Arlen's Spectre

Holy Shit. What else is there to say?

Well, for starters, how about, "Why?" The only answer I can come up with is that the Senator from Pennsylvania was never a stalwart member of the conservative vanguard to begin with and now feels that he break left without undue concern for the GOP backlash. Being a more progressive legislator, he has often broken with the party line, despite the enormous political capital invested in his campaign by the elephants. It was the promise of greater adherence to party doctrine that allowed him to take the Judiciary committee chair but even here he has caused heartburn by swinging left.

Unless there's been a sudden outbreak of scruples, its hard to imagine Spectre taking this course without great confidence in either A: his election machine, or B: the enormous unpopularity of the Republican party at the moment. Considering the excellent fit of the GOP's new moniker, "The Party of No", it isn't too hard to figure the move as a way of distancing himself from the politically toxic odor of failure. On the other hand, Spectre's record of close wins suitably prepares him for what will undoubtedly be (another) political cage match, with victory and defeat running in familiar proximity. I simply cannot imaging that the Republicans are going to let this pass unchallenged and will undoubtedly be throwing everything, including the kitchen sink and any near-to-hand small animals at him.

The sure to ensue vendetta will, without a shadow of a doubt, do infinitely more to hurt the party than help it; beating Spectre as a Democrat will take vast resources from the party war chest that might otherwise have been spent more wisely in other arenas, were uncertain contests could be turned into comfortable (if not sweeping) victories. Like bulls though, elephants become terribly single minded when enraged and if they take Spectre's seat at the cost of two or three others, then they'll have gotten what they earned. Meanwhile, the Senator's unenviable task will be to convince his voters that regardless of party affiliation, he's going to continue providing the performance that they've elected for on six consecutive occasions.