A Man Without a Shred of Honor

I don't usually comment on politics in this space, but I have to make a comment. For those who follow politics, you are well aware that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has switched party affiliation from the Republicans to the Democrats. He's from the Northeast and was politely called a Liberal Republican, which out here in the heartland is simply a Democrat. As such, he was never a reliable Republican - as Mark Hemingway put it yesterday at National Review Online.

My biggest complaint is with Mr. Specter's motivations. In his press events, he has blamed the Republican party for drifting to the right, becoming an ideological straight-jacket, blah, blah, blah. This is just window dressing, according to the editors of The New Republic (a moderately left-wing publication itself). And then he gets to the real argument. 

During the last election, Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey mounted a serious - and almost successful - effort in the Republican primary to replace Specter. Specter, apparently, doesn't want his 29 years in the Senate to be "judged" by the Republican primary voters. 

Uh, Excuse me! That's who you are responsible to - the voters of Pennsylvania. They're your boss!

So, to avoid being defeated in the primary, he switched parties. That's it folks - it isn't a respectable reason like you don't reflect the values of your party anymore, it's crass self-preservation.

If I could summon the strength to projectile vomit at will I would!