Spector neer followed what the GoP considers it's basic principles, he should never have been one to begin with.
How ironic, given that he was elected with Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Didn't he vote with his party 70% of the time?
This is the problem with the GOP - it has become an ideological litmus test.
A political party is not an ideological circle-jerk. It is a coalition of like-minded people to attain power. By its very definition, it is a political compromise. The narrower the coalition, the less likely it has to attain and maintain power. The Small Tent Republicans are intent upon making themselves feel better while making themselves more irrelevant. What a brilliant strategy.
So if the GOP wants to become the party of Southern, rural baptists, be my guest. Its bad for the country but a decade of cold showers will be good for the party.
As I said before... the problem with the GOP is that they've become Statists. The quicker they lose the love for government, the better for their party. The main opposition to the GOP in 2008 was its support for war, invasion of privacy, support for torture, inflation and a housing bubble, and the list goes on and on; in other words, everything Statists love.