Althouse: "Elena Kagan's nomination couldn't come at a worse time for Arlen Specter."

May 13, 2010

"Elena Kagan's nomination couldn't come at a worse time for Arlen Specter."

"Unlike his fellow Democrats, he's been unable to fawn over President Obama's Supreme Court pick, or push Republicans to grant her swift confirmation. That's because, just last year, Specter voted against confirming Kagan as Solicitor General...when he was a member of the GOP."

And there's only 1 week left before the primary. His challenger Joe Sestak has closed in on Specter and is running this ad:

Ouch. I'm assuming ouch — from the perspective of Democratic primary voters. For me, when George W. Bush popped up, I felt... Oh! It doesn't matter what I felt. The point is GWB is the bogeyman for true-blue Democrats.

42 comments:

mesquito said...: If Specter loses, will this mean that the Dems are becoming narrow, fanatical, ideologically rigid, and intolerant?; 5/13/10, 10:26 AM
AllenS said...: Specter is another one that I'd like to see gone. I don't care if he leaves as a Republican or Democrat. We need fresh blood in there.; 5/13/10, 10:33 AM
AllenS said...: Make Specter a Spectater!

Great campaign slogan.; 5/13/10, 10:33 AM
lemondog said...: I believe Specter was a democrat before he was a republican before he was a democrat.

Nobody can call him narrow, fanatical, ideologically rigid, and intolerant.; 5/13/10, 10:36 AM
Roger J. said...: Mr Specter's only allegience is to Mr Specter--he gives opportunism a bad name.; 5/13/10, 10:37 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Specter is a diseased husk of a man with desiccated soul. While I would love to see him lose in the general, losing in the primary is actually good.; 5/13/10, 10:47 AM
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) said...: Althouse: the last true-blue fan of George W. Bush.

Ideologically, it makes sense. "Compassionate conservatism" is a centrist doctrine, and the war on terror policies have held up rather well (save for the initial decision to go into Iraq; opportunity costs!)...; 5/13/10, 10:47 AM
Meade said...: Arlen - name meaning, origin

The boy's name Arlen \a-rlen, ar-len\, also used as girl's name Arlen, is pronounced AR-len. It is of Gaelic origin, and its meaning is "pledge, oath".; 5/13/10, 10:48 AM
GMay said...: AA said: "For me, when George W. Bush popped up, I felt... Oh! It doesn't matter what I felt."

I was not his biggest fan. Still not a fan. However, none of my dislike for Gdub has a thing to do with Iraq, Darth Cheney, or the billions of kittens he most certainly sent to the gas chambers.

But I'm so glad I took terminal leave when I retired so I don't have Obama's name on my retirement certificate. Dodged a big bullet there.; 5/13/10, 10:52 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: The vibe here in PA is Specter is toast. Hard, stale, old rotten toast heh.

BTW, his primary opponent, Joe Sestak, may be a bigger socialist than President Obama.; 5/13/10, 10:57 AM
garage mahal said...: The point is GWB is the bogeyman for true-blue Democrats.

Not just true blue Dems. Anyone outside the 25% that loves the guy. No coicidence Specter started tanking in the polls after Sestek started linking him to Bush.; 5/13/10, 10:58 AM
Meade said...: Barack Hussein Arlen Obama; 5/13/10, 10:58 AM
John Stodder said...: Were we discussing "dick moves" a few weeks ago?

Arlen Specter is a compulsive dick mover. It was a dick move to vote against her confirmation as Solicitor General, a position for which almost absolute deference should be shown the president. It is a double-dick move now to be counted on as a vote for her nomination to SCOTUS (given his prior vote, not her qualifications). It will be a triple-dick move to hear him explain it. And, if he loses the primary, everything he does from then on will surely be mega-dick moves.

He will be on a dick move jag til the day he dies. The only reason to doubt the Warren Commission Report on JFK's assassination is that Specter was involved with it.; 5/13/10, 10:59 AM
Roger J. said...: Garage suggests linking snarlin arlen to GWB is the reason arlen is tanking--given the recent results of primary elections across the country, look like anti-incumbent may also be an significant explanation.; 5/13/10, 11:00 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: He never fooled me for one second. He's neither a Republican or a Democrat. His last name is a clear giveaway to who he really is!; 5/13/10, 11:05 AM
Original Mike said...: Arlen gone? Now that's change I can believe in!; 5/13/10, 11:05 AM
lemondog said...: Youtube Obama for Specter

Snort!; 5/13/10, 11:10 AM
MadisonMan said...: Who will really care if he's not re-elected?; 5/13/10, 11:12 AM
Roger J. said...: MM: only Arlen Specter; 5/13/10, 11:13 AM
Original Mike said...: "Bye-bye", Arlen.; 5/13/10, 11:15 AM
TosaGuy said...: I was in Harrisburg a few weeks ago on business and on my evening searches for dinner and drinks along the only street in downtown H-burg that features such a thing I also found Specter's local campaign office.

My experience with campaign offices is that a couple of weeks before a tight election they are be very busy at 6:30 in the evening. This one was closed every night I was there.

