A debate is raging in the conservative community about Arlen Specter, the liberal Republican senator from Pennsylvania who is slated by seniority rules to become the next Senate Judiciary Chairman.

Some people worry that Senator Specter would block President Bush’s court nominees that take a strict constructionist view of the Constitution. If that’s the case, then having Specter be the committee’s gatekeeper would be little better than having a liberal Democrat. Recently, I received this e-mail from Douglas Urbanski, who told of a meeting he once had with the senator:

Arlen Specter personally told me that the number one thing he regretted was his questioning of Anita Hill and his vigorous support of Clarence Thomas. Let me repeat: Specter made it clear that he did not think much of Thomas, and, in our chat Specter did his best to distance himself from these events. For what it is worth, Specter also elaborated that he thought President Reagan was too fanatically conservative and regretted much of his support for President Reagan.

Specter thinks Ronald Reagan is a fanatical conservative? Draw your own conclusions.