Why didn't Specter become an Independent?

Is it all about the 2010 election?

I don't think he really fits in either party mold, and while I enjoy the fact that Dems welcome people into the party, I don't think Specter is actually a Democrat. And, from what he said, the numbers game doesn't change much because he may not vote for cloture.

From what I'm hearing, the Dem leadership promised an unopposed run in 2010 (Chris Matthews was PISSED), but what if he doesn't uphold our values? What if we can win the election with a better Dem?

I'm happy that we allow for moderate views, but not if the people don't actually uphold Democratic principles.

Thoughts?

Especially if he's not going to support EFCA. What kind of Dem will he be?

... the takeover of the PA GOP by the nutcase wing of the party.

and Pennsylvania is turing BLUE!

you may call him a self serving cynic,

or you might say he wants to represent his constituency.

You decide.

Believe the Dem leadership promised support in the PA election, as well.

Wait for it.

....his pollsters said he could not win re-election as an independent or as a republican. That's what I heard on TV anyway. Makes sense. Looks like his only hope to continue his senate career was switching parties, so he didn't have much leverage on the switch.

This is about survival for him and nothing else.

There would have been a Democratic Candidate with whom he would have split the vote.

That guarantees Toomey wins the seat.

His only choice was to go Democrat.

:D

i have nothing,,,

Support for cap & trade and much later support on the successor to EFCA that will emerge in late summer.

entered politics as a liberal Democrat. Look at this as a return to his roots.

and wanted to go all the way, sicking it to them.

Jeffords thought the party could be salvaged in 2001, so he became an indie with the thought of returning should they regain their senses.

Specter knew the wingnuts were planning to oust him by marshalling all the fundies in PA to skew the primary in a wingnut's favor.

They are different men, at different times, facing different parties.

One of the few states with two very powerful political machines.

Lets put it this way, the most charismatic politician I've ever seen in my life only managed 45% in a primary vs. the political machine.

This way he doesn't have to run against a Democrat, assuming he wins the Democratic primary. With the DLC behind him.....

He is an extremely capable politician; and, yes, he will be every bit a Democrat.

I'm sure he will piss us off from time to time. (At DU, not even Dennis Kucinich himself pleases us 100% of the time.) That's not a big deal to me, as long as the progressive movement makes steady, inexorable progress.

"Upholding our values" is largely unimportant in any given act. What is important is that our values take root and change the political landscape. Even non-progressives are able to do that for us. A good example of that is Prop 8 in California. It was painful, it was disappointing, it felt like a kick in the solar plexus, and it was probably THE event that will seal the deal on marriage equality. It's a two-year state setback that just shaved ten years off the time required to convince the voters in each state. It happened because our values have already taken root. It was a rebuke to our political laziness, and we will atone by welcoming in the last great bloc of excluded Americans as quickly as we can.

Our values will survive heterodoxy, Specter's and anyone else's. By the end of Obama's second term, the political world will be transformed to the point that everyone except the dying Republican dinosaurs will be progressive, whether they say they are or not. Specter is helping us get there a lot faster.

I also expect to see Olympia Snowe come over this year, and Sue Collins will not be too far behind. And we will have to compromise once or twice for them and the people of Maine. And they will advance us still further. Today, we lose a small funding or procedural fight; tomorrow, we change the very road America is on.

No matter who may be adding ink to the well, we are writing history -- in our hand.

--d!

thanks!

I do think that he has been "forced" to vote repub on some votes when he didn't want to. However, I will welcome him to the party, and take him for what he is. He will piss us off with his votes sometimes, but better than being forced to vote in lockstep.

Arlen wants to keep his day job and will do whatever that takes. Right now, it seems likely it would take Obama campaigning for him.