Specter: The GOP's moved "far to the right" since Reagan

Well, no, it really hasn’t, as InstaGlenn noted a few days ago. It’s the country that’s drifted left, foremost on social issues. The “far to the right” nonsense comes near the end of the first clip; the second has Benedict Arlen reminding us that purging moderates does carry a price for conservatives. I get a sense from some of our readers that losing, say, Collins or Snowe wouldn’t hurt at all because they’re utterly indistinguishable from Democrats — i.e. they’ve already left the party in principle. That’s a convenient fiction: You may get only half a loaf from them but half a loaf’s better than none, especially on judicial appointments.

Don’t look now, but between Tom Ridge making noise about taking up the moderate banner against Toomey and Joe Sestak loudly questioning Specter’s Democratic bona fides, we end up with not one but two primary shootouts in Pennsylvania.