Saying Senator Arlen Specter left the Republican Party because he wants to keep his seat is like saying a person is fat because they eat too much. Of course it’s true, but what’s REALLY going on? Thank you, Gail Collins, for stepping up and going deep:

The real import of this story isn’t the 60 votes. It’s that Arlen Specter, with his unparalleled instinct for self-preservation, became a Democrat because the people of Pennsylvania like the Democratic agenda better. And the Republicans were too fanatical or deluded to allow him to straddle the line.

Finally.