Poll: What's your initial reaction to Specter's return to the Democratic Party?

[Aloha Spirit]

Poll question: Poll: What's your initial reaction to Specter's return to the Democratic Party?

What's your initial reaction to Specter's return to the Democratic Party?

[AspenRose]

1. Now waiting for Traitor Joe to make his switch official and permanent

[sharp_stick]

5. Lieberman won't join the Republicons

he likes the power and prestige he has caucusing with the Democrats. Plus the pukes hate him more than the Dems do, other than his support for the war and unwavering backing of anything Israeli he's way too far to the left for the puke party.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

39. yeah, Lieberman's fell in line nicely

I think Rahm and Obama made it pretty clear with him that they weren't playing games

We can still beat him in 2012, though.

[MadBadger]

2. Other: This is purely political for him and it can only help not hurt. BUT

He will still be an obstructionist to our agenda and we need to challenge him in the 2010 primary.

[Aloha Spirit]

6. I can't wait to see what Casey has to say about the 2010 primary.

It seems like the two of them get along well...
so much drama!

[sharp_stick]

3. I'll take a vote

toward stopping puke obstruction over my general dislike for the guy anytime. That is as long as he actually votes with the Democrates instead of the bait and switch he used with them through the shrub years.

[falcon97]

4. Yesss.....if for no other reason

than the Repubs have no idea what hit them!

:rofl:

[Aloha Spirit]

8. I like grantcart's satire from the other day, about how the Republicans are purifying themselves

The GOP is so sensitive these days, it will be fun to watch them react.

[slackmaster]

7. Poll needs a "Meh." option

Meh.

[Aloha Spirit]

10. ha, I didn't think anyone would be meh on this as an initial reaction,

however, the more I think about it, my feeling is moving toward meh.

[Forkboy]

22. What he said.

[TheKentuckian]

25. I vote "meh" as well

I find it generally positive but only in the most luke warm fashion possible.

[democrattotheend]

9. Depends how he votes

If he votes for cloture on EFCA I'll be happy. Otherwise I want a primary challenge.

[Aloha Spirit]

11. I'd like a primary challenge either way,

my feeling is a dynamic primary will be good for fundraising and for the party in PA.

[avaistheone1]

12. Just what the Democrats need an obstructionist who they can count on NOT to vote with them when it

counts!! :sarcasm:



It is totally ridiculous to expect that Spector switching parties would be any kind of meaningful change or support of the Democratic agenda or principles.

This is insanity.

[Aloha Spirit]

15. You don't think it will affect how he votes?

[avaistheone1]

19. No, not all.

Spector will continue to be an obstructionist much like Liberman, but worse.

Spector is smarter and more cagey than Liberman.

[whistler162]

13. Not surprising... it has been a long time coming....

Lincoln Chafee next?

They are driving the Rockfeller Republicans away.

[asjr]

14. I'm still angry about his actions

in the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill controversy. He practically called Anita Hill a liar!

[Aloha Spirit]

16. Yeah, that was way ugly

And Republicans loved him for it.

[On the Road]

17. It Wouldn't be as Much of a Deal

if the counts were different. But having 59 seats already, picking up the 60th is huge.

[Arugula Latte]

18. He's a slimeball, but he's our slimeball now.

:)

[Douglas Carpenter]

20. I lifted my hand into the air and praised the Lord!!

[Sebastian Doyle]

21. Long term it could be a good thing.

regardless of whether there's a primary challenge or not, we are talking about a 79 year old man who's had cancer twice. Arlen's not going to be in this seat as a "Democrat" for another 24 years or whatever.

[Vidar]

23. "Return to the Democratic Party" He was a Democrat before??

[Vidar]

24. Never mind. I found in another thread that this was indeed a return to Democrats.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8375865

[hayu_lol]

26. Spector is a TROJAN HORSE...

He belongs in the same group as all the Blue Dogs plus:

Landrieu
Bayh
Lieberman
Ben Nelson
Bill Nelson
Daschle
and all the other flakes who almost never vote Dem on any bill or stand for any Dem programs. This group is DINO to the core.

Spector will not vote for pro-labor issues, will not vote for cloture, will not cooperate with our real partisans.

This guy just wants to keep his paycheck coming in--he deserves unemployment.

It would be just like taking in Gingrich, Graham, and the rest of the rightwing flakes.

[Vidar]

28. I won't disagree for the most part

[Two Americas]

27. he was vulnerable

A real Democrat could have gotten that seat. This helps him. Us? Not so much.

