My former governor, Christie Whitman of New Jersey, centrist Republican, laments the loss of Arlen Specter and says:

In the coming election cycle, we have the opportunity to remind the nation that our party is committed to such important values as fiscal restraint, less government interference in our everyday lives, environmental policies that promote a balanced approach between protection and economic interest, and a foreign policy that is engaged with the rest of the world.

Huh? What Republican party is she talking about? The one whose president and members of Congress supported unnecessary tax cuts, government expansion, wiretapping without a warrant, decimating the environment, and saying fuck you to the rest of the world? File under wishful thinking.