One Year On, The GOP Got The Better Deal

Almost one year after switching parties, Arlen Specter wonders if he might have helped the country more if he had stayed a Republican (hat tip: Jim Geraghty).  I have a few thoughts:

1.  Speaking only for myself, but likely reflecting the opinion of many Republicans and former/current Specter constituents, I can only say that we don't want you back, Senator.

2.  The article appears in the Morning Call, the newspaper I grew up reading in Lower Macungie, PA.  Best thing about the paper -- the Sunday paper had, on the front page, a list of all of the college football scores from the day before.  This was in the days before Al Gore finished inventing the Interweb and before we had cable TV.  Ah, memories.  Now I'm convinced that my children will one day wonder why people ever read print editions of newspapers.

3.  The article has a picture of Specter from 1995.  Maybe it's just me, but you'd think they would ahve something more current.  If you ran a picture of me from 1995... well, let's not go there.  Let's just say I've changed a bit in 15 years.

4.  The article notes that Specter has voted with Democrats 99% of the time since switching, after voting with the GOP only 58% of the time during his long tenure as a Republican.  I know he's trying to win a primary, but the lockstep voting for the Obama agenda seems to prove what most critics of Specter have believed all along -- namely, that he's a narcissist only concerned with promoting himself, and that he will sell out anything just to retain power.  I'm not saying this makes him unique among politicians, just that any belief that he's some fair-minded moderate is total BS.

5.  It's actually pretty funny, but Obama was riding pretty high at this time last year when Specter switched parties.  Since then, his approval ratings have dropped significantly, the Dems' chances for retaining control of the House have cratered, the Democrats have lost gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and the Democrats lost Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.  At this point, the Democrats should be begging Specter to return to the GOP.