I Smell A Rove...

This sudden switch by Specter bothers me a bit. Is it possible Rove has figured out that he killed the Republican party, so now he's convinced Specter, and who knows how many others, to switch to the Democratic party, in order to attack the party from the inside, since attacking from the outside has failed so miserably? I wonder...

What a perfect way to take control of OUR party. If there are more "defections," I will be very nervous...

They lost horribly. Their triumphs were short lived while their damage was lasting.

He likely lost Ohio in 2004 as well.

He's a hopeless hack at best.

I'm sick of all the Rove paranoia. But I share your non-excitement about Specter as well, PA deserves an actual Democrat.

Specter was facing defeat in a primary. If he wants to survive as a Senator, he'll have little choice but to adopt the Democratic platform wholeheartedly. I don't see any downside to this defection.

Reduced to being a second banana on Fox News.

You give him too much credit.

But this shitbag literally took over the GOP, and he may be down, but until he is behind bars, I will not count him completely out...and this sort of move would not surprise me, coming from him...

Specter sees the writing on the wall. He's burned his bridges by supporting the Obama plan. The GOP is toast. An ambitious guy has to move with the times (or the power).

This fixes Lieberman's wagon, too. Bet he's just livid about it.

they've been inside "our" party for a generation now, and the attacks have never slowed for a second.

Rove is smart but Specter ain't the right person to do it with - he's too much of a Wildcard.

This is nothing more than the insanity that has seized control of the GOP has finally pushed a less to the right Republican to seek shelter in the sanity of the Democratic party.

to distract everyone from the torture memos.

He's amazing and underrated.

I hope he doesn't start another tsunami.

for what they are not

he "cemented it" in 2004. Why do we think he's anything but a hack who got lucky twice: in Florida, and on 9/11?

for that. Lots of people over the years have switched party. I'm sure Specter figured he had a better chance winning as a Democrat. Yes, he's a moderate, but he's also more liberal than most in the GOP. It's hard to believe that people like Specter and Jeffords (the last GOP to quit the GOP)will vote with democratic caucus so that they could change it from the inside. They just happen to be more liberal than there party.

he lines up more closely with the D's than the failing R's.

It's important to keep an eye on the asshole cause you never know what he's capable of, but this really isn't anything he's orchestrating.

:D

Arlen knows he can't win the repuke primary. it's that simple. and rove isn't god. it's all so silly this overrating of that little toad. plus, there's no love lost between rove and snarlin'. that's hardly a secret.

If you are that scared get a dog. Will Spector be a liberal? No. Will he be anything like a "progressive" in the mold of Bernie Sanders or Russ Feingold (my personal hero in the Senate)? No. But is WILL be the 60th Democratic vote, when Franken is finally seated. AND he supports the core of our moderate Democratic President's agenda. He wasn't lock step w/ the Republican's and he won't be lock step with the Democrats either --- but he is now on OUR Team. As such DU members need to support him as a matter of course, and call him when he strays. I know that is what I will do.

Don't spin Carl Rove into your paranoia that it couldn't possibly be true that the nation has swung to the Democratic agenda, and away from the increasingly crazy conservative agenda. Next thing you know, people will be giving credit to Steele for "moving the chess pieces around the board."


Be of good cheer! Thais is a GOOD thing. Really.

Specter is not a very popular Republican. He's vulnerable in the primary--vulnerable to real Rove-type Republicans--and he knows it. He's trying to save his seat, so to speak.

No rove hear. This is a big loss for the turd's party.

Specter wants to get re-elected...

He's as alienated from Republican Conservatives as he is from Democratic Progressives...

He knows he won't win a Republican Primary with the Republican base...

He knows the Democrats are in ascending and the Republicans are cratering...

Better to go with the winning team.

Eight years of Bush have left me still jumpy...