5/5: All Arlen, All The Time

The PA Senate race remains a big topic in the political blogosphere. Liberal bloggers are pleased that Rep. Joe Sestak (D) is threatening to primary Sen. Arlen Specter (D) if Specter doesn't change some of his positions. Meanwhile, conservative bloggers are arguing that Specter is vulnerable; some are citing a new poll showing ex-Rep. Pat Toomey (R) trailing Specter by a relatively small 6-point margin. Righty bloggers are also blasting Specter for suggesting that the late Rep. Jack Kemp (R) "would be alive today" if the GOP had adopted Specter's views on funding for medical research. One thing is clear: both liberal bloggers and conservative bloggers strongly dislike Specter.

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Liberal bloggers (Yglesias, Beutler, Benen, BooMan, Singer) think GOP senators made a big mistake by allowing AL Sen. Jeff Sessions to become the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Cmte, since Sessions has reportedly made racially insensitive comments in the past. Conservative bloggers, on the other hand, are pleased that Sessions will be the top GOPer on the Judiciary Cmte, as they prefer him to the more moderate Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
• Liberal bloggers (Amato, Kleiman, hilzoy) are criticizing prominent conservative blogger/RedState founder Erick Erickson after he called retiring SCOTUS Justice David Souter a "goat fucking child molester." Erickson later described his comments as "intemperate" but did not apologize for them.
• Liberal bloggers (Greenwald, Yglesias, Boehlert, Serwer, Llorens, Lemieux) are blasting The New Republic's Jeffrey Rosen after he wrote a piece entitled, "The Case Against Sotomayor," which features anonymous negative quotes about Second Circuit judge/potential SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Conservative bloggers (Hemingway, Morrissey) are promoting Rosen's piece.
• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, Ham, Bandes, Lane) are mocking Pres. Obama after he gave a "jumbled translation" of the Mexican holiday "Cinco de Mayo."
• Liberal bloggers (Greenwald, Black, Dayen) are accusing Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) of being a hypocrite on civil liberties issues after she "rail[ed] against [the NSA] wiretapping that ensnared her" at the AIPAC conference.

PA SEN: Way To Go, Joe!

Liberal bloggers are pleased that Sestak is threatening to challenge Specter in the Dem primary if Specter doesn't change some of his positions:

• Open Left's Chris Bowers: "[A]t the very least [Sestak] is doing progressives a service by keeping his threat of a primary challenge so open and public. If Specter actually is going to start acting like a more reliable Democrat, there is a much better chance that he will do so with the sword of Sestak hanging over his head, then with the primary path cleared for him. As he revealed in his partisan switch, Specter clearly wavers when under threat of defeat."
• MyDD's Todd Beeton: "This is much stronger language than Sestak has used previously and, as Chris Bowers observes, it virtually assures a Sestak challenge considering how defiant Specter has been in recent interviews in terms of his unwillingness to shift left to conform to his new partisan designation. But ironically, while Specter's stubbornness makes Sestak's entrance into the race more likely, Sestak's challenge will itself make Specter shifting left more likely."

While TPM's Josh Marshall isn't necessarily opposed to Specter's candidacy, he wants Specter to face a primary challenge: "I'd like to see Specter at least have to make his case to Democrats in his state."

PA SEN II: A New Low For Arlen?

Conservative bloggers are blasting Specter for suggesting that Kemp "would be alive today" if the GOP had adopted Specter's views on funding for medical research:

• Townhall's Greg Hengler: "Talk about demagoging Jack Kemp's death."
• Michelle Malkin: "[This is] Reason number 999,769 we are glad Specter has taken off the elephant costume and made his conversion to Ass-dom official."
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "Had Kemp's body even started to cool before Specter exploited his death for his own political gain? Specter certainly could have stuck with his own battles with cancer, and that would have been fair game, but to claim that he could have saved Kemp if only the GOP had spent a little more like drunken sailors between 2001-6 is just despicable."
• AmSpec Blog's Matthew Vadum: "[This is] a new low, even for Specter."

Meanwhile, one righty blogger argues that Specter is vulnerable, while another promotes a new poll showing Toomey trailing Specter by a relatively small 6-point margin. Another conservative blogger warns the NRSC to "stay away" from the PA GOP Senate primary.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Giving Arlen His Props

NRO's Jay Nordlinger:

"Arlen Specter is an amazing person, and he has had an amazing career. Consider: In his previous run for reelection, he had the president of the United States campaigning hard for him. That was George W. Bush. And now we have a much different president: Barack Obama. And he will campaign hard for Specter, next time around. Specter gets presidents to campaign for him, whoever the president is. A remarkable man and pol, Arlen Specter."

LEST WE FORGET: Virgins Eagerly Await Star Trek

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"Paramount Pictures, which is releasing the latest Star Trek movie this Friday, is hoping for record box office returns, fueled by a big turnout from the movie franchise's core audience: virgins.

While the studio has high hopes for the movie's success with the general audience, it is taking great pains to target the group that has flocked to every previous Star Trek film, and that means reaching out to people who have never come close to having sex. [...]

Zach Sussberg, 24, a virgin in Flint, Michigan, said that he had cleared out his entire weekend to make sure that he sees the new Star Trek film.

'Everybody says that this new Star Trek is better than sex,' he said. 'But hey, I wouldn't know.'"