Sen. Arlen Specter hasn't really switched parties; he's simply realized he cannot win the Pennsylvania Republican primary election. And he cannot win the Republican primary because he has become a tax and spender -- characteristics Republicans have tired of. He started off as a Democrat, switched to the Republican Party, and has now simply confirmed his loyalty to the Democratic Party he never really left.
Despite the hand wringing of some so-called Republican strategists, the Grand Old Party is better off without sheltering this fox in their Senate henhouse.
What the mainstream media overlooked -- they actually cheered Specter when he announced his defection -- was his naked admission that his decision to return to the Democratic Party was based not on principle, but merely because he knew his days in the Senate as a Republican were all but over.
Polls showed that he had no chance of surviving a GOP primary challenge next year. His political calculation is simple -- he figures that that a Democrat can win next year in a state that almost always votes Democratic these days.
The media also failed to recognize the demonstrable fact that Specter has certainly not been a dependable vote during his convenient stint as a Republican senator -- and could never be counted upon to stick with the GOP on issues central to its core. Continued...