THE SPECTER SHOW….You know, this whole Arlen Specter thing is turning out pretty well for Republicans, isn’t it? At this point, despite a hail of criticism from the pro-life forces, it looks like he’s going to win the Judiciary Committee chairmanship after all. A triumph for moderation!
At the same time, he’s been forced to grovel so badly to get it that it’s pretty obvious he’s going to do whatever the president and his social conservative pals want from this point forward. Even for a guy I don’t like much, it’s been almost painful to watch the humiliation he’s been put through over this.
So in the end, Republicans get to look moderate by confirming Specter, but only after forcing him to publicly capitulate to the conservative abortion lobby. If they had actually planned things that way, I’d have said it was an unusually well played round of political theater.
Still, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
