I’ll admit the timing is questionable. Specter was apparently willing to swallow any qualms he had about what direction the Republican were going for all the years they were in power. But now once the Democrats have taken over he’s decided it’s finally the right time to make the switch.
Tantrums are ugly, huh?
-Joe
Perhaps I’m being a bit too over the top, I’m fine with having varying opinions with in the party, but I also have no qualms about either side being critical to those deemed _inos(D or R). It is just a matter of tact, political bias aside, there is huge difference in the way that Rachel Maddow calls out Ben Nelson as opposed to how Rush Limbaugh calls Arlen Specter.
It does go towards drowning out the voices of the Kucinichs in the party; particularly in the corporately inclined media.
As well, allowing Specter to keep his seniority and to already have the President’s support in the Democratic primary automatically puts a wall up to more progressive Democratic challengers. It has pretty much established the general election as being a Republican versus a slightly less-Republican.
I know where the politicians stand, most people on this board know where they stand, but for the majority of a Americans who might watch only a little bit of the News-tainment and not know of the all the games and nuances of political positioning, they will probably only hear CNN say-“Senior Democrat Arlen Specter said…” This essentially allows what was the rightwing to become the face of the left.
Particularly frustrating to me about seeing emerging trend of moderates jumping to the “popular” party, is that here in Seattle, our local voting is now essentially “non-partisan” and not in a good way. People running for local offices now no longer have to identify to a particular party. This makes things hairy because it makes it much easier for someone to run on claims being a Democrat but actually have very Republican leaning and connections. By not having the party identification, you can’t even have the comfort of their being held to their positions by party officials.
Hereis a good article from our free-weekly, The Stranger, calling one such politician out.
If a member is so betrayed by their party that they must jump parties, thats fine, but to say that they will not change their voting, particularly on major issues as the EFCA and then get full primary support of the President and be able to keep their seniority; well you might as well render party-caucusing useless. Either they take the political risk and stand up to and fight right their own party or they pay the political toll and enter their new party at the same rung on the totem as anyother new member of Congress. I suppose I could see a consession for them retain their seniority until the next election, however once they run under a different party that should start on the same fresh footing as those they face in the primary. Switch parties? You should no longer be considered an incumbent.
I hope it works out that way, but the way I see it (from my admittedly more pessimistic view) is that by pushing and wedging the moderate Republicans into the leftward spectrum and with the other side moving so far to the right, it creates a big void to be taken advantage of by still influential interests to position the new moderate as being somewhere between Specter and Palin.
I hope the public is smart enough to see past it, and I still carry some hope from the last election, but that scenario is not what I would consider to be a happy middle.
Commentators, who don’t have to compromise, are always going to have fairly rigid positions. The problem with Rush is not his position, but that those with real power are falling over themselves kissing his tush. If Dems did that to Maddow (however appealing it might be 
) then I’d worry. Now all these voices is very healthy.
I think his lack of success (and perceived kookiness) have more to do with it.
Power play, pure and simple. One thing I like about Obama is that he is deft in this. For me, if Specter crossing over gets a decent healthcare package passed, it more than makes up for losing the possibility of a more progressive senator.
If you think Specter is rightwing in the context of the country as a whole, you need to get out more. I don’t think the centerpoint of the political spectrum is to the right of Specter - it might be close to him, or even a bit to his left. It is clearly moving left as demographics change and the increasingly democratic young start taking over. If we still had smoke-filled rooms we’d be seeing more moderate Republican candidates as the far righters would get replaced just as Hoover type Republicans got replaced by the likes of Landon and Dewey. As it stands though, we’re just going to have to sit back and watch them get whupped until the voters figure it out. I can stand it if you can.