NEXT TIME A GAY PERSON IS MURDERED BY A BIGOT FEELING EMPOWERED BY SOCIETAL ATTITUDES, BLAME IT ON ARLEN SPECTER

I could never understand why Democrats and progressives put so much stock in the good will of supposedly "moderate" Republicans. They are rarely moderate and almost always vote with the hard-right majority on all but a symbolic vote or two that can be used to establish "indie cred" with the back home voters. The two "moderate" Maine senators, for example, almost always vote straight-Bush-- helping to destroy the American social fabric with anti-minimum wage votes, or almost routinely going along with neo-fascist judicial nominees-- in a state where progressive Democrats could otherwise easily be elected.

I'm working on a report on extremely right-wing Republican Senator John McCain who has sold the American public a bill of goods based primarily on relativity and on a few specific issues-- yes, he's anti-torture!!-- but who is being taken seriously as a presidential contender by people who have recognized the extreme danger the Republican Party means for our nation.

Another so-called "moderate" Republican is Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. And, yes, compared to a narrow-minded, raging neo-Nazi Opus Dei bigot like Rick "Man-on-dog" Santorum, Specter doesn't look as bad. But in a sane universe his record is absolutely abysmal. Last week he cast the deciding vote to advance Bush's virulently anti-gay Marriage Protection (Constitutional) Amendment. Specter is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and he claims he opposes the amendment but wants to see the full Senate vote on the Frist/Brownback-sponsored bit of institutionalized bigotry. The amendment passed 5-4 in a subcommittee and could have been killed by Specter if he really was a moderate. But he's not; he's just a right-wing political hack who isn't a Nazi or a KKK member from a moderate state.