Veteran Senator Suddenly Switches Parties

It was widely reported today that veteran Republican senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties Tuesday.

When I first read this news report, I was sickened and disappointed. I assumed that Specter's only motive was to retain his senate seat in the next election. Specter, 79 and seeking a sixth consecutive term in 2010, conceded bluntly that his chances of winning a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year were bleak in a party grown increasingly conservative.

However, the more I read and the more I thought about it, the less cynical I was about Specter's motives. I actually believe that Specter switched for philosophical and not purely political reasons, although self-preservation was no doubt a factor in his decision-making process. I think this move by Specter took courage and integrity. Instead of continuing to show blind allegiance to a political party, he chose to be faithful to his own conscience and principles. Good for him!

And I don't say this lightly, because I am an independent who has agreed more often with Republican policies during my lifetime than with Democratic platforms and policies. The one thread of hope left for Republican-leaning independents like me is that Specter, who has a lifelong record of independence, will not be an automatic 60th vote. He asserted that he will not be, and offered as evidence the fact that he opposes "card check" legislation (which would make it easier for workers to form unions), a bill that is organized labor's top priority this year.

In the end, I felt ... O.K. with the news about Arlen Specter.

But then I remembered ... Al Franken, and I remembered why I am sometimes offended by the democratic party: because people like Al Franken associate themselves with it.

Now I feel sickened again ... to think that a supremely arrogant, misguided jerk like Al Franken might be in a position to cast not only "a" vote in the United States Senate, but the 60th vote ... God have mercy on us.