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[Kikomom]

RAW DATA: Biography of Sen. Arlen Specter
FOXNews

[Hater Depot]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Hurray for Arlen


The real debates will now go on entirely within the Democratic caucus before bills go to the floor for passage. If the Senate leadership can craft compromises successfully, the Party of No will be entirely powerless. There are consequences to being obstructionist and the GOP has just learned that cost.

PS: C'mon Minnesota Supreme Court. Hurry up!

[Ya-ta Boy]

The real reason the Dems wanted Spector:

"Trent Lott was really despondent after the Hurricane hit. He had a lot of property damage but the thing he was most concerned about was that it destroyed his entire library. Both books. And Trent wasn't even finished coloring one of them."


A 10 minute clip of Spector's jokes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/the-real-reason-dems-want_n_192401.html

[Ya-ta Boy]

Compare this:

"I've always been deeply concerned about the views of the Republican Party nationally in terms of their exclusionary policies and views towards moderate Republicans," said [Maine Senator Olympia] Snowe... "I believe in the traditional tenets of the Republican Party: strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, individual opportunity. I haven't abandoned those principles that have been the essence of the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party has abandoned those principles."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/snowe-gop-has-abandoned-p_n_192368.html

With the poutrage of the GOP leadership:

"Mitch McConnell, leader of a Republican minority that is now even smaller, suggested Tuesday that Sen. Arlen Specter's defection endangered not just the party, but the entire country.

"I think the threat to the country presented by this defection really relates to the issue of whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority to have whatever it wants without restraint, without a check or a balance," McConnell said Tuesday."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/mcconnell-specters-switch_n_192434.html

As if holding up Gov. Sebelius' HHS nomination for weeks over her pro-abortion position were a responsible use of what power the Republicans had. Checks and balances are a fine ideal but ends up just being obstructionism when the minority party uses its position to block, not balance. The fault lies with the Republican leadership for their ham-handed behavior this session.

[Fox]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Thank you, Hillary Clinton

How Hillary Clinton Got Specter To Switch

"Specter twice cited the voter-registration shift in explaining his decision to leave the party, saying that he didn't want his congressional career to be judged only by the right wing voters who had remained in the Republican Party.

An internal poll that Specter received on Friday showed his chances of winning a primary in the drained Republican pool to be "bleak," he said.

"The party has shifted very far to the right. It was pretty far to the right in 2004, but to take away a couple hundred thousand Republicans who wanted to vote in the Democratic primary--they're dissatisfied with the Republican Party is the pretty obvious conclusion. So if you review the numbers and you add the math, the stimulus vote, that's why I ended up saying the prospects were bleak," he said. Republican primary voters have pilloried Specter for his yes vote on the stimulus.

"When you take a look at the Pennsylvania Republican electorate, several hundred thousand Republicans shifted last year and it has a bleak picture. We do not have a dominant voice there," Specter said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/how-hillary-clinton-got-s_n_192443.html

File this under the law of unintended consequences.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Here's a kind of nifty parliamentary strategy:

Memo to GOP: Seat Franken or we'll keep Specter's committee seats

That's the bottom line.

Seat Al Franken and give him his committee assignments now, or we'll block a new organizing resolution that would let you reassign Specter's previously Republican committee seats to one of your own.

Until a new organizing resolution is adopted, Specter's committee seats (Appropriations, Judiciary, Veterans' Affairs, Environment & Public Works, Special Aging) are locked in. He'll be caucusing and (sometimes, anyway) voting as a Democrat, but will be occupying Republican seats.

Democrats should demand Republican agreement to seat Franken and give him his committee assignments now, or they'll just block a new organizing resolution until he arrives, and change it as they see fit later on. After all, with 60 Democrats (once Franken is finally seated), they can give themselves any ratios they want, whether they opt to remain true to the 60/40 split in the Senate or not, since there won't be enough votes to filibuster an unfair organizing resolution.

But we wouldn't want it to come to that, would we?

Until there's a change, Appropriations goes effectively from 17-13 in favor of Democrats to 18-12. Judiciary to 12-7. Environment to 12-7. Veterans' Affairs to 10-5. Special Aging to 12-7.

I guess we could wait if we had to. Those are mostly ratios we should be getting once Franken is seated anyway, even without exceeding the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the body as a whole. So it's not even like we're taking any more unfair advantage in doing this than Republicans are by denying Franken his seat.

http://www.dailykos.com/

Reciprocity. What an interesting concept.

[Ya-ta Boy]

While taking my shower this morning it occured to me that when the Gov of Texas flirted with secession there was no outrage from GOP leadership, but when one measly senator from Pennsylvania seceded from the Republican Party, the TV lit up with poutraged Republicans.

The irony. The irony.

Today is Obama's 100th day. Spector's switch is the frosting on the cake.

[3MB]

Once they do have 60 seats what are their options? Ive read that they could pretty much just take over all the committees and shut the republicans out of any decision making. In essence screwing them over. If hat is so, I think they should do it. Marginalize the GOP.

[mises]

So Ya-ta, just to be clear.. You're in favour of this?

[Kikomom]

Clinton didn't do this, Limpy did. Clinton just happened to be his excuse while trying to screw up the Democratic nomination process.

The new comedy routine of Specter-Franken will be the best show in town. Wait for it.

[Kuros]

[Hater Depot]

Kuros, are you suggesting a statewide election can be gerrymandered?

[Kuros]