’t vote in primaries) and it takes 30 days for a change in registration to take effect (so no deciding which ballot you want in the polling place).
I dunno. Seems like I’m the only one, but Sestak gives me the willies. Not that I was a fan of Specter, so much, but it is sad to see moderate Republicans getting drummed out everywhere. Now it 's as though there are politicians with their various foibles, all Dems, and there are right wing nutjobs, and nothing in between.
Robert Byrd - I can still breathe, most of the time, so re-elect me!
I don’t agree with mandatory retirements for elected officials; that’s what voters are for. So far, this year does appear to be a high point of recent elections for such mandatory retirements.
I don’t Sestak is a natural born citizen.
I so totally disagree. I don’t know who told you that you had to retire at some arbitrary age, but I don’t, thank goodness. Specter, for all of the convolutions he had to perform to get re-elected, was a good, middle of the road, do what’s best for the Country type of Senator we need more of. He voted what was best for the Country, party be damned.
Term limits are a fantasy of some. Not me. Term limits are an arbitrary statement. When someone is outstanding in trying to do their best for the Country/their constituants, you vote them OUT just because they’ve been there for some arbitrary number of months/years? How shortsighted of you.
Well, other than that whole Anita Hill witch hunt …
I’d love to believe that, but he did seem to swing leftwards considerably at right around exactly the time that he switched parties. Now, ordinarily, I wouldn’t mind a senator swinging leftwards, but that looks to me like he’s driven more by convenience than actual ideology, and I don’t trust that: If he’s radically changed once, mightn’t he do so again?
Between that, and the polls showing Sestak having a better chance than him in November, I think this primary result is a win-win for Democrats.
Ya know, it really hurts to be compared to a politician. :smack:
Slee
Missed his position on this, twix. I’ll go look.