"Benedict" Arlen Specter

Given that this is finals season for me, I will make this short and sweet. "Benedict" Arlen Specter has finally decided to come out of the political closet and admit that he is a Democrat. This is fantastic news for the GOP. We will actually get the chance to have a Republican on the ballot in 2010. Not only did Specter rarely vote conservatively on important issues, but he undermined the Republican cause by giving Democrats the "Republican support" necessary to falsely claim the mantle of bipartisanship. This is one step closer to the elimination of news stories calling a bill bipartisan just because one or two leftist RINOs (Republican In Name Only) voted for it. Ironically, I think Specter might have more pressure to vote conservatively as a Democrat than as a Republican, because the Dem leadership will be beholden to him rather than Republicans bending over backwards not to alienate him.

Two things are certain in my mind.

1. This helps the GOP far more in the long run than it hurts it in the short term.
   
2. Personally, I am excited, because I promised Sen. Specter that if he voted for the stimulus bill I would make my first ever political contribution for his opponent in the upcoming primary. Now I can spend my money on the general election instead!

Note: After reading Sen. Specter's statement it is clear that he made the switch because he saw the writing on the wall about his impending defeat in the primary. This was purely for his own political career and has nothing to do with principal. What will be amazing to see is the Democrats eagerly embrace him simply because he switched the R to a D, proving once again that the Dems are far more concerned with power than principle. The big losers in the situation is Moveon.org, who was intending to fund an opponent against him in the general election. Now they will have to decide whether to fund a moderate or waste there money on a nasty protracted Dem primary that will hurt Dem chances of winning the general election.

Compare this situation to the way Sen. Lieberman handled his primary. Rather than switch parties for political convenience, he ran as an independent after losing in the primary. Seems far more principled to me.

Update: In celebration, I just made my first contribution to Pat Toomey's election campaign. It is important for conservatives to support Toomey because it is unclear that the Republican leadership will give him the support needed to defeat Specter. Please contribute to his campaign here.