The right fringe of American politics does not like Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). The came very close to knocking him off in last year's GOP primary and almost rallied enough support to block him from assuming chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. It still pains them greatly that he maintains power, especially in the middle of the fight over filibusters, as Forward's E.J. Kessler reports:

In the middle of the fight is Specter, who assumed the Judiciary Committee chairmanship in January over the strenuous objections of Christian conservative leaders, including James Dobson, chairman of the evangelical powerhouse Focus on the Family. Last week, Specter told NBC News that he tried to defuse the nuclear option crisis by suggesting to Bush that he consult senators, especially Democrats, before making judicial nominations, which had been the practice in earlier administrations. But, he added, Bush had been "noncommittal."

Specter's moves have angered his evangelical antagonists. "Arlen Specter... is again threatening to subvert the nomination process.... He must not be permitted to do that," Dobson wrote in his newsletter this month. He blasted Specter for saying recently that "the far right is going to come hard at a nominee if it is not a nominee of their choosing. But I think there's a much broader base in America than the far right."

Specter, for his part, claimed he was doing his job.

There is something about a moderate Jew spearheading President Bush's effort to confirm extreme right wing judges that the ultra right finds patently offensive. It's unclear if it's Specter's moderation or Judaism that they protest the most.

It could not please this blogger more to see that Specter is still drawing the ire of Dobson types. Although it would have been very nice to see a Democrat like Hoeffel in the Senate, it is so much more enjoyable to see the uber-conservatives in pain over a member of their own party.