Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched to the Democratic side of the aisle from Republican last month, is shocked, shocked that some of his former brethren aren’t so happy about the move.
“I feel very comfortable being a Democrat. My new colleagues were always my friends,” the five-term Senator told Men.Style.com, the online site for GQ and Details magazines.
“And many people urged me to become a Democrat—almost as many Republicans as Democrats. But I must say, the reaction stings a little.”
Perhaps being a political opportunist is a point of honor for Specter. “I just was not going to subject my record to the bleak prospects of a primary election,” he says
Not only was it “disappointing so many people were unhappy with my choice,” Specter says. But he feels “personal disappointment at the Republican Party, that it didn't want me to be their candidate.”
Specter didn’t want to give voters a chance to decide between himself and conservative former Congressman Pat Toomey in the Republican primary.
Specter thinks there is at least one Republican who hasn’t turned against him: former President George W. Bush. Asked by Mens.Style if he and Bush parted as friends, Specter said, “Oh, definitely. Maybe you should ask him, but I'm pretty sure he'd say the same thing.”
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