Top Items:
![](/img/pml.png)
Specter To Switch Parties — UPDATED, 2:10 p.m. Continue following the story here. — Original Post — Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.
Discussion:
The Next Right, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Human Events, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Monthly, Fox News, The Politico, Washington Post, Club for Growth, CNN, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Reason, Politics Daily, Associated Press, The New Republic, Michelle Malkin, Swampland, Open Left, The Sleuth, The New Ledger, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, PostPartisan, MSNBC, MyDD, Emptywheel, At-Largely, Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress, The Campaign Spot, Grist, Capitol Briefing, MoJo Blog Posts, PoliGazette, Taegan Goddard's …, ONTD: Politics, Balloon Juice, Pajamas Media, rubber hose and Hotline On Call
RELATED:
![](/img/pml.png)
Statement by Senator Arlen Specter — I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the Party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my Party has not defined who I am.
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, CNN, Young Philly Politics, CQ Politics, The Daily Dish, George's Bottom Line, Time, NPR Blogs, The Plum Line, Weekly Standard, Betsy's Page, The Swamp, MSNBC, Newshoggers.com, City Pages, Macleans.ca, ONTD: Politics, The New Republic, Open Left, Opinion L.A., On Deadline, Hotline On Call and Devil's Advocate
![](/090428/i109.jpg)
![](/img/pml.png)
Two Republicans blame conservatives — Two leading Republicans say Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to become a Democrat highlights the hostility moderates feel from an increasingly conservative GOP. — “You haven't certainly heard warm encouraging words about how [the GOP] views moderates …
![](/img/pml.png)
Unprincipled Hack (D-PA) — When a politician switches parties, it's customary for the party he's abandoned to denounce him as an unprincipled hack, and the party he's joined to praise him as a brave convert who's genuinely seen the light. But I think it's pretty clear that Specter is an unprincipled hack.
![](/img/pml.png)
Good News for Republicans! — On May 24, 2001, I wrote an op-ed for The Post in the wake of Vermont Sen. James Jeffords's party switch. I argued that the switch, which cost Republicans control of the Senate, could well turn out to be good for President Bush.
![](/img/pml.png)
CNN's Rick Sanchez calls out DeMint's vapid talking point: ‘What the hell does that mean?’ — Today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) appeared on CNN to talk about Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic party. Host Rick Sanchez asked DeMint about Specter's statement that the Republican party …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
![](/090428/i122.jpg)
![](/img/pml.png)
Snowe: GOP Has Abandoned Principles; Specter Switch “Devastating” — Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the few remaining moderate Republicans in the Senate, said Tuesday that Arlen Specter's abandonment of the GOP is “devastating,” both “personally and I think for the party.”
![](/img/pml.png)
Arlen Specter's Switch — The Post asked politicians, former officials and others about the Pennsylvania senator's defection from the Republican Party. — Former Republican speaker of the House — Arlen Specter's decision to leave the Republican Party in name as he left it in spirit …
![](/img/pml.png)
Another Triumph for the Club for Growth — With Arlen Specter's defection, all that stands between the Democrats and a 60-seat Senate majority are Norman Coleman's lawyers. I wish them every success - but they have not exactly been on an winning streak to date.
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, The Washington Independent, Eunomia, Blogs and Stories, Hot Air, The Caucus and Daily Kos
![](/090428/i144.jpg)
![](/img/pml.png)
Limbaugh to Specter: Please take McCain with you — (CNN) — Conservative host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday he isn't sorry to see Arlen Specter leave the GOP — and that many Republicans wish the Pennsylvania senator would take a few others with him when he goes.
Discussion:
Hot Air
![](/img/pml.png)
Specter on Jeffords — When Jim Jeffords became an “Independent” in 2001, Specter wasn't happy. He said, “I intend to propose a rule change which would preclude a future recurrence of a Senator's change in parties, in midsession, organizing with the opposition, to cause the upheaval which is now resulting.”
Discussion:
The New Republic
![](/img/pml.png)
What Specter's switch says about him, the Democrats and our political spectrum
![](/img/pml.png)
Specter Speaks, Defends Decision to Leave Republican Party
Discussion:
Firedoglake
![](/img/pml.png)
Club for Growth Speechless on Specter Switch
Discussion:
Daily Kos
![](/img/pml.png)
Specter tried to block party switching
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
![](/img/pml.png)
FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic — Threatened Federal Sanctions Against NYPD, Secret Service, FBI & Mayor's Office If Secret Ever Got Out — Furious Obama Apologizes: “It Will Never Happen Again” — CBS News Interactive: Sept. 11 And Since
Discussion:
Don Surber, JammieWearingFool, Gawker, The Strata-Sphere, Gateway Pundit and Blue Crab Boulevard
RELATED:
![](/090428/i117.jpg)
![](/img/pml.png)
Bachmann: ‘Interesting coincidence’ that Dems in power during swine flu outbreak — Rep. Michele Bachmann came up with another doozy during her interview Monday with Pajamas TV. Does anyone think it's “interesting” that the last time we saw swine flu was during another Democratic president?
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog
RELATED:
![](/img/pml.png)
Bachmann: Swine Flu Happens Under Dem Presidents
Discussion:
Congress Matters
![](/090428/i159.jpg)
![](/img/pml.png)
DHS Sets Guidelines For Possible Swine Flu Quarantines — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to some health care providers noting procedures to be followed if the swine flu outbreak eventually makes quarantines necessary. — DHS Assistant Secretary Bridger McGaw circulated …
RELATED:
![](/img/pml.png)
Two L.A. County deaths possibly related to swine flu, coroner says [Updated]
![](/090428/i165.jpg)
![](/img/pml.png)
HHS secretary confirmed in midst of outbreak — (CNN) — The Senate confirmed former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services Tuesday on a 65-31 vote. — The timely vote will put Sebelius in office as the Obama administration is up against its first public health outbreak.
RELATED:
![](/img/pml.png)
Sebelius Confirmed To Health & Human Services, With Specter's Support
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!
![](/img/pml.png)
Despite Reports, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Not Waterboarded 183 Times — The number of times Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded was the focus of major media attention — and highly misleading. — FOXNews.com — The New York Times reported last week that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed …
![](/img/pml.png)
Major defeat for Bush/Obama position on secrecy — [updated below (interview with lead counsel Ben Wizner of the ACLU) - Update II] — The first sign that the Obama DOJ would replicate many of the worst and most radical arguments of the Bush DOJ was in the Jeppesen case …
![](/img/pml.png)
Ahmadinejad tells voters: Yes, we can — Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hopes US leader's winning words will work for him too as he seeks second term — Barack Obama's offer of a hand of friendship to Iran after 30 years of hostility may have met with a sceptical public response from Tehran.
![](/img/pml.png)
News7 Poll: Terry McAuliffe holds double digit lead over Brian Moran & Creigh Deeds — A new poll gives Terry McAuliffe a double digit lead over Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds, his Democratic rivals for Governor. — But a majority of likely Democratic voters who responded to the News7 SurveyUSA poll …
Discussion:
Blue Virginia