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What will Democrats do about Arlen Specter?

Submitted by Jon Henke on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 17:20
in

The news that Arlen Specter is switching parties has sparked a lot of attention to the predictable Republican reaction, which ranges from disappointment to blame-storming to "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out".

But that's not the most interesting story here.

Once everybody gets the Republican reaction story out of their system, we'll turn to a much, much more interesting chapter in this story: How will Democrats react to Democratic Senate candidate Arlen Specter?

Early reaction (Daily Kos, Glenn Greenwald, The New Republic, MyDD, Open Left) suggests Senator Arlen Specter has somehow managed to join a political Party that dislikes him even more than Republicans did. 

So, by promising to give Specter the institutional support of the Democratic Party, it looks like the Democratic establishment has engineered a switch that advances their political control at the expense of the ideological agenda and ideals of the progressive movement.

This will be a crucial test of who holds the power on the Left. Who controls the Democratic Party: the Party establishment or the progressive movement?

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the story is the GOP

Submitted by johnson springs on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 18:13.

Can't agree with you on this, Jon. As your own post on collusion so ably shows politics is not strongly ideological. The Democrats will happily eat away at the GOP's rejects. It is not like Spector is going to run the calendar after all.

No, the interesting question is how long will we have to wait before a blue Senate seat turns red again outside the South?

How about never

Submitted by skayne on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 18:23.

Never, until the realities of winning elections in those states becomes clear to conservatives. Even Cornyn said Specter couldn't win his state, but he couldn't win Specter's. You need to understand the reality of demanding ideological purity.

Most of the blogs realize Specter is thinking about Specter, nothing else. To have him clog up a seat Dems would have won and not have him change his vote on EFCA is typical of the current Senate leadership.

Dems Will Box His Ears

Submitted by ToddLuvsLounging on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 18:47.

and then leave him alone. It's how Dems roll.

I can even see a modified EFCA where the sanctity of the secret ballot is protected and Arlen sees the light and is able to vote for his new union buddies.

-Liberal ToddLuvsLounging

arlen cosponsored the original bill.

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 15:09.

people are rightly upset about arlen jumping all around on the matter, swtiching parties and eveyrhting!

that said, he's running with his own version of efca right now, and probably wants to push for that, rather than the dem official version (note: he has a few dem cosponsors on his)

Michael Forbes redux

Submitted by Ironman on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 19:17.

so who's gonna be the librarian?

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it'll be interesting

Submitted by cr on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 19:29.

how this plays out. Did Dems loose a chance at putting a real Dem in Penn and did Reps gain a chance to put a real Rep in Penn? Depends on the next election, doesn't it? Also, does it make Dems look more moderate?

Intitially, this is better for Dems, but this could be a curve ball. Both sides will be eagerly waiting to see how this plays out. I'm sure he'll be just as much a pain in the ass dem as he was a pain in the Rep.He definitely has more power as a result.

------

I just want to ad that calling the switch "a threat to the country" is a rediculous way of getting him out of the way. If fact, if you wanted to get someone re-elected . . . .

 

 

No one really answered the question, Jon

Submitted by ThinkTank on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 12:39.

So I will.  The party, definitely. 

Progressives the see the advantage, but only as political calculus.  The hope, as in the case of party-switching by Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, is that Specter in switching parties will lean further left over time than he might have ever otherwise.  Remember, primaries are people by truer believers than not and Toomey is too conservative for PA.  Specter may have to tack left hard to avoid a primary challenge.  He will then tack center right for the general election.  What follows after, who can say?

But generally speaking, progressives hate him.  This is a Party win, not a progressive one.

writing from liberal appalachia...

Submitted by RisingTide on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 15:12.

the party has won. there will be no primary challenger to knock speter off. even if rendell wanted to run... i dont' think he could knock specter off. the dem machine is strong in pa.

I'd rather have

Submitted by Repack Rider on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 14:23.

...the Democrats' problem with a tepid Democrat (see: Lieberman, Joe)  than the GOP's problem with the next PA election.  Although he is no more than a Democrat of convenience, Specter has set in motion events that will cost him the next election, and put another Democrat in the Senate.

Specter was going to lose the Republican primary, so he sold his soul for a (long) shot at re-election.  Because he was a strong incumbent and a relatively liberal Republican, the Democrats didn't challenge him very hard in the general in previous elections, but now he has to get past the Democratic primary, and that may be just as hard as getting past the GOP.  The Democrats expect to beat Toomey with anybody they run, and they will be coming out of the woodwork now for a shot at the wounded Specter.

The most nominal Democratic candidate will bring more powerful party credentials than Senator Specter's deathbed conversion.  Specter didn't help himself with his chutzpah in saying, "I am unwilling to have my 29-year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate."  Guess what, Arlen, the Democratic party has primaries also, and you are going to hear those words used in your opponents' ads.  It's easy to imagine how Democratic primary opponents will deal with Specter; on the other hand, it's hard to imagine how Specter plans to appeal to Democratic voters.

That democracy stuff is for losers, right Arlen?  I think Arlen might start looking into retirement property, because he won't get past the primary.

I couldn't agree more, RR

Submitted by davidfarrar on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 14:51.

This guy was deadweight for the Republican Party anyway. Even Arlen Spector's "Independent" numbers were down. I guess Independents don't want the guy any more than the Republicans do -- so much for moderate Republicanism or whatever he calls himself nowdays. 

 

ex animo

davidfarrar

Keep going

Submitted by skayne on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 15:33.

Keep turning moderate repubs into dems. As soon as all the moderates switch to dem, finally you will be able to enact your agenda.

Wait a minute......

The Dems don't like

Submitted by Jim Glass on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 15:26.

The Dems don't like Specter?

Everybody looks down on a turncoat, not least the side he turns to help.  Look at how the British treated Benedict Arnold, and the Soviets treated Kim Philby.

Specter illustrates an absolute fundamental of politics....

He state just weeks ago that he would never change parties -- in spite of all the imploring he was receiving to do so -- because it was in the national interest to have a credible minority party to challenge the majority's initiatives.

Today he is totally unapolgetic about the fact that he switched solely because he would lose his primary and wants another term (at age 79).

Thus we see the Universal First Rule of Politics: Every politician really, sincerely, and truly wants what is best for the nation ... as his/her SECOND priority, after doing whatever it takes to get elected or re-elected.

(The logic is irrefutable: How can one help the nation from an elected position if one isn't elected?)

This explains, for instance, the perpetual public hand-wringing by politicians over the ever-growing national debt, even as they vote to increase the unfunded liabilities of the US at present value to $50 trillion ... $53 trillion ... $55 trillion ... etc.

"Oh Lord, let me become fiscally responsible, but not until after the next election." 

It explains a whole lot more too, of course.

I'm sure he'll be just as

Submitted by rentonwilmore on Sat, 06/20/2009 - 08:41.

I'm sure he'll be just as much a pain in the ass dem as he was a pain in the Rep.He definitely has more power as a result. Hill University