I read a quote from Arlan Spector in the Electronic New York Times today:

"As part of the pay grade around here there are lots of problems," he said. "You learn to develop a hide a little thicker than a rhinoceros.''

And I laughed.  Spector is kind of a cheeky fellow, isn’t he?  I never would have guessed.  If you aren’t aware, Arlan Spector has come under fire from his own adoptive party (He used to be a Democrat…long , long ago, in a galaxy far, far away) for being “too liberal”.

He’s come out as opposed to reversing Roe v. Wade.  He’s made statements hostile to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and he’s demonstrated a history of independent thought that Neocons and Bob Jones conservatives alike find disturbing…and they were positively aghast at the thought that he might get the chairmanship of the judiciary committee.

Anyway, extreme right-wing groups have recently made Specter the target of a RINO hunt.  Here’s an entry I did about that a while back. “Warning!  Bold Baby Sasquatch RINOS!  Do not feed!”

Was he thumbing his nose at the self-styled “Republican wing of the Republican party?”

I’d like to think so.  Of course, he had to promise not to use a pro-choice “litmus test” in the confirmation of judges (including the potential Supreme Court Nominees), promise not to “bottle up” pro-life nominees in committee, and he had to give every indication that he would support a rules change to the congress that would make it almost impossible for the megre hold-out Democrats to do a filibuster of anything…but now he has the backing of all nine Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, and so it looks like a foregone conclusion that he will be the next chairman.

As I read the list of things he publicly committed himself to, I thought…”Gee…yet another moderate, independent Republican statesman that I previously respected ground under the wheels of the administration and their radical base.”

But then I saw that last statement, and I thought…”Huh.  What’s Specter got up his sleeve?”