Republican blunders just keep on giving

Today was a very big day for President Barack Obama. Not only is he on the eve of an incredibly productive and successful first 100 days in office with soaring poll numbers to prove it, but Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter added the frosting on the cake by announcing that he's joining the Democratic party. Here's what Sen. Specter said of the decision that rocked the capitol today:

“I’m not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate, not prepared to have that record decided by that jury,” Mr. Specter declared in a rather defiant tone at a news conference.

With the inevitable seating of Al Franken, the Democrats will have a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, making it much easier for the president to get his legislative initiatives through the Senate without being tripped up by the minority party. This has to be a horrible day for the Republicans as they lose their last moderate senator. But, certainly it's a bad day they had coming and richly deserve.

Specter was faced with a difficult re-election battle within his own party. Now, according to experts, he should cruise to re-election as a Democrat in a state where the voter sentiment has shifted sharply to the left in recent years. In this case, the simple truth is that the Republicans drove Specter out of their party and now they will get to pay the price -- just as they are paying the price for so many other short sighted, dogmatic decisions of late. In many ways, these kinds of Republican blunders have become the gift that just keeps on giving . . . to the Democrats