Politics: Oh, Did I say I'm a Dem??? Edition

Think Progress: Specter: ‘I Did Not Say I Am A Loyal Democrat’

Shortly after news leaked that Sen. Arlen Specter would be switching from the Republican to the Democratic Party, media reports quoted Specter telling President Obama he would be a “loyal Democrat” who would support his agenda:

At 10:32am, President Barack Obama reached Specter and told him “you have my full support” and “thrilled to have you.”

Specter told the president, “I’m a loyal Democrat. I support your agenda.”

Specter immediately exhibited his loyalty by restating his opposition to Dawn Johnsen, Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel, and by joining every Republican in Congress in voting against the president’s budget.

Today on Meet The Press, host David Gregory asked Specter if he would be supporting Obama’s health care plan given reports of his loyalty to Obama’s agenda. “No,” Specter said, adding that he never said he would be a “loyal Democrat”:

GREGORY: It was reported this week that when you met with the president, you said, “I will be a loyal democrat. I support your agenda.” Let me test that on probably one of the most important areas of his agenda, and that’s health care. Would you support health care reform that puts up a government run public plan to compete with a private plan issued by a private insurance company?

SPECTER: No. And you misquote me, David. I did not say I would be a loyal Democrat. I did not say that. And last week, after I said I was changing parties, I voted against the budget because the budget has a way to pass health care with 51 votes, which undermines a basic Senate institution to require 60 votes to impose closure on key issues. …I did not say I am a loyal Democrat.

Watch it:

Trying to clarify Specter’s position on Obama’s health care reform, Gregory then asked, “You would not support a public plan?” “That’s what I said and that’s what I meant,” Specter replied.

• Benen on the DINO...

  It's quite a start for Specter's career in Democratic politics, isn't it? In the four whole days he's been a Democrat, Specter has voted against the Democratic budget, rejected a Democratic measure to help prevent mortgage foreclosures and preserve home values, announced his opposition to the president's OLC nominee, and this morning rejected a key centerpiece of the Democratic health care plan.

  For years, Republicans criticized Specter as a RINO -- Republican In Name Only. As is turns out, at this point, Specter appears intent on literally being nothing more than a DINO -- Democrat In Name Only. Specter doesn't want to do any of the actual work involved in being a valuable member of his new team, preferring to vote exactly as he used to, only now with a different letter after his name in parentheses.

  I suspect party leaders, in DC and Pennsylvania, want to rally behind Specter because a) they feel like he's very likely to win next year as the Democratic nominee; and b) there's a near-automatic tendency to support a Democratic incumbent seeking re-election, even if he/she has been a Democratic incumbent for a matter of days.

  But the strategy appears deeply flawed. Obama won Pennsylvania by double digits last year. Casey crushed Santorum in '06 by 18 points. There are real Democrats who can not only win a Senate race next year, but would like to run. For the party to push them away is, under the circumstances, an avoidable mistake.

  Specter wants Democratic votes, but doesn't want to earn them. It's a dynamic that practically begs for a primary.

• Yglesias: Specter Begging for a Primary Challenge

  If Arlen Specter was trying to think of things he could say on Meet The Press this morning that would get progressives across the country read to urge Joe Sestak to mount a primary challenge, he seems to me to have done a good job. ... Progressives are often unhappy with Nelson. But at the same time, I think it’s widely understood that Nebraska is a very conservative state so if you can have a Senator from Nebraska who backs progressive positions even once in a blue moon you’d consider yourself lucky. Pennsylvania, by contrast, last voted for a Republican president when Michael Dukakis was on the ballot and there’s every reason to believe that an orthodox Democrat would beat Pat Toomey in a general election.

• TPM's Beutler: Sestak "Thinking Of Getting In" To The PA Senate Race
  

  This came in at the end of the day, so consider it TPMDC's Friday news dump, but on Hardball tonight, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) said for the record what many of us have long inferred--that he's "thinking of getting in" to Pennsylvania's 2010 Democratic primary.

  Watch:

  He's come a long way. Seems like only yesterday, he was standing by his position that he was perfectly happy in the House and had no intention of dropping out. But in reality that was more like four days ago, and even then he was putting in a lot of face time on the networks.

  Now when he appears, he reiterates themes and everything--questioning Specter's sincerity and leadership, touting his military record, and referencing a local diner in his district (where it seems he spends an inordinate amount of time). But still, this counts as a bit of news.

  Again, 2010 is a long way off, and Specter will cast many-a-vote between now and then. But it's becoming pretty clear that Sestak isn't going to let him breathe easy along the way.

• TPM: Specter: "I'm Becoming Much More Comfortable With The Democrats' Approach"

  During his appearance today on CBS' Face The Nation, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) said that besides just the tough Republican primary he was facing, there was genuine principle at work in his party switch. "Frankly, I was disappointed that the Republican Party didn't want me as their candidate," said Specter. "But as a matter of principle, I'm becoming much more comfortable with the Democrats' approach."

JedL: 2010: The Age of the Goposaurs

The newest video from Daily Kos TV takes look back at the Republican Party's reaction to the defection of Arlen Specter and what it has revealed about the state of the modern GOP:

DougJ: Not likely

Reihan Salam is supposed to be one of those sane Republicans that we always hear about. This shows he is not:

With Specter running in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary in 2010, Republicans have a perfect test case. There’s an excellent chance that a primary candidate from the Democratic left will give Specter a serious fight, opening him up to a vigorous challenge from a Republican reformer. That challenge will probably come from Pat Toomey, who, as head of the Club for Growth, has emphasized tax cuts above all else. But as a Senate candidate, Toomey will have to connect with voters in a state hard hit by industrial decline. To have even the remotest chance of winning the seat, he’ll need to offer effective solutions on health care, energy and transportation. This might not come naturally to Toomey. But if he can pull it off, and if he can claim Specter’s scalp, he’ll become the face of a revitalized GOP.

I predict that Pat Toomey will be elected Senator from Pennsylvania right after Noam Chomsky becomes the governor of Idaho.

Hard-right Republicans don’t elections win in states that Obama won by double digits. It just doesn’t happen. Look at that goddamn registration figures for Christ’s sake.