Huffington Post: Specter will/will not support a “public option.”

Alternate headline: Arlen Specter has a magic nickel that tells him what to say.

Via Dan Riehl and Memeorandum – Sen Arlen Specter (?-Pa) announces his support for a “robust public option” on the same website where he once said he would vote against it:

On a public option for health insurance — which conservatives claim will end the private market, but most observers say could bring down the costs of coverage for millions of Americans — “Specter said he would be in opposition. That’s what I said and that’s what I meant,” he added later, when asked if he would vote “no” on public health care.

That was in May. Today, Specter himself writes:

As debate continues on much needed health care reform, I urge my Senate colleagues to support a robust public option plan.

Not that nobody can ever change their minds, of course. But such a wide swing from one end to another – from “no” to “yes, please” – requires a little explanation, doesn’t it?

Even if that explanation is: “I flip a coin every time somebody asks me something and just give whatever answer the coin gives me, because my coin loves me and would never do me wrong.” Does Specter even have as rational an explanation as that?