Arlen Specter: The fading old soldier

LIKE THE old soldier, Sen. Arlen Specter is fading away.  At 79, the Pennsylvania Republican is a textbook example  of how his pre-Whig party is hellbent on erasing any vestige of moderation. Faced with anticipated insurmountable odds in winning the GOP primary against probable hard-right icon Pat Toomey next year (Specter's favorability rating among Pennsylvania Republicans: 30 pct.) the five-term senator  sought  to appease the conservatives by announcing his opposition to the labor-supported card-check organizing bill, a measure similar to one he had earlier supported.  Specter has been pawing around in this trough before, trying  to establish his credentials with left and right, only to make matters worse.   

Clearly, the GOP "thought police" have  little patience with Republicans who don't meet their severe standards of ideological purity.  Their  comfort zone is represented instead with the Palins, Jindals and Cantors, each of whom has sounded quite foolish when the occasion called for it.   Well, it's their party and they can do as they please, I suppose.  But one less Specter won't do a thing for their plans for rising from the dead.