Sen. Arlen Specter seems to be spending an awful lot of time these days investigating the alleged illegal taping by a New England Patriots employee of football practice by opposing teams. The Pennsylvania Republican, one of the World’s Most Exclusive Club’s most distinguished windbags, has been interviewing the worker and dramatizing outrage over his instructions to not wear the Patriots’ logo while allegedly spying.

Exactly why does this matter require the prolonged attention of a senior U.S. senator? What an utter waste of time and money! The National Football League should be perfectly capable of policing its own members, and, truth be told, has been on the case, and then some. And we must note how astonishingly unimportant the isssue is to the future of The Great Republic.

It would seem to us that Senator Specter, a particularly pompous Philadelphia Eagles fan, would simply rather hang around “glamorous” pro football than do substantive work in Washington. Still, even with his well-known addiction to grandstanding, Mr. Specter should be able to get his publicity fix in the halls of Congress on what is truly the people’s business and not on some silly scandal in a branch of the entertainment industry.