Senator Arlen Specter made statements on Sunday, ahead of tomorrow’s hearing to determine whether or not Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can remember his lines, suggesting that the fired US Attorneys who were let go without proper cause be reinstated. We’ve seen this movie before, with the former judiciary committee chairman ramping up into something involving the Bush administration like a man who has the republic’s best interests at heart, only to then back off and allow whatever sham initiative his party favors take over. It happened with warrantless wiretapping, the decision to not make Gonzo take the oath prior to testimony (this incident sparking an argument with Senator Feingold in front of everyone), signing statements, torture, habeas corpus…the Senator will talk tough in the days leading up to the showdown, and then fold like a lawn chair once its time to back up his words with action.
He retains a certain amount of respect from everyone for supposedly standing up for what’s right, but a close look at his record clearly indicates that he is indeed, a hack. Not a shameless hack like the people he provides political cover to so often, simply because his ability to know right from wrong is obvious based on his tough talk leading up to historical moments in Congress, but that only makes him worse in my opinion. At least when a hack like Gonzales is speaking, everyone (including himself) knows that what’s being said is complete bullshit. When Specter comes out a day or two before Gonzo is about to testify with a statement like, “(paraphrasing) questions hanging over the dismissals are sufficiently large that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should consider reinstating the eight”, you know he’s merely paying lip service to that voice inside of him, the one that urges him to stand up and defend his principles for the sake of what’s right, and perhaps even do something that would qualify his mention in a postscript in a future reprinting of JFK’s ‘Profiles in Courage’.
That ship has sailed. His moment came and went, and he was a hack throughout. As welcome a development his becoming an honorable man at this point would certainly be, until he actually follows up his words with action, he’s still a hack in my book. Right there in the same category as Orin Hatch and Jeff Sessions, Senator Arlen Specter will most likely go on being the con artist he is and hope that historians aren’t as wise as his contemporaries are. (Source: McClatchy, Privacy and Security Law Blog,
Arlen Specter, who unfortunately is my Senator, is well known in PA for talking out of both sides of his mouth. He is like a puff of smoke — lots of smoke, then nothing. He hasn’t been called Chameleon, The Manchurian Senator, A Gutless Republican Worm and Wafflin’ Arlen for nothing. Only reason he was considered “moderate” is because that our other Senator was Santorum.
After calling Gonzales a liar during the proceedings today, he then refuses to say that Gonzales should be fired. Need I say more?
You can set your watch to it…
As chairman of the judiciary committee he failed.