Weigel

Arlen Specter is Funny

I think this click-friendly HuffPo item on Arlen Specter’s memoir misses the point. There’s absolutely nothing weird about Specter observing that Sarah Palin “radiated sensuality” when he met her. Specter is one of the driest, most sarcastic people to be elected to the U.S. Senate five times. In his dotage, he’s been doing stand-up at random Philadelphia clubs.

Life Among the Cannibals alternates between these weird personal observations and more bitter personal observations about the people who screwed him. But not too bitter. Just confused, and very aware of where other guys’ junk was. Moreover: The observation about Palin is purely real talk. Only someone freed of electoral politics can admit this; an old guy who’s perfectly self-aware realizes how amusing it is to point it out.