Why is Arlen Specter jetting around on the taxpayers’ dime?

(Welcome, Best of the Web readers!  James Taranto is correct that nobody’s asking this question, and my readers are correct that Specter’s doing this “because he can,” but it still drives me nuts that, as a taxpayer, I’m funding this old duck’s last political hurrah.)

We all know who Arlen Specter is.  He’s a career Senator (30 years!), who started out as a Republican.  In 2009, however, because of overwhelming RINO tendencies, plus the imminent risk of losing his — and believe me, he thought of it as “his” — seat, Specter switched to the Democratic Party.

Specter’s gamble failed spectacularly.  Not only did he manage to end his career looking like a rank opportunist, he lost the Democratic primary too.  This year marks the end of Specter’s career.  He’s not a lame duck, he’s a dead duck, who isn’t even going to be on the ballot in November.

Apparently ducks, even dead ducks, can fly.  And fly.  And fly.  How else does one explain the fact that, in a week, Specter, using a combination of commercial and military aircraft, is jetting to a variety of colorful destinations.  Starting in Newark, he heads for London, Vienna, Tel Aviv, Damascus, Cairo, Paris and Philadelphia:


I confess that I am confused.  I’m simply unable to come up with a logical explanation for why a dead duck Senator would need to use “Milair” to travel to locations both scenic and, when it comes to the Middle East, politically sensitive.

If you understand Specter’s frenetic travel schedule, and if you know why American taxpayers are funding some part of it (no matter how small), please let me know.  I’ve searched Specter’s home page for information about the upcoming trip, but cannot find anything.

The one thing I know with certainty, however, is Specter’s new theme song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-7goYK9c4U[/youtube]