You wrote:

"I was taken aback by Specter's dismissive attitude toward homeopathic medicine. As a scientist (admittedly not in the life sciences), I have a hard time outright dismissing any idea as stupid without seeing a rigorous analysis of a large data set that contradicts it..."

Well said!

In fact, there is some pretty good evidence for some homeopathic claims. See the controversy between Jacques Benveniste and Nature magazine. Benveniste may have been wrong but he was a totally honest person and an excellent scientist. To dismiss his work without knowing about in detail is unscientific.