This is what it took to forget about swine flu – Arlen Specter joining the Democrats. I have a complete transcript of his official statement over at City of Brass. All the speculation about the political consequences and shakeup is just ramping up, but my main interest is in how the fury from the Republican side will probably accelerate the party’s implosion from a grand old “big tent” under Reagan to a regional rump party dominated by social conservatives and religious intolerance, especially towards their one-size fits-all bogeymen of the muslim threat.