Will losing his committee seniority force Specter to start talking/acting like a member of the party he belongs to?

And because of his actions, his fellow Dems gave him no seniority on any of his committee positions. I call that tit for tat.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/dem-caucus-gives-specter-no-seniority.html

A more honest approach would have been to switch from R to I -- then he could have voted and spoken as he pleased and no one would have minded. But, unlike Lieberman, he wouldn't have survived a three-way race in 2010 -- the GOP will field a serious candidate and the Democrats would too if he went Independent. So, he's a D out of self-preservation.

The key now is to hold a primary challenge over his head to keep him in line -- he really has nowhere else to turn at this point, but this is Harry Reid we're talking about. At minimum, get him in line on cloture votes -- he can vote no on final passage and it might even be nice to demonstrate that a bill can actually get out of the Senate without 60 ayes.

Losing seniority on the Special Committee on Aging must be particularly painful, since he lost it by acting like a child.

Here't the WaPo link for Specter's seniority problem: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/05/senate_democrats_deny_specter.html?hpid=topnews.

I personally hope that he gets primaried out next year - he's almost as oleaginous as Lieberman, and I don't think the Democratic caucus needs that much slime.

Alzheiemer's.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Specter, suddenly after winningthe election as a Democrat, came to the conclusion that he's really a Republican after all.

Lets hope the people of Pa are smarter than that, and don't let him get away with it.

The dems screwed the pooch by allowing Specter to switch. They should have waited, allow Specter to lose to Toomey in the GOP primary, and run a reliable democrat of their own. Two years from now, we would have a good dem in the Senate.

Now, even if democrats run someone opposite Specter, we're likely to see a repeat of Lieberman in CT. They made a deal with the devil. You don't win in deals with the devil.

If you consider the context of Specter's response to Deborah Solomon's question about Jewish Senators, I think on the surface Specter made an extremely ill-advised attempt at humor in his statement about Coleman. If that were the only instance of Specter apparently thumbing his nose at Democrats, I think he'd deserve a break on this comment.

The problem is that Specter joined the entire roster of GOP Senators in demanding that Al Franken not be seated before the Minnesota Supreme Court decides on the race there. There is absolutely no record of Specter stating elsewhere that Coleman should accept the results of the recounts, and his alleged joke about Coleman masks the larger truth: Arlen Specter is not a Democrat in any way, shape or form.

Generally, when a politician switches parties it follows a substantial period during which said politician has voted against his own party, joining the opposition party on numerous occasions on substantial issues, and has endorsed opposition candidates. Since he was last re-elected in 2004, has Arlen Specter repeatedly voted with the Democratic opposition and—most importantly—supported Democratic candidates? Hardly. He consistently voted in favor of Bush's legislative initiatives for six years, notably on the tax cuts and Iraq; campaigned for and supported John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008; and up until a couple of weeks ago was moving rightward on a variety of positions in order to battle wingnut Toomey. Then, since switching, he has openly given the finger to Obama on four votes and has repudiated his statement about being a "loyal Democrat." It's completely mystifying to me why Obama's brain trust has come out in non-negotiable support for Specter, and equally mystifying why any Pennsylvania Democrat would believe for one minute that Arlen Specter is truly a Democrat.

I must admit that the Senate Dems did something that I didn't think they had the spine to do: defy the even more spineless and feckless Harry Reid and move Specter to the bottom of the seniority ladder on committees, which is where he belongs.

Well, can't a guy get some break? I mean, there I was, one of the Republican Senators from a Democratic leaning state in the GOP Senate caucus. To placate my electorate they allowed me to sometimes say some ostensively critical things and some union-friendly things, as long as I fell in line eventually and gave the leadership my vote on things that really mattered.

And then that Toomey guy again makes life all difficult for me and I realize that this I'm gonna have to jump across the aisle to play next season. Don't you get it, that turns every thing around 180 degrees, and the playbook is all different. Don't you people understand that takes a while to adjust to. I mean, you fellows try that at 79 and all.

And Harry and Joe said they would be all nice to me, and let me keep my senority, and help me with the election next year, and then they allow my new 'friends' to punch me in the face and drop my committee rankings to that of a baby.

I mean, life is not fair, and now everybody is all over me.

I can't stand Specter, but I'm a bit concerned about the rush to line up behind Sestak. I think he's likely to be a Blue Dog, and that's not much of an improvement over Specter. Tread carefully!

this guy gives politicians a bad name.

he openly admits that it isn't "personal," which is to say it has nothing to do with the merits of who is actually running. Yesterday he was for Coleman, today he's for Franken, because he has now gotten used to his new label of "D."

he openly admits this is really about having a banner under which he can win another Senate term.

how is any layperson watching this spectacle supposed to be anything but cynical about whether those in elective office even have core values or a moral compass? the parties fighting over him like he was the most valuable person around only shows most people that it is all about the scorecard, all about buying and selling and trading of interests, votes and people - and not about issues, the greater good, or what is right.

and now the Dems get to be slimed with that - and dont even get the votes in exchange. um, well played. or not.

Democrats went junk yarding and skipped merrly home with a Commodore 64 as the prize find of the day.

Two words: chemo brain.

(It is a real condition, and I definitely think he has it).

