The Shoe Is On The Other Foot For The GOP

Arlen Specter has been a Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania for a long time, so naturally he wants to keep his job. With an election coming up next year, he found that the increasingly conservative GOP no longer welcomed his more moderate views, thus limiting his chances to retain the nomination of his party.

So Specter switched to the Democratic Party, where he will become the 59th vote in a nearly veto-proof Senate, rubber-stamping just about anything President Barack Obama wants. But Specter is more of an independent when it comes to his voting record--which is one of the reasons why he was on the outs with the GOP--and he says he will continue to do so as a Democrat.

Now all the Democrats need is a 60th vote, and they will get it if the Minnesota Senate race that's currently in litigation ends in Al Franken's favor over Republican Norm Coleman. The recount and the subsequent court case has dragged on for several months, but the Minnesota Supreme Court won't even hear Coleman's appeal until June.

With Specter gone, the GOP has no incentive to quickly settle the matter. All they can do is to keep the seat open for as long as possible, hoping that Coleman wins on appeal and Governor Tim Pawlenty signs the certificate for his man.

The Republicans are in such a mess right now, having lost the White House and Congress in the last election. They've become the party of reactionary Bible-thumpers with no real leadership. The public faces of the GOP are buffoons such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

(Speaking of Hannity, he offered to be waterboarded for an alleged charity to prove to his viewers that it is not torture. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, whose staff apparently monitors Fox News Channel so we don't have to, offered to donate a thousand dollars for every second Hannity doesn't cry uncle. Seriously, Keith, why are you wasting your money on this guy?)

The demise of the Republican party is not imminent--remember, Democrats were in this position when George W. Bush was riding high. But if they don't broaden their base beyond the Archie Bunker demographic, they might find themselves going the way of Pontiac and "All In The Family".