A spectre is haunting the Republican Party: The specter of Arlen Specter (the sentence is a modification of Karl Marx’ Communist Manifesto).

Folks, God Exists
He/she/it most definitely does. And now, don’t you dare disagree with us because we have proof.

After serving four decades in the company of a whole bunch of Republican loonies, Pennsylvania’s senior Senator Arlen Specter has finally come to his senses – Yes, Sir, Specter has seen the light and joined the Democrats.

Time to break the coconuts at the Hindu Temple, ring the Church Bells and say thanks through the Mosque’s loudspeakers.

Filibuster-Proof Majority Soon?
Specter’s switch brings the Democrats closer to a filibuster-proof majority of 60 votes.

All we need now is for the democrat Al Franken to make it through the legal challenges against the Republican Norm Coleman in Minnesota.

Arlen Specter

Here’s an excerpt from Specter’s statement today:

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But, I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing.

Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans. Isn’t that sentence music to your ears. It sure is to ours.

By the way, Specter has been trailing Republican Pat Toomey in the primary polls.

So, is Specter’s defection to the Democrat side opportunistic? Maybe. But find us one one non-opportunistic politician in the world.

Make no mistake – Democrats are no saints. But they are the lesser evil in the American political arena compared to the right-wing, fundamentalist Christian, Gay-hating, anti-abortion, outsourcing-loving, racist, war-crazy Republican nut cases.