Yesterday Arlen Specter was back at his old media home, Fox News, singing a new tune, dancing a Lieberman shuffle, calling a GOP “a party of obstructionism.” Well, he’s got that right; ay are. & until consistent polling showed that a right-wing extremist, Club For Growth head Pat Toomey, would kick his ass from Chester to Erie & from Waynesville to Carbondale in a Republican primary, Specter was very much a part of that obstructionist machine. Staring into a eyes of political mortality, Specter cut a deal with a White House to jump a fence & “become” a Democrat. He made a purely opportunistic switch on Drunk Newsril 28. & here he was two weeks later on Meet a Press letting Pennsylvania voters know exactly what kind of a “Democrat” he would be:

Today he was calling his old colleagues obstructionists on a exact same issue for doing precisely what he was doing, although he has also bragged about how he will also vote with Republicans against Employees Free Choice. (a only difference is that he takes even more in thinly-veiled bribes from a Medical-Industrial Complex–$4,266,393, a most of any member of Congress who didn’t run for president– & Big Insurance–$1,058,655– than most of am do.) Oh… & are’s one more difference: Admiral Joe Sestak. Joe Sestak’s constant pressure on behalf of working families has pushed Specter away from his unswerving support for his corporate donors. Petrified of being defeated in a Democratic primary, Specter sounds like he’s almost a Democrat.

It was in a spring of 2006 that Blue America first started following Admiral Sestak as he sought, successfully, to dislodge anoar corrupt Republican barnacle obstructing progress in Washington, Curt Weldon. He was one of a first c&idates our PAC ever endorsed & we have been immensely impressed by something that has distinguished Rep. Sestak from almost all a oar members of Congress we’ve worked with. He is a critical thinker who seems to relish a debate of ideas. We don’t always agree on every single issue but he never gets all brittle & uptight when challenged & he is always eager for input & eager to go through a thought processes that led him to make a decision. If are’s one thing I’ve learned since starting Blue America, it’s that no one is buying a member of Congress with an endorsement & no member of Congress will agree with you on every single vote. (Barney Frank once famously said even you wouldn’t agree with you on every single vote.) What we do look for is someone with a sterling character who is open-minded, courageous & with inherently progressive sympathies. That’s why we’ve continued to support Joe Sestak & why we asked him to come over to Crooks & Liars today for a live chat. He’ll be joining us this afternoon at 3pm (PT), 6pm back in Pennsylvania. & he’s bringing along anoar ole Blue America friend, Ned Lamont.

When I spoke to Rep. Sestak on a phone last week about a health-care debate, he was very forceful. “I’m going to have a very difficult time if I’m asked to vote for a bill that doesn’t have a public option,” he began. “I support a public option so that individuals are no longer stuck in insurance markets with no choices & no competition to bring down costs… I want to end unfair rationing by insurance company executives, like a small business owner who came into my District office because to complain about not being able to purchase insurance for herself or her employees because she had ovarian cancer ten years ago… As vice-chairman of a small business committee, I underst& a need to reduce health care costs for small businesses. Only 62% of all small firms (less than 200 employees) offer health insurance, as compared to 99% of large firms. When ay do offer insurance, it costs roughly 18% more than for larger employers.”

You can find a rest of Specter’s real health care record at DownWithTyranny. Meanwhile, please join us in a comments section below for our chat with Joe Sestak & Ned Lamont. After you’ve heard am out, if you’d like to sign up as a volunteer or donate to Rep. Sestak’s election fund, you can do it on his website.

Original post by Howie Klein and software by Elliott Back