Ever since he defected to the Democratic Party, Sen. Arlen Specter has (rightfully) received considerable criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, being accused of switching simply to avoid a tough primary challenge in 2010. But does his willingness to enter the Lion's Den and put up with far-right nutjobs give him some credibility among Democrats and, more importantly, liberals?
Domenico Montanaro of NBC provided some context on the location of Specter's town hall in Lebanon County, PA. Lebanon County has voted Republican in all presidential elections since 1960, usually by an overwhelming margin. It voted for McCain over Obama by a 19% margin last year, which was actually tied for the closest margin since 1964, when it voted for Barry Goldwater over LBJ. So I'm sure Specter was anticipating all kinds of far-right ignorance coming in.
During the meeting, which I'm sure you've seen clips of, one moron told Specter, "One day, God's gonna stand before you. And he's gonna judge you and the rest of your damn cronies up on the Hill, and then you can get your just deserts." Another loon asked Specter to go back to Washington "as an American", and ask President Obama if he was actually an American. Yet another dingbat called for a provision in the healthcare plan to "take the non-U.S. citizens and give them an airplane ticket and ship them back." But perhaps the craziest of them all was an old man with a long white beard, who related the closure of Guantanamo Bay to a quote from the Koran, while mispronouncing both "Koran" and "Islam".
People on both the left and the right can probably agree that Specter is a good argument for why term limits should be imposed on U.S. Senators. But Specter impressed me with the way he confronted these mental hospital escapees, standing right next to them and either calmly replying or showing anger (telling police officers who restrained one idiot, "He has a right to leave! You want to leave? Leave!"). Could there be some semblance of hope for Specter (D)?