I Love Arlen Specter Since He's Turned Democrat

Or, more accurately, I like him since he's had a primary challenger, thank you Joe Sestak.

It means that we'll get 18 months of him being a loyal party player....Unfortunately, for the other 54 months of his Senate term, he's still a contemptible grandstanding untrustworthy jerk.

Case in point, now that he's running ferociously to the left in order to out-flank Representative Sestak, he dissed Senators Lieberman and Snow regarding their misrepresentations of the public option at a mutual press conference:

"I do not support...a government owned, government run insurance company," Collins said.

"I have only to look at the experience of my own state in establishing a government run plan to see the problems that arise."

Collins was referring to the Dirigo health agency, which provides subsidized insurance to poor people in Maine who don't quite qualify for Medicaid.

"I think we have learned a lot from the Maine plan," Specter retorted. "We know what not to do. We're not going to adopt a Maine plan. That experience will stand us in good stead. We won't make the same mistake."

Specter went on: "And when Senator Lieberman talks about single payer, I think he's putting his finger on the pulse of it. That's what people have concluded [but] the public option isn't single payer, and it is not going to add to the deficit, it's going to be a level playing field. So I would like everyone to read the fine print and [for my colleagues] to re-read the fine print."

(emphasis mine)

By the standards of the Senate, this is actually a pretty nasty slam.

Yet me note that this is not an endorsement of him. When you get 12-18 months of non wankertude out of a 6-year term, and so it's not really worth it pulling the lever for him.