Word: specter
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...sure his mama didn't raise him that way.' MICHAEL STEELE, chairman of the Republican National Committee, on Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrats. Steele accused Specter of "flipping the bird" to the Senate GOP leadership...
...does not give Obama an unfettered hand. On all sorts of issues, from health care to energy policy, Senate majority leader Harry Reid will still have to bring along his own right flank - moderate Democrats such as Nelson, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu, Indiana's Evan Bayh and now Specter. And not everything that is about to come before the Senate splits the Democrats along ideological lines. On climate change, for instance, the make-or-break votes come from a diverse group of 16 Democrats from left and center who say they will not support any bill that would impose crippling...
...Specter, he has already declared that the majority to which he now belongs should not count him as an "automatic 60th vote." That's an understatement. Independent to the point of being exasperating, Specter was never a reliable Republican vote and isn't likely to be much more dependable for Democrats. He played a pivotal role in defeating the Supreme Court nomination of conservative icon Robert Bork in 1987 and famously invoked Scottish law to vote "not proved," therefore not guilty, in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Yet Democrats should not forget that he voted for George W. Bush...
...Specter's latest move - which he acknowledges came after seeing a private poll that showed he would be doomed in next year's GOP primary in Pennsylvania - appears to make him a much safer bet for re-election. The fact that he no longer has to worry about a challenge from the right changes the political equation on some issues. It means, for instance, that Republicans may be unable to filibuster Obama's judicial nominees. And Specter might be willing to reconsider his opposition to the controversial Employee Free Choice Act; his resistance to the measure, which would make...
Meanwhile, the shrinking party that Specter abandoned is left to ponder why its moderates are fleeing - not only in the Senate but also across the country. The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows only 21% of registered voters now identify themselves as Republican. There is always the possibility that Democrats will overreach. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell warns, "There won't automatically be an ability to restrain the excess that is typically associated with big majorities and single-party rule." Obstructionism will not work anymore - which could mean it's time for Republicans to look for a governing agenda...