He's a republican plant.
Ficus, I think.

All Specter cares about is keeping himself in the Senate (at age 78!) for another six years. I don't care if Sestak is a blue dog, at least he is a real Democrat. I don't need any wait-and-see. Sestak 2010!

Hard to get to know his teammates? No, Arlen, you were not "traded" from the Phillies to the Red Sox. Keep up your switch spitting and you'll fall much further than Nantucket.

I think we should field a credible challenge to Specter in the Dem primary. What's to say he won't switch right back if reelected? Let him stay with us for now, but let's not guarantee him anything.

Republican Plant - More like Hyoscyamus Niger - stinking nightshade

He should have gone from REpublican to REtired. Now he's simply a REtread who's lost his grip. Jeez, you are 78. Spend some time on the beach with your family. Enjoy the sunset years. Write your memoirs. Anything but this joke you've become.

It's time for the Democratic Wing of the Democratid Party to slap Obama and say to him "What were you thinking?" regarding his support of Specter. This is going to be a biggie that the President must lose if the party is to win, in 2010.

I mean, look at what this asswipe Specter said about Sessions:

Democrat-come-lately Specter told reporters he had come to regret his vote, back when he was a Republican, against the Alabaman's nomination. "I have since found that Senator Sessions is an egalitarian," he said.

Snarlin' Arlen Specter isn't a Republican, or a Democrat, he's a Spectre - out for himself and screw you or anyone else who gets in the way. He needs to be gone.

Reid and Obama supposedly represent us Democrats, right? So WTF is going on that Arlen is flipping us off left and right, are we supposed to let our representatives get away with it? If we do then WE suck.

Pitchforks and torches.

The one thing this smells like is some kind of secret deal based on extortion or blackmail. Maybe Snarlin' Arlen used his committee positions (*) to gather the goods on a handful of Dems, and he's using that as some kind of political life insurance.

There's almost no way to ever know if that's what's going on, but IMO there's very few explanations that make sense as to why Reid and Obama are letting Specter get away with murder.

* Specter was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1995, when the Republicans gained control of the Senate, until 1997.

"He's a republican plant.
Ficus, I think."

Or Skunk Cabbage?

It's worth noting that Spector only switched ID because he would have lost a Republican primary. Republicans don't like him and Democrats don't like him, so we are unlikely to have to deal with him after the 2010 election.

He wasn't joking. He was not joking.

Besides, the Republicans do have a Jewish senator. Hello, Joe Lieberman?

Anyway, the real story here isn't that Specter is a cynical, self-absorbed, principle-free piece of dog doody. The miracle is that the Dems finally had enough last night and denied him seniority on any committee. Frankly, I thought they'd apologize to him for running Franken before they'd figure out how badly they were being had.

I have little sympathy for him, based on his recent votes. I think he is has agreed to be a RepoTaliban plant, to get the Repugs to support his primary.

Giving him the benifit of the doubt, however, it may take a while for him to get used to the idea that nobody has their hand up his backside pulling his strings. That's one of the nice things about being liberal.

"...And given Specter's comments to the New York Times' Deborah Solomon, it's reasonable to wonder if the Pennsylvania senator even understands what it means to be a member of a political party. It generally involves rooting for members of your team to win elections over members of the other team, a point that seems lost on Specter..."

I don't think it's lost at all. While I'm not really defending him, he seems to know very well that he's caught in a 2 party system that he doesn't truly fit into, but that's how it works and how it's probably always going to work.

He's 79 years old. Someone should paste his new talking points to the first thing he sees every morning. Any guesses on what that might be?

I wonder if we could start some type of campaign similar to the one used against Norm Coleman. Something along the lines of "A DOLLAR PER DIEM TO MAKE SPECTER A GOOD DEM." I have forsworn, and made my friends forswear, giving any money to any of the Dem committees. We will only give money to specific candidates who act like real Dems and advance the agenda we most believe in.

Why on earth do we want to KEEP Specter in Congress anyway? Hell, any Republican can switch parties and "claim" that they're a Democrat, and still go on voting the Republican party line. What's to stop them? You know and I know that this is only the last gasp of a career politician who, like a drowning man, struggles to keep his seat in the lifeboat of congress. BTW, if he does win the next election, how long do you think he's going to stay a Democrat, eh?

It's time for Specter to fold the tent and retire. We want change, and keeping DINO-Specter is not change. I say don't let him in the party, make him be an "Independent" like Lieberman, and come 2010, run a dyed-in-the-wool Dem.

Robert DeNiro on being a team player:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc9zF8G2Pvc

Coleman????
THAT's the guy he's pulling for?

He's got time before 2010 to repair the damage he's doing, but this kind of rough start is branding the word "TOOL" on his forehead. You'd better flinch before you hear the sizzling sound, Senator.

Obviously people here have NOT read Solomon's little cut'n'paste columns. They're as processed as fish sticks, and closer to the Post's Page 6 than the hallowed halls of the NYT. She loves to get press by provocative questions and selective quoting.

Blue Dogs are not democrats
they are reganite infiltrators who routinely, typically and consistently vote AGAINST democratic measures and progressive legislation.

The last thing we need on this Earth is another DINO Blue Dog