Some sad news to report on a Sunday.
Former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Republican-turned-Democrat who played a key role in many Supreme Court nominations, has died. He was 82.
His son Shanin Specter says his father died Sunday morning at his home in Philadelphia, from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He had battled cancer and other health problems.
Specter served 30 years in the Senate, a Pennsylvania record.
In April 2009, he startled fellow senators when he announced he was switching to the Democratic side because he did not think he could win the nomination for a sixth term in the increasingly conservative GOP. He wound up losing the 2010 Democratic primary to then-Rep. Joe Sestak, who narrowly lost Specter’s seat to conservative Pat Toomey
I will not write negatively about someone who has died. The man stood for what he believed in. In the wave of the Tea Party movement, Spector became a pariah. Something I know too well about. He tried switching sides, and was not wanted. Spector was from a different era, when politics and Conservatism were not as ugly as they have become in this new era of Sound Bites, and new media.
May he rest in peace, and my prayers to him family in this hour of mourning. 
Update: Kudos to the commenters over at DailyKos for showing some serious class on this subject. 