Arlen Specter's Lust For Power

You know, I always try to see the good in people. Really. When Lucy pulls that football away from Charlie Brown's lame kick, I figure the kid just needs to learn a lesson. When Lady Macbeth plotted the murder of King Duncan I thought, "what's a woman supposed to do in a patriarchal society?" And when America kept voting for Sanjaya I admired his talent-free way of making pre-teens cry. But Arlen Specter?

I admit that even I have trouble finding the good in Arlen Specter these days. It's not just the fact that he left the Republican party to join the Democrats -- he's certainly not the first politician to leave one party for the other. What bothers me is his reason.

Specter Explained:

"In the course of the last several months ... I have traveled the state and surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls, observed other public opinion polls and have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak."

He left the party because he couldn't win the Republican primary. So, it's not about principles, it's about power.

Like Benedict Arnold, who also figured he was on the losing side so turned turncoat, history can now record Arlen Specter as a man driven by one thing: his lust for power.

Of course, there was another interesting point that the former Republican made during his announcement. He made it clear that the issue which separated him from his former constituency was the trillion-dollar pork laden stimulus bill, which he supported. Thank you, Senator, for pointing out that the Democrats are responsible for that debt delivering disaster. Let's hope the voters remember that nugget during the next election cycle and those responsible will be booted out for stripping our national wealth and sent off to a new career where they will do less harm: perhaps stirring the beans at Taco Bell.