Arlen Specter to switch party

[Miss Marple]

Norm Coleman lost to two TV celebrities.

You could run those two against almost anybody and they would have a good chance of winning. Our electorate is not made up of geniuses, you know.

[Category Four]

Norm'll fight this whole Minnesota mess, but I'll be pleasantly shocked and surprised to see it go any other way but for Franken.

Once that happens, though, Arlen just sealed two years worth of our doom.

[Red Steel]

The recall of Members was considered during the time of the drafting of the federal Constitution in 1787, but no such provisions were included in the final version sent to the States for ratification, and the specific drafting and ratifying debates indicate an express understanding of the Framers and ratifiers that no right or power to recall a Senator or Representative from the United States Congress exists under the Constitution.

What they decided in 1787 was about 130 years before 17th amendment was adopted. Would they have decided differently at the constitutional convention if what was adopted in 17th amendment happened then? Possibly.

Like I said, I don't agree the judicial rulings on this and a mechanism of removal of Senators should be available to the citizens. IMO, the founders would have placed a recall provision in the constitution if they would have known what the modern day Congress has become. Inherently corrupt. An amendment on this issue should be added along with term limits for senators and congressman. I'll probably comment on this r later...I got things to do at the moment.

[real_patriotic_american]

The heat is on, so Specter “cuts and runs” to the party of “cut and run!”

No loss!!

[advance_copy]

If anybody thought Specter was going to back the GOP on any filibuster, they were kidding themselves. He showed his colors on the porkulus bull.

Arlen Specter has just thrown himself on the ash heap of history. The only relevancy he ever had was as a “Republican” that agreed with Democrats. He can no longer play that schtick.

And people should remember that Pennsylvania is a pro-life state. The RATS had to nominate a self-described pro-life RAT in order to beat Santorum in 2006, a terrible year for the GOP.

Specter, now a pro-abortion Democrat, will be running against a pro-life Republican who does not alienate the Keystone State’s conservative base. If you bet on Specter to win next year, you will lose, as will Specter.

[The Pack Knight]

It's interesting to note that the case that produced the second precedent mentioned in that, that states could not unilaterally alter length and number of terms served, was a 5-4 decision, U.S. Term Limits Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995). That one had Thomas, Rehnquist, O'Connor, and Scalia dissenting. Kennedy's concurrence, though, rested on the fact that the federal government is not just a federal government, but a "National Government" (citing McCulloch v. Maryland), and thus not subject to collateral interference by the states. It doesn't look like he left himself much room to change his mind.

The majority's opinion also cited McCulloch rested on the proposition that the 10th Amendment couldn't "reserve" rights to the states that the states did not have before the federal government was formed, i.e. qualification of candidates for federal office. I have to agree with Scalia's dissent and say their decision was based on a serious misreading of McCulloch.

While I don't see that the text of the Constitution prohibits recalls, I highly doubt that any Court that would hold the Voting Rights Act constitutional would allow states to recall congressmen.

[The Pack Knight]

I should add that that was something the delegates to the Constitutional Convention probably disagreed on themselves. It isn’t for nothing that our bicameral legislature itself was part of something we call the “Great Compromise.”

Second, the Constitutional Convention only drafted and proposed the Constitution. It required ratification by the states to give it legal effect. Whatever was going on behind the scenes at the Convention is only marginally relevant to what the text of the Constitution actually means.

[Theodore R.]

One of our problems is that a lot of “pro-life” Catholics vote socialist because they want the government programs.

[Badeye]

Same view here.

[MHGinTN]

What a pathetic little man Arlen has proven himself to be ... everything in this man’s life is now exposed as totally self-aggrandizement, whne he admitted that his switch is because he could not win the primary election ... no fundamental values led his decision, no party loyalty directed his moves, not one past supposed accomplishment weighted his decision, only his inability to win the primary as a Republicn so he switched thinking democraps will actually embrace this little man incapable of fidelity.

[Badeye]

I never understood why the party tolerated him after his actions related to the Bush judicial nominees between 2000 and 2004.