Posts Tagged ‘party-switching’

Views on News, wispundits • April 29th, 2009

Specter switches

by Chris Lato


I know I have been long overdue in writing something….it’s been a busy stretch lately, thankfully. But when Arlen Specter pulled an utterly cynical move to expand his own power base and advance his political career, handing Democrats a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate (assuming an Al Franken win in Minnesota is finalized sometime this decade) and a free pass to do whatever it wants…well, I had to speak up.

I am not typically a fan of party-jumpers, as my comments not too long ago about Libertarian-turned-Republican-turned-whatever State Rep. Jeff Wood will prove. For every party-jumper who claims to be ‘taking a principled stand,’ dig a little deeper and you will typically find opportunistic reasons for the switch. And Specter’s move is particularly craven. It is difficult to pin down the areas where Specter has had political courage to stand on principles. As one Specter staffer anonymously admitted about the switch, “It is all about him.”

So what else is new? Isn’t self-preservation what most politicians care about? Maybe so, but Specter is an exceptionally vivid example of a career politician - a onetime Democrat who jumped over to the GOP in the past when it became clear he couldn’t win as a Dem. He’s now jumping back because polling indicates he can’t win re-election next year as a Republican.

What’s particularly galling is that Specter himself warned against giving one party too much power just a few months ago, in explaining why he was going to stay a Republican. How can Specter’s constituents trust anything that comes out of his mouth? He effectively disillusions Republicans, while Democrats can rightly argue that Specter is not truly one of their own. The middle is left to wonder whether Specter is going to wear his red tie or his blue tie depending on which way the wind is blowing that day.

Specter really wants to hold onto his job and has proven he’s willing to pay any price. And after 29 years in the US Senate, politicians like Arlen Specter are poster boys for a term limits movement.

 

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