[Catchawave]

30. What TA said, and it's a slap in the face to both parties,

I'm hoping a real Dem will emerge. :toast:

[Two Americas]

32. worse yet

Specter is welcome. We are not. It could not be more clear.

[DrToast]

29. A: Cautiously Optimistic n/t

[iamthebandfanman]

31. needs to be an inbetween option. n/t

[Aloha Spirit]

33. Aw, this was supposed to be a poll for people's instant reactions

Now we've all gone and thought about it and stuff.
I was hoping to do another poll in a month to see how much change there would be from people's initial gut reactions.
Did you not have an immediate feeling of this being good or bad for the party?
My initial reaction was this is good, now I think it's much more complicated.
In general, I think it's good for Pennsylvania to keep their senior senator... and he gets on really well with Casey.
It's also good for sanity to have some moderate yet sensible voices around even if I disagree with them.
I also think Pennsylvania isn't as liberal as it sometimes seems... yet.
But yeah, the idea in principle of someone running as a Democrat if they can't come around to vote with Democrats is lame, and I'm pretty sure Specter realizes that.

[mix]

34. he's a plant

or might as well be...conservative democrats will be the death of anything progressive about Obama's administration...i like that the switch rattles the right, but he'll do jack for liberals or the country.

[polichick]

35. Mixed: glad he dumped the Psycho Party, but I think we can do better in PA.

[stillcool]

36. Happy for the short term..

worried about the election..but..who knows what will happen by then? If we get get energy, health care, and education done, and if he is neutered regarding EFCA it's worth it.

[Sheepshank]

37. Could be for some reason

...he felt compelled to like-vote with the mandate of his party and play into the obstructionist collusion. Could be they threatened to bury him if he voted with Dem's on anything. Could be he actually was never 100% in line with the party on the obstructionist stuff. This allows him to vote his conscience without political death threats. Doesn't mean the Dem's will get 100% of his vote either. This is a bit of a wild card.

[ShadowLiberal]

38. As a PAer I love it, it leaves the dems with all the power now

If Specter doesn't move far enough to the left he'll be primaried despite Obama/Rendell/etc trying to stop others from doing it. Though I don't think that'll be a problem, take a look at Nate's analysis at 538 about how much a party switchers voting pattern tends to change after a switch. This leaves PA democrats to choose who gets elected to the senate next, unless republicans actually wake up and run someone who can actually win (like Ridge, though I doubt he could beat Specter).

Before now we didn't have any good candidates running in this senate race, and I think we were probably screwed if Specter somehow pulled off a win in a primary against Toomey.

[Zavulon]

40. I think he's an asshole.

He only did it because he's trying to save his job, not because he's on our side. He'll either vote with us or he won't, but the letter after his name won't sway his vote whatever. He's a whore whose votes are in accordance with the path of the trial balloons he launches.

All of the people here who are so happy won't have long to wait to see his true colors. The first time it helps him to vote with the GOP, he will. People here will scream bloody murder or yell with shock and surprise, and I can't wait to see how many of them were really happy yesterday.

What I hate most about him is that I have no idea what he actually believes. One thing I can say for a lot of Repug assholes is this: I may disagree with and hate what that person stands for, but at least I know where they stand. I can't say the same thing about Specter. He's a fuckheaded political whore who is as transparent as Saran Wrap.

I can only hope he loses next time up. He's a fucking disgrace. Let a junior Dem take his seat and let's get some integrity into that particular office space.

[PBS Poll-435]

41. Cautiously Optimistic

Now that he doesn't have the Senate Minority Whip begging him for every single vote, we will see.

[SKKY]

42. I'm wondering why we're celebrating a guy...

...who has voted with the Republicans about 80% of the time. I don't care what words come out of his mouth, he's not a Democrat.

[cboy4]

43. I voted yessss, although I'm going to have to see how he

votes on a wide range of issues before I get too excited.

If he votes like that asshole DINO Ben Nelson of Nebraska, or starts sounding like Lieberman ..I don't know how much it helps us.

I have a feeling he's to the left of those two idiots, so that's positive.

EDIT: typo

[Beacool]

44. Don't trust the man, don't trust his motives.

His sudden switch appears to be motivated by his internal polls showing him losing to another Repug in a primary challenge.

[Clear Blue Sky]

45. Specter will screw us on some key votes just like he screwed the Repubs.