“The (Republican) party has shifted pretty far to the right.” – Arlen Specter”
Specter says his stimulus vote was the tipping point to his decision to change parties, but listening to his smackdown on the Club for Growth it’s clear that the efforts to “purify the party” is not just political business to Specter, it’s very personal.
At the presser he adamantly proclaimed he wouldn’t let his future be decided by the Republican primary electorate. Shorter Specter: the right-wing won’t get my political hide. His passion on health issues is another matter, which includes stem cell. Specter is a cancer survivor. There is a lot of talk that this is all about not being able to beat Toomey. No doubt this is a big part of it, but Specter’s tenaciousness on pushing GOP moderation is real if you look at his career. To simply say this is about whether he can get elected is not only cynical, but ignores what Specter has been through and how his life battles have obviously impacted his decision as well.
Specter hinted that to see where he’ll be going forward, look to where he was in 1980.
One of the most interesting analysis so far on the Specter switching parties story comes from George Stephanopoulos, which Specter cited today in his presser:
Part of the reason why a potential Republican primary was becoming so tough for Specter is that the hard-fought 2008 Democratic primary in the state between Obama and now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thinned the Pennsylvania GOP of many of its moderate voters who switched their party registration to Democratic so they could help influence the Obama vs. Clinton race.
On the other side, if Mitch McConnell believes a checks and balance to Obama-Democratic power is a winner, the Republicans are in even bigger trouble than Specter’s switch reveals.
Oh, and that screech! you heard when this happened was Sean Hannity.
But who dropped what in Ambinder’s lunch today? Santorum? Governor, maybe.
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