So Where Else Could Specter Go?

RNC chairman Michael Steele offered this comment by email on the Arlen Specter defection:

Arlen Specter committed a purely political and self-serving act today. He simply believes he has a better chance of saving his political hide and his job as a Democrat.

Well, obviously. What other calculation would Arlen Specter make? He likely does not feel like he has a true home in either party, but he certainly knows which one desires him more. Centrists have to go somewhere, after all.

Specter's record really isn't left-wing... The National Journal's 2007 rankings placed him within a few points of senators like Norm Coleman, Richard Lugar, and George Voinovich. Ben Nelson is ranked as less conservative than Specter. Conservatives are currently lamenting the fact that Norm Coleman is about to be replaced with a leftist, Al Franken. Why were they unable to apply similar sentiments to Specter?

Chairman Steele rightly deplores the Specter defection for moving America closer to one party left-wing rule. Yet if anything is the true engine of one-party left-wing rule in a two-party system, it is a no-compromise opposition party that refuses to stay in touch with the wants of the American people.