The Independent Senator

Yesterday I sat down to start writing about why I haven’t switched back to being a Republican now that Bush is gone. I did a couple of paragraphs to warm up and figured I would finish over the next couple of day. Before I could sleep my computer and head off to work the news started to break that Senator Arlen Specter was switching parties.

All of a sudden I was back in political news junky mode the likes of which I hadn’t been since the election. On the bus I followed every twitter link that mentioned Specter. I’ve long been a fan of Arlen Specter. I don’t agree with him on every position true but I think that’s true for every voter and politician. What I like about Specter is that he is notoriously hard on the Whip’s office. The man has his own opinions, his own research and damn it he’s going to vote the way he feels is right. I respect that. Hell, I love that.

Reading the reactions across the political spectrum you would think I was alone in that. To the right he is a traitor that should have been tossed years ago. To the left he is untrustworthy. Both sides seemed convinced that he’s going to screw them on card check. Independence in American politics seems to be the greatest vice these partisan day.

Independent, however, is exactly how an American Senator is supposed to behave. The reason 60 is such a magical number is because that’s how many Senators it takes to block a single Senator’s opposition. The Senate exists to give voice to minority opinion. The rules are there to encourage cooperation and compromise. Durbin and Kyl are supposed to have it rough. That’s a good thing.

Tactically I can’t see this as anything but a loss for the Republicans and a stupid one at that. The Club for Growth is starting to look like a super secret left wing establishment designed to cost the Republican Party as much damage as possible. If the party leaders can’t get Tom Ridge into this race and Pat Toomey is indeed the candidate he’s going to get killed by Specter in the general election. A Specter who will probably broker a compromise on Card Check. A compromise that would not have happened if he was still caucusing with the Republican’s.