It's always nice to see a Christo-con get his ass handed to him on national television, but this morning's debate between Sens. Arlen Specter & Sam Brownback was especialy sweet.
Specter, his hair gone and his voice ravaged by chemotherapy, looks clearly weakened in body but proved that he is still very strong in spirit by mopping the floor with his Republican colleague, who looked about as credible as a vinyl siding salesman when he tried to defend the prohibition of lifesaving research as promotion of the "culture of life."
Specter scored at will from the beginning of the debate as Brownback became more and more flustered with each passing moment; but the highlight came when Brownback launched into an extended talking point about the origins of life, asking Specter and host George Stephanopolous: "When did your life begin?" Specter, staring hard into the camera, replied: "Sam, right now I'm more concerned with when my life is going to end!"
[awkward silence]
Brownback stammered a retort, but by then everyone was too stunned to listen. It was a dramatic testimony to just how morally bankrupt and out of touch with reality the Bush administration's position on this issue is, as well as how far they are to the right not just of mainstream Americans, but increasingly of their fellow partisans in Congress. It is as if moderates in the GOP are beginning to awaken to the fact that they too are going to have to live in this country that they have allowed the hard right to create.