It was a good party wasn’t it? The celebrated guest was welcomed in the room, the group was cheering, toasting their brilliance in bringing the veteran Senator to their side of thinking. After the high fives, the drinking, the glad-handing, many woke up, rolled over, and realized that the guy lying next to them didn’t look so fine in the morning light.
The news today shows that Senator Arlen Specter isn’t going to get all the goodies he thought he would when he left the Republican Party. Kevin and I talked to Senator Specter on Monday. You can listen to that interview here.
He said he read that some Dems were mad about him keeping his seniority, but they didn’t tell him that. Well he got the message Tuesday when he found out he was at the bottom of the ladder on 4 of 5 committees, and the other one he was next to last.
It didn’t make sense to me that the Democrats would just let Specter cut in line. It’s preposterous that, as the Senator told us, Senator Reid said they would treat Specter as if he was a Democrat elected back in 1980. Really? Why?
I like Arlen Specter. This isn’t personal. I’m just going to wait and see what happens before I welcome him with open arms. He’s made some dumb comments recently. First support for Republican Norm Coleman, then regret for not voting for Republican Jeff Sessions back in the 80’s for the federal bench. Since we’re going back to the good ‘ole days, how about some clear reflection on your treatment of Anita Hill? After all, that’s where you got your nickname ‘Snarlin Arlen’ from.
Like all new hires, Senator Specter is on a probationary period. The Dems are smart to keep him in the wings and wait to reward him with top positions until they see where he stands on the issues. I predict he’ll stand firm on the Employee Free Choice Act, and switch to supporting government backed public health care. If he doesn’t change on health care I bet he’ll lose support and face a big challenger when the Primary rolls around.
Should be a lot of fun to watch in the next year…especially for the GOP.
Rush Limbaugh
E-Mail
Print
