Specter of foolishness

Congress has a new poster boy for the pandering incompetence that has sunk the body’s public approval rating below that of the IRS: Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.

Taxpayers are justifiably concerned about the shaky economy, swelling energy costs, rampant illegal immigration, unsustainable entitlements and the ongoing global war against fanatic Islamic terrorists. Sen. Specter, meanwhile, has devoted his full attention to the National Football League’s long-resolved cheating scandal involving the New England Patriots.

The lowdown on Spygate: A Patriots employee was caught videotaping the signals of the New York Jets’ defensive coaches during a game last year in violation of league rules. Patriots coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, the league maximum, and the team lost its first-round pick in this year’s draft, a punishment unprecedented in league history. After completing the investigation, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ordered all evidence, including the videotapes, destroyed. This all played out months ago.

How fortuitous for Sen. Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, that his interest in the NFL’s Spygate investigation coincided with the weekend of the Super Bowl and the Patriots’ attempt to complete the league’s first undefeated season in 35 years. How noble of him to threaten to use the power of his office to shake down Mr. Goodell when the commissioner was overseeing the country’s greatest sports spectacle and preparing to deliver his annual state of the league speech.

What the Patriots did was not a crime under any jurisdiction. Breaking a corporation’s rule and breaking the law are not comparable offenses.

But Mr. Specter saw an unprecedented opportunity to get his face on television and his name in every newspaper in the continent. The media, providing blanket coverage of what would be the most-watched Super Bowl ever, wouldn’t be able to ignore the senator’s lame excuses for potential congressional intervention.

So, on the morning of the game, Sen. Specter made the rounds on the talking-head shows. “There are a lot of suspicious circumstances,” Sen. Specter told CNN, referencing the decision to destroy the Patriots’ videotapes. “There are a lot of questions which need to be answered.”

Actually, there aren’t. But being in elected office means you can turn old news into grounds for revoking an anti-trust exemption. Now Sen. Specter can participate in hearings that will be broadcast on ESPN in addition to CNN and Fox News.

Mr. Specter wants evidence? His grandstanding provides a mountain of additional evidence that Congress is far more interested in muscling into someone else’s spotlight than in adequately addressing anything of real importance to voters.