Shrinking the GOP

The Arlen Specter party switch today is the latest sign of an eight-year process--the shriveling of the Republican Party to a one-size-fits-all collection of conservatives that started in 2001 with Sen. Jim Jeffords leaving and even John McCain flirting with the idea after being splattered by the Rove smear machine in the primaries a year earlier.

Party Chair Michael Steele affirmed the meanness that motivated Specter today by commenting that he “didn’t leave the G.O.P. 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. Republicans look forward to beating Senator Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.”

Nicely said. Translated, Steele is confirming that Specter's role in crafting a compromise to pass Obama's stimulus bill disqualifies him from the bitter-end party-of-no that is now the Republican brand.

This politically suicidal process cries out for psychiatric intervention, shrinks to stop the GOP from shrinking itself down to Rush Limbaugh and a few office-holding lookalikes.