For the first time in his career Arlen Specter did the right thing—he switched sides. The only thing I have never understood is why the GOP has supported him for so long. Party loyalty and whom to support will always remain a mystery. I have heard the arguments that he is electable and we need this seat. However, when the party decides to lay-aside the beliefs of its base to support the ugliest dog at the show, why does it then turn around and expect the base to vote for that candidate?

When explaining his move, Specter tried to sound Reaganesque—claiming he had not left the party, the party had left him. Actually, he had never been in the party. He was always been (to suitably mangle the metaphor) a Jack Ass in an Elephant suit. When explaining his reasoning he pointed out that over 200,000 Pennsylvanians had switched from Republican to Democrat in the last election and of course he assumed these were the moderates and liberals who would support Specter. Am I the only one who remembers Rush’s Operation Chaos? This tactic to keep Hillary in the race so the Democrats would keep eating each other was a very powerful tool and thousands of Americans—especially in PA—took part by switching parties for the primary. I wonder how the media will spin it when they all switch back for the next election.

One thing that is quickly learned by any observation of American politics: memories are short. The biggest threat to those who would undermine our system and take away our freedoms is a voter with the power of recall. Had people remembered McCain in the 2000 election, he could have never been the candidate in 2008. Hopefully the people of PA will remember Arlen Specter’s history of obfuscation and disloyalty to take this opportunity to get him out of office.