Meghan: Specter Bailed on Us

Arlen Specter has let the GOP down, but only because Republicans did the same, Meghan McCain writes for the Daily Beast. “He’s been made to feel like an outcast by a small, vocal group,” says McCain, herself familiar with the “tired rhetoric” now being hurled at the “progressive-minded” senator. “We need courageous Republicans more than ever. Specter turned his back.”

With less than 25% of Americans willing to be called Republicans, party chair Michael Steele should not be applauding Specter’s exodus as a challenge, McCain notes: “Both Specter and Steele failed this week: One didn’t stand up and fight for the soul of this party, and the other shrank to appeal to one of its most destructive characteristics.” (More Republican Party stories.)