The latest on Southwick

Alexander Bolton writes in The Hill today about Senator Specter's apparent 'softening' of his recent battle-cry regarding the stalled Southwick confirmation process. Perhaps this apparent change of course highlights a very real "discrepancy between Specter's public statements and the combative ardor he showed in private". Or perhaps Specter is just "trying to finesse" his comments for the "collegial and self-consciously polite environs of the Senate".

But in either case, as Andrew Hyman points out, it doesn't matter. Southwick's qualifications as a jurist and a patriot speak for themselves, and neither Republican timidity nor Democratic obstruction should stand in the way of a fair and timely up-or-down vote on his confirmation.