bumped

Republicans are doing their darndest today to combat the already growing meme that the their party is so far out of the mainstream that it can't hold onto its moderate members. A few minutes ago, for instance, Karl Rove was on Fox News claiming that the Republican Party didn't leave Arlen Specter, but that Specter left the Republican Party. (Rove, not surprisingly, fudged the facts, calling Specter a lifelong Republican, but that's neither here nor there.) Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said, "Let's be honest -- Senator Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record."

But take a look at the facts. The Republican Party has done its best to kick out or otherwise make uncomfortable those within its ranks who don't hew to the most orthodox of conservative ideologies, both broadly and specifically in the case of Specter. Josh Kraushaar reminds that it has not been long since RNC Chairman Steele threatened retribution against Specter. Here's the video:

And these threats weren't just coming from the upper echelon of the party apparatus. As Specter told NPR today, he was facing a potential censure resolution from his state party committee over his vote on the stimulus package, and had picketers in front of his office in recent days as well.

So while there is no denying that this is a move of political expediency for Specter, it is also definitely the case that the Republican Party forced him -- one of their longest serving members in the Senate -- out of their ranks for not being sufficiently conservative. For a party that has been drubbed in two straight national elections (John McCain lost moderates by a 21-point margin, a deficit that was a real drag on his electoral chances), kicking out one of its most prominent moderates simply is not good for its image.