One of the major reasons why I supported Arlen Specter was that I believed he would be a much more palatable Judiciary Chairman to moderates and liberals than the uber-conservative Jon Kyl. As it turns out, I was right. Check out this piece entitled "Specter adds more fuel to the fire" by The Hill's Alexander Bolton:

In less than a month, new Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has already exasperated social conservatives and frightened members of the business community with controversial staff hires, statements and policy positions.

The start of Specter’s tenure as chairman, following a blow-up last year over public comments he made questioning the confirmation of anti-abortion-rights judicial nominees, may augur a rocky future for Specter, whom many conservatives dislike for being too centrist.

But despite their concerns, leading conservatives say they will suspend final judgment on Specter until he is given a chance to manage the confirmation proceedings of President Bush’s court nominees.

Activists on the right are buzzing about two recent controversial hires by Specter: Hannibal Kemerer, a former assistant general counsel with the NAACP, and Carolyn Short, who is married to Joe Torsella, who ran as a Democrat in Pennsylvania for Congress. Specter hired both to serve as counsels on the committee.

Especially irksome to conservatives is a report filed with the Federal Election Commission showing that Short donated $500 to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) 2000 campaign.

And many conservatives view the NAACP as overtly partisan. Departing from the tradition of past presidents, Bush had refused to meet with the group because of its ties to Democrats.

Specter is doing an amazing job so far as Judiciary Chairman: just look at how enraged the right is at his actions. Although some Democrats don't like to admit it, a moderate Republican is preferable to a conservative one.