It's about time

Arlen Specter finally admits what the rest of us have known for a long, long time.

Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter disclosed plans Tuesday to switch parties, a move intended to boost his chances of winning re-election next year that will also push Democrats closer to a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority.

"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter said in a statement posted on a Web site devoted to Pennsylvania politics and confirmed by his office. Several Senate officials said a formal announcement could come later in the day or Wednesday.

Specter, 79 and in his fifth term, is one of a handful of Republican moderates remaining in Congress in a party now dominated by conservatives. Several officials said the White House as well as leaders in both parties had been involved in discussions leading to his move.

With Specter, Democrats would have 59 Senate seats. Al Franken is ahead in a marathon recount in Minnesota, and if he ultimately wins his race against Republican Norm Coleman, he would become the party's 60th vote. That is the number needed to overcome a filibuster.

Specter faced an extraordinarily difficult re-election challenge in his home state in 2010, having first to confront a challenge from his right in the Republican primary before pivoting to a general election campaign against a Democrat.

Why did it take him so long? Because he's never had a credible primary competitor. Quote of the day goes to RNC Chairman Michael Steele:

Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first.

From his lips to God's ears.

For the record, waterboarding is NOT torture.

I continued to be amazed at all the drive-bys who think waterboarding is torture. Here's a perfect example:

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Thanks to the brainiacs at the Power Line for the video, and I also thank Liz Cheney for standing up for America and the truth. And the truth is that waterboarding is not torture. As Ms. Cheney so logically put it, we (the United States) use waterboarding as a form of training. If we use it on our own people, it is not torture, by definition.

However, if you want to know what real torture is, read this article at Wizbang. Where's the Defeat-ocrat outrage at true torture?

39% Perry must have an election in his future...

...because he's starting to sound like a conservative.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!"

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall -- one of three tea parties he was attending across the state -- that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas' economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the "federal budget mess." Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.

Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

This from the Governor who signed into Texas law the largest tax increase in Texas history. Rick, I'm still waiting for my $2,000.

The excreable Johnny Sutton has resigned

At last, a minute measure of goodness in this case.

The San Antonio federal prosecutor at the center of a politically charged case against two Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler resigned Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, said Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western Judicial District of Texas.

Sutton’s resignation was voluntary, Jones said, and his future plans were not immediately disclosed. He was not available for comment.

Hey, Johnny. You can come mow my yard for $20.00. And if you pull the weeds, I'll throw in another $20.00.

Praise God this disgusting waste of oxygen no longer has the ability to ruin lives.

Exquisite illustration of government debt

This video is outstanding.

The Audacious Polarizer

Hope and Change.

For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades. The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama's job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president -- 88% job approval among Democrats -- and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).

Isn't that interesting. Pursuing socialism makes you the darling of one party and not the other. Anybody see that coming? From ten miles away?