That's awesome. I knew Specter had a pretty decent voting record, but I thought he was old guard Republican. And "Democratic leaning state"? Have things gotten better down there?
Go skeptical centrists, go! I don't think this will give an automatic pass for all the great ideas coming out of the whitehouse. Rather, his conversion will probably just mean they're examined more closely by a friendly audience. Specter's return will have the benefit of locking out the kook vote, though. And that's a very good thing.
Technically, I think you should thank Snarlin' Arlen for doing the left thing.
But, talking seriously for a second (which I never do), Pennsylvania has been trending more Democratic for the past 9 or so years. It is somewhat an effect of the Republican Party's shift further to the right (and the accompanying shift of the Democratic Party towards the center), but it is also a function of demographics. Pennsylvania has one of the highest proportions of senior citizen populations of any other state - a lot of which are those old-guard Republicans. Not only are the younger demographics more Democratic-leaning than these seniors, well, how to put it delicately... fuck it, there is no delicate here, these seniors are DYING OFF. At a faster rate than those more-Democratic-leaning whippersnappers.
So, you've got a shift among the youth toward the Democratic Party, you've got the Republican Party ceding the middle-ground to the Democrats, AND you've got a dwindling population of old-school older Republicans... all of which spells trouble for the state's Republican Party. Throw in some really pissed-off Unions, a recession largely (and largely rightfully) blamed on the Republican Party, and a still-incredibly-popular and charismatic President... and it really, REALLY sucks to be a Republican right now. For reals, y'all.
Also, this isn't Specter's first rodeo with the Democrats - he's actually switching back. Specter was a Democrat until 1966 when he wanted to run for District Attorney and the Democratic Party didn't want him, so he switched affiliation and has been a Republican ever since... until now. So, it's not so much a Coming-Out Party as it is a Homecoming. Welcome back, Arlen.
I think it's really sad, actually, because I was hoping the Republican party would eventually reform from within as long as there were reasonable people like Specter in it. See Snowe (one of the two AWESOME Maine senators)'s op-ed in the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/opinion/29snowe.html?_r=1 . I agree with practically everything she says in there.
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(Anonymous) - 2009-04-28 21:31 (UTC) - Expandno subject
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But, talking seriously for a second (which I never do), Pennsylvania has been trending more Democratic for the past 9 or so years. It is somewhat an effect of the Republican Party's shift further to the right (and the accompanying shift of the Democratic Party towards the center), but it is also a function of demographics. Pennsylvania has one of the highest proportions of senior citizen populations of any other state - a lot of which are those old-guard Republicans. Not only are the younger demographics more Democratic-leaning than these seniors, well, how to put it delicately... fuck it, there is no delicate here, these seniors are DYING OFF. At a faster rate than those more-Democratic-leaning whippersnappers.
So, you've got a shift among the youth toward the Democratic Party, you've got the Republican Party ceding the middle-ground to the Democrats, AND you've got a dwindling population of old-school older Republicans... all of which spells trouble for the state's Republican Party. Throw in some really pissed-off Unions, a recession largely (and largely rightfully) blamed on the Republican Party, and a still-incredibly-popular and charismatic President... and it really, REALLY sucks to be a Republican right now. For reals, y'all.
Also, this isn't Specter's first rodeo with the Democrats - he's actually switching back. Specter was a Democrat until 1966 when he wanted to run for District Attorney and the Democratic Party didn't want him, so he switched affiliation and has been a Republican ever since... until now. So, it's not so much a Coming-Out Party as it is a Homecoming. Welcome back, Arlen.
--Jeff
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