Blogging politics isn't something I've done in a while, but this is too good to pass up.
For those of you who haven't heard, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter did the flippity-flop from the Republican party to the Democratic party this past week. Why? The answer is simple. He is a shameless self-promoter.
In 2004, Specter was reelected to his Senate seat--which he has held since 1991--despite opposition within his own party. His republican challenger, Pat Toomey, painted Specter as a lefty and almost upset Specter in the primary.
Now, with the 2010 election in his sights, Toomey has aimed at the Specter-held Senate seat and many have claimed that he has the ability to take the seventy-nine-year-old in the primary.
Specter has foreseen his beloved Senate seat slipping from his grasp. In 2007-08 he made a bid to shore up his grip by attempting to soothe the pain of a hometown Philadelphia Eagles Super-Bowl XLIII loss to the hated New England Patriots in 2005. He called for a congressional investigation of the destruction of the infamous "Spygate" tapes (illegal video footage the Patriots had taken of other teams game-preparation) by the NFL. Specter wrote to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, asking him to address the tape's destruction hoping to scrounge up some dirt on the Eagles Super-Bowl loss. Goodell shrugged Specter off by saying, "they confirmed what I already knew about the issue." Specter pursued it a little further, but when no one was paying attention, let it fizzle out.
Needless to say, his antics did not win him any support with the Pennsylvania voters. And neither did his March 18, 2008 statement, "To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for reelection in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket." But Toomey's threat only grew. Specter needed to propel himself forward with something big. Something shameless. Something self-promoting.
So he flopped.
Yesterday Specter declared,
Riveting.
Don't think for a moment that Specter doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. By switching parties Specter puts Senate democrats at fifty-seven seats. And if Al Franken overtakes Norm Coleman in the never-ending Minnesota recount--which he is predicted to do--democrats will have achieved fifty-eight seats giving them a close to filibuster-proof Senate. Add in the two independent seats, which rarely vote in line with the GOP, and you have the magical number sixty.
With this in mind Specter said, "I will not be an automatic 60th vote."
Yeah. Thank you, Senator Obvious. Specter wants to be the straw that preserves or breaks the camel's back. He wants the publicity and the glory. He wants reelection in 2010 which he was not going to have as a Republican with a 52% Pennsylvania disapproval rating and a significant poll deficit (Toomey: 41%; Specter: 27%).
Changing parties could place him in the limelight. It could give him new life in the heart's of Pennsylvania voters. It could be his ticket to another six-year stint in Washington D.C.
Arlen Specter is a shameless self-promoter.
Specter has foreseen his beloved Senate seat slipping from his grasp. In 2007-08 he made a bid to shore up his grip by attempting to soothe the pain of a hometown Philadelphia Eagles Super-Bowl XLIII loss to the hated New England Patriots in 2005. He called for a congressional investigation of the destruction of the infamous "Spygate" tapes (illegal video footage the Patriots had taken of other teams game-preparation) by the NFL. Specter wrote to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, asking him to address the tape's destruction hoping to scrounge up some dirt on the Eagles Super-Bowl loss. Goodell shrugged Specter off by saying, "they confirmed what I already knew about the issue." Specter pursued it a little further, but when no one was paying attention, let it fizzle out.
Needless to say, his antics did not win him any support with the Pennsylvania voters. And neither did his March 18, 2008 statement, "To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for reelection in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket." But Toomey's threat only grew. Specter needed to propel himself forward with something big. Something shameless. Something self-promoting.
So he flopped.
Yesterday Specter declared,
"As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party."
Riveting.
Don't think for a moment that Specter doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. By switching parties Specter puts Senate democrats at fifty-seven seats. And if Al Franken overtakes Norm Coleman in the never-ending Minnesota recount--which he is predicted to do--democrats will have achieved fifty-eight seats giving them a close to filibuster-proof Senate. Add in the two independent seats, which rarely vote in line with the GOP, and you have the magical number sixty.
With this in mind Specter said, "I will not be an automatic 60th vote."
Yeah. Thank you, Senator Obvious. Specter wants to be the straw that preserves or breaks the camel's back. He wants the publicity and the glory. He wants reelection in 2010 which he was not going to have as a Republican with a 52% Pennsylvania disapproval rating and a significant poll deficit (Toomey: 41%; Specter: 27%).
Changing parties could place him in the limelight. It could give him new life in the heart's of Pennsylvania voters. It could be his ticket to another six-year stint in Washington D.C.
Arlen Specter is a shameless self-promoter.
1 comment:
What ever happened to Congressmen representing the people of their state instead of themselves?
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