Do you like Arlen Specter now that he is on our side?

We always kind of liked him, for a Republican. I have never voted for him in the past. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the Democratic primary this time.

He was facing a serious challenge from the right, Pat Toomey. He was expected to have a hard time winning. He is also almost as much like a Democrat as he is like a Republican.

If it’s he against a Republican, I’d vote for him. But if it’s he against a truly progressive Democrat, I doubt it. Meanwhile, I’m happy that he will be voting with us more often, now that he doesn’t have to please his so-called base. In fact, he might be much better now, since he has to please a different base, entirely. We’ll see.

Our side?

@jonsblond: I was thinking the same thing.

Just curious—if you have to ask, does that mean you’re not on our side?

I don’t think that’s going to make him change his vote on anything. I think he already has his political ideas and those aren’t really shifting. It’s not going to be someone who’ll automatically vote along party lines now just like he didn’t before. He was a moderate republican and now he’ll be a moderate democrat. If the republican party wants to keep catering to the wingnuts on the far right this sort of thing is bound to happen.

Our side? Pretty presumptuous of you to speak for all of us.

@daloon I’m on my side. I can find things about both all parties that I agree with.

Yeah, I’m a lefty-and-a-half, but “our side” is a bit presumptuous.

Our side = The Darkside (the one with boiled sheep’s heads instead of cookies) ?

I was thinking that the questioner made it obvious which side he was on. Either you are on his side, or you aren’t. It’s not the end of the world, you know, if you aren’t. I took this as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek question.

@daloon Tongue-in-cheek is not allowed. You should know that! ;)

Oops. My bad!

Our side? Aren’t we all on the same side…America’s side?

You know he switched just to get elected in the next election, right?

I actually liked him better when he was in Our Gang.

I like any politician who will follow his/her heart. I especially like when his heart leads him to my side. Go Arlen!

Our side= Democratic Party.

@reijinni Yeah, the confusion wasn’t over the meaning of “our side”... just the assumption that “our side” is the same for everyone…

@Likeradar TY

@jonsblond – That is exactly what I took from what he said, it was really for him – not anyone else. It’s so he can get elected. He switched before it muddied the waters during an election. He also said that he’s not just going to be the 60th vote, he did say he wasn’t automatically going to just vote along with the party. not his exact words, but that was his intent.

If anything, it makes me question him – not automatically vote for him, just because he changed parties, seems like a weak reason to automatically vote for someone.

Congress is a dog and pony show to me. The vast majority of our elected officials are in there to get elected as many times as they can, dip in the lobbyists’ goody-bag and get themselves a sweet “consulting” gig when they can’t get elected anymore. After a while, it doesn’t matter what party they’re in. A pox on both houses.

Except for perhaps Shirley Chisholm, RIP. We could use more public servants like her.

If you’ll read my post above, you’ll see exactly why he wants to switch in order to get reelected.

It should be pointed out that he has always been very moderate, and has been able to get as many Democratic votes as Republican. It makes sense for him to switch, especially in an environment where the Republicans in Pennsylvania still skew very strongly to the right. The middle of the state is part of the Bible Belt.

Anyway, that having been said, there’s no certainty that he can get throught the Democratic primary, either. I don’t know who will be up against him, but there are many more progressive Democrats who could run, and it would be nice to have someone who leans towards the left, instead of all these centrists or right-wingers we’ve been saddled with.

@daloon: In exchange for being the anti-filibuster vote, the DNC can see to it that no other serious Democratic opponent will run, or at least get national funding.

True, no national funding, but it is possible to raise money without the DNC. Just depends on the candidate. I know a number of people who would like to see Specter go. Some of them with very big bucks. We’ll have to see. If he can help Obama pull off serious Health Care Reform, then that could well earn him enough points to eliminate any Democratic opposition.

Our side? I suspect he is on his own side. After all, he switched because he faced major competition from Toomey and wasn’t ready to retire yet.

He gets to retain his seniority so what does he have to lose? Besides, he has a very healthy war chest to finance his campaign one way or the other, and a lot of Republicans around Philly have apparently switched to being Democrats in the last election, so he plans on getting their votes.

Arlen is as much a Democrat as is Ben Nelson of my home State of Nebraska is. Their voting records show how Conservative they are. Dems. didn’t re-elect Nelson, Republicans did. It is a ‘Fact’ that if you remove the fur from a Tiger, the skin has stripes.Arlen just put on a “New Fur Coat”.

By the way, as an Independant, does this mean I’m not on your side? What ‘Side’ would that be? If I have to be a Democrat to be on your side, then I’m not on “YOUR” side
Who the Hell cares anyway.