Moderates are part of the problem

The MSM frequently celebrates moderates as domestic diplomats, bridge builders and level-headed navigators of the ship of state. No doubt, some are; but not necessarily so, and certainly mere "moderateness" does not convey virtue. Timothy Carney points out that many are simply crap weasels.

Specter's career, meanwhile, is a good example of the rudderlessness of the standard moderate. Specter became a Republican in the 1960s because the GOP bosses in Philly promised him campaign cash, Specter tells in his memoirs. He became a Democrat in 2009 -- again, in his own words -- because he wanted to "get re-elected." And in his whiny farewell address to the Senate complaining about how senators now occasionally campaigned against senators (in other words, the Senate was becoming "less and less insular," as Brooks might put it), Specter praised a handful of the Rockefeller Republicans whom Brooks grieves. While Specter omitted the names of the disgraced moderate senators (Ted Stevens and Bob Packwood), he named a handful of men who turned their bipartisan pragmatism into a lucrative lobbying career, such as John Warner, Warren Rudman, Jack Danforth, and Slade Gorton.

Typical fate of a fanatical middle-of-the-roader.