…don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Specter knew he couldn’t win his primary so he jumped ship, politically he didn’t have good choices so he is trying his best to save his political skin, that is his primary principle.
In fairness it is the same thing Lieberman did.
If what I think is going to happen over the next year happens it will be very funny. If the administration continues to overreach as it appears to be doing then watch Mr. Arlen on the wrong side of the fence. He will spend his entire campaign defending the Obama administration, its budget and it’s positions and his votes to support it.
Good luck with that.
Update: Mark Hemingway puts it perfectly:
I read that he was switching parties, but I was disappointed to learn he’s still a Democrat.
Amen!
Update 2: Allahpundit comments:
That’s a weaselly lie, and therefore a perfect note for him to depart on. He’d have happily run for re-election as a Republican if not for Toomey getting into the race and quickly jumping out to a 21-point lead. Specter tried to make it an open primary so that the left might rescue him but couldn’t, and Pennsylvania’s election laws prevented him from doing what Lieberman did to Lamont three years ago: In PA, if you compete in a primary and lose, you’re done. No independent candidacy. So his choice, essentially, was either to switch to an independent now and skip the primary or go the whole nine yards by becoming a Democrat, giving the left a presumptive filibuster-proof majority (once Franken is seated), and extracting whatever concessions he could from them in return, e.g. committee chairmanships, DNC fundraising, etc. The Hill actually kinda sorta predicted this last month. It’s pure self-preservation on Specter’s part, expecting that he’ll be able to handle Toomey easily in the general when Democrats and indies can push him through.
He is in his mid 70’s he will never be relevant outside of the senate.
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