Althouse: Specter's seniority...

May 5, 2009

Specter's seniority...

... squandered.

48 comments:

Joan said...: Horace took the acronym right off my keyboard.; 5/5/09, 9:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Shouldn't that be "squander'd?"; 5/5/09, 9:36 PM
Kirk Parker said...: How I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning! Couldn't happen to a more deserving wretch...; 5/5/09, 9:43 PM
Eric said...: Poor Specter forgot the Democrats have been dealing with him for 29 years, so they already know what a jackass he is.

I doubt he'll make it past the primary in 2010.; 5/5/09, 9:45 PM
Anonymous said...: a critical foothold Specter has used in the past to disperse billions of dollars to Pennsylvania.

Tremble before our professionalism, you pajama-wearing dilettantes!; 5/5/09, 9:47 PM
Michael Haz said...: Arlen, you done been screwed, boy.; 5/5/09, 9:47 PM
Anonymous said...: On second thought, I like the unwitting accuracy of "disperse". Fits right in with the squandering theme too.; 5/5/09, 9:54 PM
David said...: "No fool like an old fool."; 5/5/09, 10:12 PM
Mark O said...: Now that's a "magic bullet."; 5/5/09, 10:13 PM
Dale said...: Pity.

Hated listening to him from the Clarence Thomas hearings on - and I supported Thomas against the beautiful but ultimately-dispensable-in-the-feminist-universe Anita Hill.

Hated listening to him when he shepherded Roberts and Alito through - though he wasn't nearly as essential as he wants everyone to think.

Now he will slowly fade away, grasping only a Senate Seat - and even that's up in the air right now.

Just deserts.; 5/5/09, 10:13 PM
1775OGG said...: But they loved him! What went wrong?; 5/5/09, 10:27 PM
DaLawGiver said...: Like a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick, Arlen never saw it coming. Man, that's gotta hurt.; 5/5/09, 10:28 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: That's a nice "big tent" the Democrats have, isn't it?; 5/5/09, 10:29 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm actually a little sad for the man.

I said a little.; 5/5/09, 10:30 PM
Ralph L said...: Senority? Is that Spanish? Does it need a squiggly thing?

Specter didn't negotiate all this before switching? What a fool.; 5/5/09, 10:32 PM
Anonymous said...: It's almost Biblical--like Esau selling his birthright for a mess of pottage.; 5/5/09, 10:36 PM
MnMark said...: This whole arrangement where politicians use seniority to plunder the taxpayer for the benefit of their constituents needs to be reworked. Why not get back to the idea of citizen legislators and limit Senators and Congressmen to one term? If we had to choose someone new each time maybe voters would pay closer attention to actual qualifications.; 5/5/09, 10:43 PM
Cedarford said...: Yeah, sweet surprise for Snarlin' Arlen!
It gets better. Tom Ridge may run if he can beat rightwing Club For Growth nutcase Twoomey...which he should do easily.
And the Democrats are bucking Big Ed Rendell and wanting to run rather than give old Specter 6 more years of power. Especially if Ridge runs - instead of a Wall Street toady like Twoomey that Specter could easily beat.

My dream is Arlen then goes back to the Republicans, screaming he was betrayed...and the Republicans give him full seniority back as long as he agrees to transfer his impressive war chest from AIPAC and other donors to Tom Ridge. (Leaders already consider Twoomey unelectable in Pennsylvania).; 5/5/09, 10:50 PM
KCFleming said...: Calling Specter a whore is an insult to prostitutes.; 5/5/09, 11:00 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Welcome to the Democrat Party. Now go to the back of the bus where you belong. Ha ha ha ha ha, hee, hee, hee, hee.

They treated him like the joke he always was.; 5/5/09, 11:06 PM
somefeller said...: Specter made many comments recently (regarding health care, the Minnesota US Senatorial race and support for fair unionization) that showed little real support for the Democratic Party and its positions, and it's clear that Specter jumped parties just because he was likely to lose the GOP primary. If we wants Democratic support, then he needs to show support for the Democratic Party. Until that day comes, he should expect an arms-length welcome. That's not a double-cross, that's just common-sense politics in the current circumstances.; 5/5/09, 11:12 PM
William said...: Spector is 79 years old and has had a major illness. In all those years on earth has he discovered nothing better to do with his remaining time than be a cranky senator? The political class--and this applies to both parties--is filled with self-serving, self-justifying, self-involved hacks whose only source of self respect is the power they exercise.; 5/5/09, 11:13 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Seems fair.; 5/5/09, 11:40 PM
Peter Hoh said...: and fairly funny, too.; 5/5/09, 11:43 PM
KCFleming said...: The Specter was a comic book superhero who had the advantage of actually being dead.

