A bunch of my Facebook Dem friends are squealing with delight at Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic ranks.
So, with the defection of Specter and the inevitable seating of Al Franken in the Senate the Dems will now have their magic “60″ that is needed to get through all the legislation that they’ve sworn up and down to us that they haven’t been able to in the past because, say it with me, “We just don’t have the votes.”
Well, they still don’t. Not with about ten Blue Dog Democrats that tend to vote with the Republican minority on matters of keen interest to those of us who proudly call ourselves Liberal (not to be confused with Progressive which is a whole ‘nother animal). What will be the Democratic leadership’s excuse now?
In my googling I ventured upon this diary at the Big Orange Cheeto and it echoes my sentiments.
Twenty-two years ago I would have been thrilled if Arlen Specter had joined the Democratic Party. Today, my perspective is rather cold. Yes, I acknowledge that once Al Franken of Minnesota is seated the Democratic caucus will have a filibuster proof majority on paper. And to the extent activist progressive oriented legislation is enacted as result of Specter’s defection, i.e., health care reform, that’s all to the good. Also, I’m enjoying the Republican Party’s humiliation after years of watching southern Democrats defect. Perhaps, Specter’s defection will be the start of a trend.
Specter himself however is likely to be a Joe Lieberman like presence in the caucus. He’s pro-corporatist/pro Wall Street and opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. Specter is also hawkish, pro-war and very much representative of the establishment’s flawed national security mindset that created the mess we’re currently in. Had Specter remained in the Republican Party, we had an outstanding opportunity to elect a genuine liberal from Pennsylvania in 2010.
Yeah buddy.
And I for one, will never forget the Thomas hearings and Specter’s disgusting performance with Anita Hill wherein he (falsely) inferred that Professor Hill’s complaint of sexual harassment stemmed from being rejected sexually by Clarence Thomas. Example below, but I suggest you peruse the transcript just to refresh yourself on just how awful it all was. (Sidenote: I lived in Norman, OK in the mid-90s and had the pleasure once of waiting on Professor Hill. I must admit, I gushed a bit, and she was gracious and generous to me.)
SENATOR SPECTER: There is a question about Phyllis Barry who was quoted in the
New York Times on October 7th, “In an interview Ms. Barry suggested that the allegations”, referring to your allegations, “were the result of Ms. Hill’s disappointment and frustration that Mr. Thomas did not show any sexual interest in her.”
You were asked about Ms. Barry at the interview on October 9th and were reported to have said, “Well, I don’t know Phyllis Barry and she doesn’t know me.” And there are quite a few people who have come forward to say that they saw you and Ms. Barry together and that you knew each other very well.
MS. HILL: I would disagree with that. Ms. Barry worked at the EEOC. She did attend some staff meetings at the EEOC. We were not close friends. We did not socialize together and she has no basis for making a comment about my social interests, with regard to Clarence Thomas or anyone else.
I might add, that at the time that I had an active social life and that I was involved with other people.
SENATOR SPECTER: Did Ms. Anna Jenkins and Ms. J.C. Alvarez, who both have provided statements attesting to the relationship between you and Ms. Barry, a friendly one. Were Ms. Barry would have known you, were both Ms. Jenkins and Ms. Alvarez co-workers in a position to observe your relationship with Ms. Barry?
MS. HILL: They were both workers at the EEOC. I can only say that they were commenting on our relationship in the office. It was cordial and friendly. We were not unfriendly with each other, but we were not social acquaintances. We were professional acquaintances.
SENATOR SPECTER: So that when you said, Ms. Barry doesn’t know me and I don’t know her, you weren’t referring to just that, but some intensity of knowledge?
MS. HILL: Well, this is a specific remark about my sexual interest. And I think one has to know another person very well to make those kinds of remarks unless they are very openly expressed.
SENATOR SPECTER: Well, did Ms. Barry observe you and Judge Thomas together in the EEOC office?
MS. HILL: Yes, at staff meetings where she attended and at the office, yes.
I can think of two scenarios where the Republicans quietly approve of Specter switching parties. One is to plant a mole among the Dem caucus. The other is to plant an obstructionist. (Not mutually exclusive.)
Even taken at face value, though, you’re right, it ain’t anything to cheer about. What it might – might – do is give liberals the lever of calling them on their hand-wringing, “but we can’t do anything” BS.
More likely it will simply remove the last mask and confirm the Democratics as the slightly less blatant big money party.
Specter just proved that he’s nothing more than a political opportunist, just like Obama and the rest of those clowns in Washington.
I am not cheering cause he is now a Democrat, but because he left the Republicans in a manner designed implicitly to do harm to the party and the right-wing fringe that now controls it.
Sure, he’s no real Democrat, but he has declared independence from the “crazy’s” that now lead the Republicans. That works for me.
Since there is no appreciable difference between the parties, I can’t get excited either.
Nothing I care about, as a liberal, is going to happen under Obama. I don’t care if they have 90 votes. The Democrats just aren’t Democrats any more.
I suggest we elect Greens.
Amen to your blog! Just hearing the name Arlen Specter brought the whole Anita Hill trial, I mean Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, back at me in a wave of nausea. As a young woman I listened to the whole thing when I wasn’t watching it on TV. In a way it was the first reality TV. The sexism and contempt with which Anita Hill was treated, by an entire cast of privileged white guys, still disgusts me. And he’s on the Supreme Court and Arlen Specter is now a hero.
Not the America I voted for.