Now that Specter has supposedly changed parties...

[Big Orange Jeff]

...what is the over/under for the number of days after Al Franken is seated until Joe Lieberman decides to formally become a Republican? Or at least until he decides to caucus with the Republicans?

[JVS]

1. Wouldn't he forfeit some kind of committee chair by doing that?

[RB TexLa]

2. What so he can take Spector's spot at the ignored table of the GOP?

Pro-choice, pro-labor, pro-civil rights. They love him when talking about war, the rest, not so much.

[sam sarrha]

3. Sphincter is full of shit...!!

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Doubt words, trust acts

Nobody should automatically trust Arlen Specter "just because". But it's very probable that some BIG concessions were made on BOTH sides. He will be with us on every health-related bill that comes to the floor. He will be able to shepherd finance reform and raise support in the financial world. He will help us understand how the GOP mugwumps work. I fully expect him to support EFCA once he can make a few (tiny, symbolic) changes to it. No rubber stamp, but a reliable Democratic force, to be sure.

Plus, he's been getting screwed over by his party for more than a decade, and the Club for Growths has marked him for political death. Arlen plays rough with guys like this. He's spilled plenty of political blood in his career.

At DU, ideology is all. In the Senate, it's all about administration, lawyering, and Getting Things Done. Specter is legendary, and if you look at his record, you will see exactly how much ideology means to him -- damn little. He hammers out legislation. Many have been the times we have disagreed with him, but an objective look at his legislative history points to him being an effective and loyal Democrat until at least 2016, if his health holds out. He wants to expand medical coverage and funding; that's his legislative M.O., and it's fine by me.

Lieberman? I think he's going to retire. He's far too left-wing for the new, moribund GOP to tolerate. If they do adopt him, it will be for a single poke-in-the-eye election; after that, it's the Club for Growth knife.

Times are changing. Specter has a few ambitions before his big Dirt Nap. They fit in with our agenda. The risk to us is low; hell, we have already won the day. So slay the Fatted Calf for the Prodigal Arlen Specter. We need big, rowdy, wild party after our own years in the wilderness. So save a lampshade for Arlen.

--d!
Full Disclosure: I'm from Philadelphia.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. OR he could just be a slimy little spy and tell all his buddies what goes on in meetings

Like Holy Joe.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. What good would it do him?

The CfG already wants him OUT. The base around here is so anxious to anoint Pat Toomey their new Messiah that they've already started building the gallows for Arlen. The hate for Specter is unbelievable. Remember, the Republican base is utterly stark raving bugfuck.

Would YOU try to kiss up to a group of people who have publicly announced that they intend to destroy you?

There is no reason for Specter to stay in the GOP, to try to please them, or to cut deals to stay. It's over. He's coming to the Democratic Party as a refugee. So there is no chance that he will be spying for them. And he will be an asset just by showing up with the "D" after his name. He's not leftist enough for our purists, but we're not about purity, we're about history and its making.

"Holy Joe" has a different story altogether. Unlike Specter, who wants to re-write health care for the ages, Lieberman really does have no agenda. (Israel? That's not an agenda, and that's properly Hillary's turf anyway.) That's why I think this is his last term.

The game is over for the Republicans. They have become a party of radicals and ranters. American politics will change. Arlen Specter does not intend to let history grind him under the bootheel of a dying tribe of madmen who took 30 years of his dedicated loyalty and wiped their collective pilonidal cyst with it.

--d!

[Raine]

11. Good post

I totally agree. :thumbsup:

[Cronus Protagonist]

13. We've already established he's a whore

All we're discussing is how much he should make out of the deal, and is he one of these "trustworthy" whores we all like to think exist.

Since his political allegiance is up for sale, I want to know how much we paid, and I think it should be CHEAP for a whore like Specter. Oh, and IMHO, making this deal says a lot about Specter - and it's not at all flattering - I say it goes to character and therefore, that makes him suspect.

"trust, but verify"?

See, just the idea of trusting a whore rubs me up the wrong way.

[Raine]

10. WHO would listen to him...

the GOOPer's don't listen to anyone but the nutcases like Bachman and that ilk.

[Cronus Protagonist]

12. I wish I could be that confident - isn't he buddies with Karl Rove?

In any case, he surely knows people he might talk with at a barbeque about our strategies. If I were the Dem leadership I would require his rubber stamp vote or face a challenger. If he gives a rubber stamp vote, he has no need to come to the meetings.

[sam sarrha]

6. Sphincter is tight with the ReThuglicans.. dont tap your foot around him

[Dogmudgeon]

8. See my response to C.P.

Keep in mind, I don't think Specter will be a model leftist Democrat, merely an effective (and loyal) one.

Who's he tight with who hasn't been a part of his political assassination?

I understand that Specter raises some well-earned intense negative emotions around here. But he has nowhere to go. Let him atone for his sins. There will be enough time before the election to determine how solid his commitment as a Democrat is. We have him by the balls; he will do his best to call it Love.

--d!

[sam sarrha]

15. you are polishing a Turd..

[Cronus Protagonist]

16. lol

I sense a little shit-eating in that grin of his. :)

[Believing Is Art]

9. Arlen Specter only cares about Arlen Specter

And considering how blue PA has turned, that's reason enough to trust him for the time being.

[sohndrsmith]

14. Though hardly surprised, I really thought they'd have labeled him

"Benedict Arlen" as soon as he 'came out'... guess they are as intellectually limited (even sardonically) as they appear. Blecch...