That trick doesn't work so well for sitting Senators, though.; 5/5/09, 11:44 PM
Sofa King said...: Why can't we see the pictures from the Air Force One photo op that terrorized New York? What is the administration hiding?; 5/5/09, 11:59 PM
reader_iam said...: What karmic bullshit goes 'round might-may-will come 'round, every once in a while &, more to the point, eventually, Sen. Specter, you sumbitch. You were a corrupt, opportunistic, disingenuous manipulator at least as far back as the early '70s, and so you finally reap. Sorta--but only sorta.

(For the record, I despise Arlen Specter for reasons that precede his couple o' decades of unfortunate senatorial influence, and it hasn't a rat's ass to do with what party or dance he's currently kicking up or in.); 5/6/09, 1:27 AM
Thorley Winston said...: I guess he forgot to get the thirty pieces of silver in advance.

Prediction: despite what "assurances" he thought he received, Specter's new colleagues will only give him minimum support and he won't survive the primary.; 5/6/09, 1:49 AM
Mr. Forward said...: SPECTER (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Extortion and Revenge.); 5/6/09, 1:49 AM
rhhardin said...: The job of the senior employees in an actual business is to make themselves redundant, so maybe Specter is behaving honorably.

There will be no shock to the nation when he is voted out or carried out.; 5/6/09, 4:06 AM
Unknown said...: Specter takes over as the dumbest man in the Senate. This title was once held by Pat Leahey.; 5/6/09, 4:17 AM
Greg Hlatky said...: "We will astonish the world with our ingratitude" - Camillo Cavour; 5/6/09, 5:47 AM
hdhouse said...: Peter V. Bella said...
"They treated him like the joke he always was."

Well Peter think it through. YOUR party elected him for a quarter of a century....gotta say something about republicans....; 5/6/09, 5:47 AM
Bissage said...: Senator Specter’s miscalculation takes on tragic proportions once you realize his “Plan B” was to make rain for Wolf Block.; 5/6/09, 5:51 AM
Meade said...: "Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees..."

Trapped in limbo, Specter should be able to commiserate with the equally self-serving (former) Democratic senator, John Edwards, whose wife won't divorce him but publicly won't say she loves him or that she believes his love-child denial.; 5/6/09, 6:37 AM
goesh said...: damn that geezer anyway; 5/6/09, 6:41 AM
LutherM said...: Specter kept neither his seniority nor his reputation. He followed the example of the wrong role models - Benedict Arnold also did not get the promised rewards.
And Judas "departed, and went and hanged himself."; 5/6/09, 6:41 AM
AllenS said...: Maybe Specter is simply bipartison. Bipartison to such an extent, that it's a fault. Let's embrace bipartisonship. It's well, good for the country.; 5/6/09, 6:43 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Specter did say he found himself aligned more with the philosophy of the democrats.
So, the backstabbing, the going back on a deal couldn’t have been a surprise.; 5/6/09, 6:53 AM
traditionalguy said...: Specter always seemed to me to want to be the important Senator no one could do without when faced with any problem. To do that, he went into areas where he could save the day by brokering a dispute. Since Obama hss moved the old known disputes far into irrelevancy, Arlen had no role to play and no one ever liked his superior style anyway. Twoomey could at least win the Republican vote by standing up to Obama's new world of Facist rule. But Arlen couldnot even figure out how to join it by surrendering to it.; 5/6/09, 7:14 AM
Michael said...: Betrayal is often met with betrayal.; 5/6/09, 7:31 AM
Amexpat said...: There should be an upper age limit for Senators.

While we're at, for SCOTUS too. Kudos to Souter for bowing out before feebleness set in.; 5/6/09, 7:57 AM
SteveR said...: Democrats did to Specter what Republicans had wanted to do for years.; 5/6/09, 8:32 AM
bearbee said...: 44 years ago Specter changed from Democrat to Republican.

At age 79 the change shrieks of desperation.

Why would Democrats render to him anything more than a few meaningless tokens?; 5/6/09, 9:15 AM
Original Mike said...: Hardee har har har.; 5/6/09, 9:40 AM
Trooper York said...: But how can he still be a senator after he was convicted of shooting that barbarian princess twat.

Man he is having a bad year.; 5/6/09, 10:18 AM
Cedarford said...: Jeanine said...
Specter takes over as the dumbest man in the Senate. This title was once held by Pat Leahey..

The title "dumbest person in the Senate" was held by religious right nutjob Sen Smith of NH for years. Then he was replaced by Senator Boxer, who in replacing Smith, helped profoundly dispell the stereotype that all Jews are smart.

Sen Boxer has had many rivals over the years. Pat Leahy, Mel Martinez, John McCain..and most recently "Tombstone" Burris. Even her equally vapid fellow female Senator Patty Murray.

But she still reigns at the bottom.; 5/6/09, 12:49 PM
TMink said...: Eric wrote: "Poor Specter forgot the Democrats have been dealing with him for 29 years, so they already know what a jackass he is."

And he forgot how they work things, if he ever noticed.

Trey; 5/6/09, 1:02 PM