Quotes of the Day

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's party switch highlights the growing marginalization of the hard-right Republican Party, now down to two moderates in the Senate. And it highlights the growing dominance of the post–George W. Bush Democratic Party, now just a Minnesota comedian away from a filibuster-proof majority. But let's not overthink: it mostly highlights the desperate opportunism of a 79-year-old five-term Senator staring into the abyss of involuntary retirement. Specter may be right that the GOP left him first, but that's just a face-saving way of admitting he couldn't win its primary.

It was not for lack of trying. In recent weeks, ever since conservative Club for Growth president Pat Toomey began talking about a Republican rematch, Specter has scrambled to the right. He suddenly renounced his support for union-backed "card check" legislation. He introduced a bill to establish a flat tax. He even voted for a federal spending freeze, which was particularly shameless, since he had just voted for President Barack Obama's stimulus bill, the ultimate antifreeze. Anyway, Republicans weren't buying it. Specter barely squeaked past Toomey in a primary six years ago, despite support from President Bush, and this time he would have been toast; one poll had him down 21 points.

"In the course of the last several months since the stimulus vote I have traveled the state and engaged the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls and have found that the prospects for winning the Republican primary are bleak," Specter said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

That's why Specter is bailing on the party he joined more than four decades ago to run for district attorney of Philadelphia. After talking to Republican leaders and his longtime Republican supporters, he said in his statement, "It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable." In other words: he knew he had no shot as a Republican, so voilà, he's a Democrat again. Even though he voted for Bush's judges, Bush's war, Bush's tax cuts — through the same "reconciliation" process he recently attacked Democrats for considering now — and most of the rest of Bush's agenda. Even though he's best known for trashing Anita Hill and for being one of the most obnoxious bosses on Capitol Hill.

But Specter is pro-choice and pro-stem-cell; a cancer survivor, he's been a big supporter of the National Institutes of Health; he also supported the stimulus as well as the various bailouts that came up for votes before he started sucking up to the right. In today's hyperpartisan Congress, he can legitimately claim to be a moderate. And as he pointed out in his statements, GOP moderates have been fleeing the party; in 2008, more than 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans switched their registration. "As the Republican Party has moved further and further to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party," Specter said Tuesday.

The timing is certainly convenient — and there was something pathetic about his reminder that "my seniority is very important to continue to bring important projects vital to Pennsylvania's economy" — but Specter is basically right. The GOP is shrinking — down to 20% of the country, in a new New York Times poll — and its holdouts are increasingly hard-core. They don't like government. They do like Rush Limbaugh. They care more about the purity of their principles than the size of their tent. They always thought Specter was a RINO — a Republican in Name Only — and now they have proof.

The Democrats, of course, are celebrating; not only does Specter strengthen their claim to a center-left consensus, his move also strengthens their power. Once Al Franken wins his court case in Minnesota, they'll have 60 Senators, and a freer hand to ram through President Obama's agenda. "If there's a Democrat in my place," Specter said earlier this month, "they'll be able to do whatever they want." But that might not be true now that the crotchety Specter is that Democrat. At his press conference, he went out of his way to insist that he would not be "an automatic 60th vote" and that his new position on card check would not change. Specter is still looking ahead to a rematch with Toomey, this time on general-election turf, and he wants to send a message that he'll do what he thinks is right for Pennsylvanians no matter which party he's in.

Today, though, he sent a message that he'll do what he thinks is right for Arlen Specter.

• Michael Grunwald
• The Pennsylvania Republican, in making his surprise move, did what's best for Arlen Specter