They're the Abbott and Costello of our time.
"Hey, Henry, I hear you had to pay four million bucks for illegally fuckin' people."
"Yeah, Eliot. I hear it only cost you two grand a pop!"
"Why I oughta . . . "
Specter has already jumped party lines and now jumped back. He's just a "Whose in power? I'm with THEM." kinda person. And then there's Joe "I know the electorate didn't want me but here I am anyway" Lieberman.
I think Michael Bloomberg is another one who uses political parties (or being 'independent') for his own personal gain.
As much as I want another Dem seat there is something so unsavory about the switchy-ness of these jerks. They would throw their mother under a bus for a vote and scruples be damned. I'd love to see the 3 of them run out of politics once and for all. Esp Bloomberg who is all about Michael Bloomberg.
Also, Matthews just sets up a straw man here. He goes on and on about how Specter was loyal to the GOP for a half-century, and now all of a sudden he's calling himself a Democrat.
If that were accurate -- if a person who'd been supremely loyal to one party for 50 years randomly changed his affiliation in the face of bad poll numbers -- then it would be a baldly cynical ploy worthy of Chris' (and everyone's) rage.
But Specter hasn't been a loyal Republican. That's the reason he got in trouble with the GOP in the first place. He wasn't loyal when they made it a de facto party position that the stimulus = socialism. He wasn't loyal when Reagan tried to force-feed Robert Bork down our throats. He has never been loyal on abortion votes. The truth is, for "nearly a half century" he's been somewhere between both parties. His ideology has truly been in the middle. Republicans, especially national Republicans, never liked him.
This is not the sudden abandonment of principle that Matthews is crying about. Yes, the polls vs. Toomey were the proximate cause of Specter's switch. But, if Specter had been a truly loyal Republican through the years, then (a)Toomey would never have been challenging him in the first place and Specter's ability to win the 2010 GOP primary would never have been an issue; and (b) Democrats wouldn't have been urging him to switch for all these years.
Let's not pretend this is the equivalent of Mario Cuomo waking up tomorrow and calling himself a Reagan conservative. Specter as a Democrat makes a lot more ideological sense than that.
@CirclesAndSquares: It should also be pointed out that the Republican Party of 50 years ago is not the Republican Party of today. Topics change, stances change, demographics change. Specter may have been loyal to the GOP party line back in 1966, when he became a Republican, but half a century is a long time, and party lines don't stay still.
@CirclesAndSquares: Not disputing what you're saying in general, but for the period of the Bush administration when Republicans had a senate majority and he was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, Arlen was a good little Republican soldier. He might have squawked a little, but when push came to shove, he let the bodies stayed buried.
He's right. That guy would suck a dick for that senate seat... funny thing is, it's like a crack-rock. If he'd get the hell outta Washington, he'd probably live to 20 years longer than he is going to!! Life. Politicians. Both fucked up in ever more surprising ways.
09/11/09
09/11/09
09/11/09
09/11/09
08/10/09
"Hey, Henry, I hear you had to pay four million bucks for illegally fuckin' people."
"Yeah, Eliot. I hear it only cost you two grand a pop!"
"Why I oughta . . . "
04/29/09
I think Michael Bloomberg is another one who uses political parties (or being 'independent') for his own personal gain.
As much as I want another Dem seat there is something so unsavory about the switchy-ness of these jerks. They would throw their mother under a bus for a vote and scruples be damned. I'd love to see the 3 of them run out of politics once and for all. Esp Bloomberg who is all about Michael Bloomberg.
04/29/09
If that were accurate -- if a person who'd been supremely loyal to one party for 50 years randomly changed his affiliation in the face of bad poll numbers -- then it would be a baldly cynical ploy worthy of Chris' (and everyone's) rage.
But Specter hasn't been a loyal Republican. That's the reason he got in trouble with the GOP in the first place. He wasn't loyal when they made it a de facto party position that the stimulus = socialism. He wasn't loyal when Reagan tried to force-feed Robert Bork down our throats. He has never been loyal on abortion votes. The truth is, for "nearly a half century" he's been somewhere between both parties. His ideology has truly been in the middle. Republicans, especially national Republicans, never liked him.
This is not the sudden abandonment of principle that Matthews is crying about. Yes, the polls vs. Toomey were the proximate cause of Specter's switch. But, if Specter had been a truly loyal Republican through the years, then (a)Toomey would never have been challenging him in the first place and Specter's ability to win the 2010 GOP primary would never have been an issue; and (b) Democrats wouldn't have been urging him to switch for all these years.
Let's not pretend this is the equivalent of Mario Cuomo waking up tomorrow and calling himself a Reagan conservative. Specter as a Democrat makes a lot more ideological sense than that.
04/29/09
04/29/09
04/29/09
04/29/09