« TPMDC Morning Roundup | Home | Toomey Picks Up Senate Endorsement From Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent »
Specter Still Getting Used To New Definition Of "My Party"
In the new Washington Post profile of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), this amusing nugget is given about how he's still getting used to his new partisan identity:
Specter himself occasionally struggles to stay in character as a Democrat, flubbing his lines. When he wants to say "my party," he catches himself to make sure he's referring to the correct party.
"I've been on a lot of issues which are right in line with the Democratic Party," he said to some reporters who cornered him in the union hall. "A woman's right to choose. Had a split with my own party -- with the Republican Party -- on embryonic stem cell research ... Had a split with my party, with the Republican Party -- on the nuclear test ban treaty."
A quick tip for Sen. Specter: Just remember that you're for Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race. All else follows from there.
Advertisement
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
I think he means "the Spectercratic party".
May 14, 2009 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Snarlin having trouble remembering which party he has joined is such a joke. How friggin hard can it be??? Well, for Arlen when he is talking BS for the whole of his career, it maybe just as hard for him to remember how he will vote!
May 14, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
He's 79. That has to be part of it.
May 14, 2009 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not only that, but he's identified with the Republicans for a long time. He's got some brain reorganization and rewiring ahead of him. I wonder what it's like to have identified yourself a certain way for decades and then change that. If he often reinvented himself, or changed careers sometimes, that's one thing. But this guy's been stuck in a "Senator" mode for awhile.
May 14, 2009 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not it doesn't. He's been a Republican, as a core part of his identity, for 43 years. Any strong self-identification a person has had for a long time will cause these kinds of troubles, regardless of age.
Think of ex-smokers reaching for packs, husbands calling their second wives by their first wife's name, traded athletes referring to former teammates as current, etc.
Specter is not suffering from age problems mentally. That's just casual (unintended) ageism.
May 14, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd give him a pass on most of these -- he had those splits with the Republicans when they were his party. It's a little awkward trying to convey that -- if he were just saying he disagrees with the Republicans now, that doesn't mean the same thing.
May 14, 2009 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink