Ablogination

During the darkness of the Bush/Repig majority era, there was a light. Dim as it may have been, light just the same.

Republican Senator Arlen Specter of PA. The one and only Republican who tried to work with the Democratic minority all those years. His friendship with Pat Leahy of VT was public and consistent. Specter chastised his own party numerous times for shutting out the Democratic voice.
Now, Mr. Specter IS a Democrat.

Arlen Specter has switched parties in a move that absolutely sends shock and awe through the ranks of an already reeling and destitute Republican party.

From the BBC:

Mr Specter, 79, had held secret talks with Mr Obama, along with other senior Democrats including Vice-President Joe Biden, ahead of his decision to leave the Republican Party, according to officials.

The BBC’s Richard Lister in Washington says the news has sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, where the president’s power has been blunted by the votes of Senate Republicans.

The move should make it easier for Mr Obama to pursue his ambitious agenda, our correspondent adds.

Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey, in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter’s Pennsylvania senate seat in 2010.

Polls suggested that Mr Specter’s decision to vote for the president’s economic stimulus package earlier this year had been unpopular with Republican activists in the state.

“I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing,” Mr Specter said.

Since then, he added, “it has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable".

Now, with Al Franken, the Senator Elect for MN, adding a 60th voice to Specter’s 59th and Biden as the tie breaker. We now have the lube we need to hopefully, fully pass the agenda and put this nation on the right course.
Senator Specter, a Moderate, is still far too Right Leaning for us. But if he’s true to his words, he’ll vote with the majority and embrace the people oriented politics that have taken control of the country’s path.

Residuals?

Joe Lieberman just became obsolete.
We haven’t forgotten you, Joe.

So, welcome Senator Specter into the fold and give him a chance to prove just how “Democratic” he thinks he is.
Embrace him with open arms. Because if he fucks us, we’ll use those same arms to squeeze the political life out of him. We’re all he has now.

Sen. Pat Leahy D-VT and Sen. Arlen Specter D-PA