Why did we want Specter in the party?

[mgcgulfcoast]

this isnt about the coleman remark. I think it would have been better to see specter lose to to toomey and then we would have won in 2010. now, we may lose with specter in 2010 if ridge runs against him.

[madeline_con]

1. I thought he crashed it.

:( :party: :( :(

[LakeSamish706]

2. Many of us here at DU didn't want him in the party, but others wanted his vote...

for 60 vote scenario. The however is, you can't count on Specter to support the Democratic vote so that makes him useless as a Democrat and I say throw him out. I'm pissed at Obama for offering this guy what he did.

[mgcgulfcoast]

3. we lose a dem vote for 6 yrs

in 2010 with specter. i hope we allow someone to challenge specter in the primary.

[JPettus]

18. Obama can want what he wants

He doesn't have final say on whether or not a Democrat runs against him in the primary in PA. That decision is a party decision and if Specter continues to not play nice, then there is no reason the party has to let him stay.

Personally, I'm in favor of kicking his ass out.

[zulchzulu]

4. He needs to be taken to the shed and told to be a Democrat or get the fuck out

He needs to earn the (D) next to his name.

[Sebastian Doyle]

8. Him and about a dozen or so others in the Senate

They may have called themselves "Democrats" before last week, but they sure as fuck don't act like it. The usual suspects Bayh, Landrieu, the Nelson twins, the two WalMart pawns, etc. Spineless Reid too.

[rwheeler31]

5. We were running low on old crotchety white guys.

[DrToast]

6. Why is everyone so focused on 2010?

Is the election tomorrow or something?

[progressoid]

22. Yes it is tomorrow,

Clearly Specter has already started campaigning.

[Occam Bandage]

7. There's something to be said

for a bird in the hand being worth two in the bush. We don't know what the political issues of 2010-2012 or 2012-2014 will be, what the balance of power will be, and what that state of the nation will be. We do know what the issues of 2008-2010 will be, we know the state of the union is at its most dire in decades, and we know we have an opening like few in history to accomplish major legislative reforms if we can get past GOP obstructionism. DUers have been calling on Reid to spend some damn capital and get some shit down now now now for some time. This might be him actually doing that.

Assuming Specter votes with us on cloture. As for Specter and the "60th vote" business? It's true he's said he'd vote against plenty of things. I don't care what he votes against; I care how he votes on cloture on procedural obstruction, and how he votes on cloture on high-impact filibusters. We don't have enough information to say how he'll work out for us, but I can't imagine that the entire Democratic establishment would stick their necks out for Specter without any leverage of their own. For all we know, they gave him a list of bills for which he would need to vote yes on cloture to avoid being primaried out. Dean and Carville have already raised that spectre; they're among the highest-profile Dems to both maintain a connection to the administration but yet to be far enough away that they can speak without sounding as if their words are the administration's.

[AlinPA]

10. On Specter being "primaried out": the party has two good candidates,

Rep. Joe Sestak and Auditor Gen Jack Wagner who could beat Specter in the Dem. primary, so that would be a reasonable club to hold over his head.

[stevenleser]

23. Yes, ultimately. And that is to where my expectations have fallen

You have it right. Ultimately, that is now where his vote is important, cloture. But, having him run his mouth against a host of Democratic initiatives and things of import to us is not what I would expect from someone we just saved from electoral oblivion.

[slackmaster]

9. Speak for yourself

I really don't care what party he registers with. It's his business.

[AlinPA]

11. To increase our number of seats and call attention to the GOP intolerance. Other than that,

he adds nothing at all. The problem now is that Biden, Obama, Rendell and Casey are on record as supporting him and that makes it hard for us to bring Joe Sestak or Jack Wagner to the primary. Looks like Ridge will beat Specter and we end up where we were.

[nomaco-10]

12. Don't blame me. I never wanted him...

especially when I found out he was gonna be able to keep all his plum committee seats, and Obama half way promised to support him in the next election.

He's an opportunistic asshole and should have been treated as such. His crossover should have been greeted with a lukewarm reception and a hefty sense of skepticism. He has reached lieberliar proportions and hopefully he'll be gone come 2010 and lieberliar will folllow in 2012.

[mgcgulfcoast]

15. i agree with you

[DearAbby]

13. because he looks great in blue

otherwise I have no clue. It was great to see the GOP demoralized, but not worth being saddled with Specter.

[Ken Burch]

17. He's changed parties, not suits.

Spector's threads are as dingy-gray as his soul.

[MrSlayer]

14. Who is this "we" you speak of?

I certainly didn't want him in our party. Most of us didn't want him. It is a very curious move by the party leaders.

[Raine]

16. It's not whether we want him or not ...

we got him, like it or not. :yoiks:

[freddie mertz]

19. "We" didn't. And Baucus may be even worse.

Specter is a pathetic joke, a man past his prime and out of time.

Meanwhile, already embedded DINOs like Bayh, Baucus et al are doing real damage not only to the Democratic "brand," but to the needs and aspirations of the American people.

Right now, they are a bigger threat to our future than any republican I can think of.

[onenote]

20. because 60 now is important. and it further disrupts the repubs

even if the repubs were to regain PA in a ridge/specter race, we hopefully will still get beyond 60 with some other pick ups. But thats 18 months away. Having a 60th vote now is a major positive as are all the stories about how the repubs have become a regional party with little national appeal

[Jennicut]

21. For the simple reason that it makes the Rethugs look bad to loose moderates

And maybe we might eek out a cloture vote or two out of him. I would not be sad if he lost in a primary to Sestak but if he won the primary he would still be better then Ridge or Toomey (major yuck). He is much more an independent then a conservative or liberal. He is middle of the road, loyal to neither party. He really should have switched to being an independent but he couldn't do that and win an election. Maybe Joe Loserman (who happens to by my senator) and Specter can form their own party. LOL. I still think I would take Specter over Loserman. Something about old Joe just pisses me off, maybe because he was a Dem for years and then stuck it to us (especially those of us in this state) whereas Specter was a Rethug for years and I don't expect anything out of him. Loserman campaigning for McCain was unforgivable. I can't wait to vote him out.