This guy is a snake. He is so lucky he has several months to get his crap together. If this elefction were any closerr he would have a better chance running as a Republican again.

LOL Those damn autonomic republican reflexes.

At the rate Arlen's going, Barack's going to be throwing his support behind Sestak by the end of the week!

Still does nothing to dispel his earlier remark. Does he think Coleman won or not? Does he think it would be justice if the courts awarded Coleman the election? He can claim now that he wants more Dems (which I certainly don't believe), but he has still said he thinks Coleman won.

Also I don't see this ending well for Specter - I think he's going to either run as an independent or retire.

Part of the problem he is running into is that he wants to seem principled and up until a week ago he was a Republican and was spouting off Republican talking points, so he simply can't become a Democrat and flip his stance 180 degrees on issues he's already on record for as a Republican. Obama budget, Dawn Johnsen, EFCA, Public-option Healthcare - if he'd flip now, he'd open up himself to biting attacks from Ridge in the General and even Sestak in the primary as standing for nothing except staying elected.

So I think there will be a lot of votes where he's going to vote against the Dems over the next few weeks and months. He was veering hard right to try and head off a primary challenge, he's on record during that time speaking out against the Dems and the Obama Administration, he's stuck with those comments and stances and so are the Dems.

Wow looks like Dems in the senate haven't appreciated this BS. They just voted no on giving him seniority until 2010.

I want to see a poll on Sestak vs. Ridge. I think that's where this might be going.

Okay, I'm officially compelled to take Specter at his word.

I'm also inclined to note, however, that once the blog shitstorm Halperin rather explicitly sought to whip up was in full force and Harry Reid's office had slapped Specter's wrist and then washed his hands (as, the CDC reminds you, we all should be doing frequently) of the remark, the option of saying "damn, I was only joking" was off the table for him as a practical matter.

And I remain profoundly disturbed by the way this unfolded.

Halperin necessarily got this tidbit through a leak from the NYT Mag editors or the author as part of an attempt to generate buzz and clicks. "Hey Mark, we got some gaffe, baby! Here's a couple of lines snipped out of the as-yet unpublished interview! Turn on your Drudge Light and drum up some clicks for us, brother!"

Halperin then loudly and clearly signalled that he was, in fact, deliberately seeking to stir up a liberal blog shitstorm and the liberal blogs, including the one I most respect, swallowed it up like a bass hitting a big juicy-looking crawdad (notwithstanding that great big hook-shaped thing and piece of string tied to it).

I think a little sober reflection on the fact that Halperin jerked the strings and liberal blogs and commenters danced a jig is in order. It seems way too much like the way the Drudgified MSM newscycle--identified, lionized and made famous, ironically and not coincidentally, by one Mark Halperin in "The Way to Win" has worked.

Given the fact that the liberal blogs are a reaction to, and, indeed, represent an ongoing critique of, that ugly and destructive dynamic, one would have preferred to see a little circumspection and reflection before running with this.

Instead, we got a Politicoesque "Run that baby and do it fast or we'll risk being irrelevant for hours!" from the blogs and a lot of reflexive knee-jerking and hissing more reminiscent of a Two Minutes Hate session than a reasoned discussion from the commenters.

I'm certainly neither immune spinal reflex reactions nor otherwise above reproach myself, on this score. Among other things, the sight of a photo of Cheney, or Lieberman smiling that smarmy smile, or Zell Miller or, lately, Ben Nelson, works on me like the sight of a Goldstein clip does on a plusgood Outer Party comrade. But I guess the fact that, for whatever reason, I just don't have the same kind of visceral reaction to Specter gave me the emotional distance necessary to question what this whole episode says about us and I didn't, and still don't, like the answer. It is all just a little too redolent of the kind of behavior I associate with our opponents over in Wingnutdom for my comfort.

To Formerly NCSteve:

This comment flew because it was part of an incredible string of right-wing actions and comments on the part of Specter in the few days since he ostensibly became a Democrat:

- He votes against Obama's budget.
- He says he's opposing Dawn Johnsen for OLC.
- He reiterates opposition to EFCA.
- He says he's against a public health insurance option.
- He vehemently denies ever saying he'd be "a loyal Democrat".
- He says that the one vote he most regrets in his entire career is his vote against confirming Jeff Sessions ("NAACP is un-American") as a judge.
- He says justice will be done if the courts rule for Coleman.

Did I miss anything?

So maybe all of this doesn't provoke a "visceral reaction" from you, but for me, visceral is a mild word!

That the Democrats would take Spector in as one of their own doesn't say much for them. It just lessens who/what the party has become and is.

Perhaps they should change their name to Dimocrats.