The yard signs were split equally between Spector and Sestak.; 5/13/10, 11:32 AM
rhhardin said...: Probably it's the phrase "short squat toad-like woman."

I assume Imus's Rob Bartlett's Don Corleone got the phrase from Secter.; 5/13/10, 11:43 AM
Original Mike said...: Was just able to watch the ad. Pretty effective.

"My change in party will enable me to be re-elected".

Time and time again I hear politicians say things that sound awful, that you know are going to come back to bite them, when all they have to do is just keep their mouth shut.

Is there a "dumb gene" which predisposes someone to become a politician?; 5/13/10, 12:09 PM
John Salmon said...: As a PA Republican, I'd like o see Specter win the primary by, oh, one vote-so Pat Toomey can win the seat. Sestak's a wild card-don't know how he'll play among the larger electorate. He's running way to the left now.

I don't see Obama making any great last-minute efforts to boost Specter-though that might help him, especially in Philadelphia. The WH knows Sestak's got at least an arguably better shot at the seat than Snarlin' Arlen.; 5/13/10, 12:14 PM
Original Mike said...: @John, Yes, and I had the same thought at hearing that Mollohan went down. Better that the incumbants make it to the general. Still, it will be hard not to smile if Specter is out.; 5/13/10, 12:25 PM
Phil 314 said...: Althouse: the last true-blue fan of George W. Bush.

Where did that come from?

Not just true blue Dems. Anyone outside the 25% that loves the guy.

Not that I can define "love" but this suggests more than 25% (if not love) want GWB back.

Likewise it looks like a fair number of folks are no longer feeling "the love" for BO. (Undoubtedly racists all); 5/13/10, 12:27 PM
traditionalguy said...: Arlen had his day of throwing around an enormous weight of the "Reasoned" attorney doing a clean job for his constituents by insider deals. That has been his carefully played role for 30 years, but it was always his one trick poney phony act. Today the one thing that sickens everybody is his style of phoney method acting like Marlon Brando. He just needs to decide for or against the forces in motion to destroy or to save the USA. There is no such thing as a reasoned compromise there worth believing in another year.; 5/13/10, 12:32 PM
Big Mike said...: The point is GWB is the bogeyman for true-blue Democrats.

Yes, he tried to improve education for inner city Black children. Democrats hate that sort of thing.; 5/13/10, 12:38 PM
Big Mike said...: mesquito asked "If Specter loses, will this mean that the Dems are becoming narrow, fanatical, ideologically rigid, and intolerant?"

Easiest way to answer is with another question. Has there been any time in the last forty years when the Democrats have not been narrow, fanatical, ideologically rigid, and intolerant?; 5/13/10, 12:43 PM
Original Mike said...: Yes, he tried to improve education for inner city Black children. Democrats hate that sort of thing.

Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) they apparently do.; 5/13/10, 12:44 PM
Phil 314 said...: Teachers matter more than inner city Black children as this person has found out; 5/13/10, 12:50 PM
Unknown said...: Specter The Defecter.

He was a fairly good DA in Philly, as opposed to Fast Eddie "Let's Make a Deal" Rendell, and he and Frank Rizzo were a good crime-busting team, but that's the last good thing he did.

One of the first things Dubya did where I really broke ranks with him was supporting Specter over Pat Toomey, in fact doing all he could to go against the will of the state party.

This is long overdue.

WV "skygard" What we need instead of Big Sis and the TSA.; 5/13/10, 2:19 PM
D. B. Light said...: Writing from "bitter clinger" country in central Penna.

My take on Specter's chances is that it all depends on turnout. If the Democrat turnout is low, then the machine will push Specter past Sestak. If the Dems are energized they will nominate the new kid on the block. Agreed, Specter is a loathsome creature, but Sestak is really scary and should be rejected for the good of the State and nation.; 5/13/10, 2:32 PM
ricpic said...: Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said --
I'd perforce pull the lever for Hannibal Lecter
Than Specter.; 5/13/10, 3:03 PM
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) said...: About Bush 43, though. In spite of his bad domestic policies, I just can't help liking the man.

I see a clip of him like that, and I smile. It is what it is.

My first Republican presidential vote, Bush '04.; 5/13/10, 3:46 PM
Eric said...: Not just true blue Dems. Anyone outside the 25% that loves the guy.

And yet the public is about evenly divided on whether or not they'd rather have GWB than Obama. Poor Jug Ears. He's going to have a really difficult time being successful in his first real job.; 5/13/10, 4:08 PM
Eric said...: Specter would have done well to watch a few episodes of Survivor. You can get ahead knifing people in the back, but you can't turn on everyone.; 5/13/10, 4:12 PM
mariner said...: AllenS:

"Make Specter a Spectre"; 5/13/10, 5:33 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: You assume the Democratic primary voters are as into groupthink and guilt-by-association as your crowd is.; 5/13/10, 6:04 PM
Big Mike said...: You assume the Democratic primary voters are as into groupthink and guilt-by-association as your crowd is.

Well, no. They're actually much more into groupthink than the average Althouse commentator is.; 5/13/10, 7:43 PM
Meade said...: US Attorney General Eric Holder has told Congress that "several people" had been taken into custody for immigration violations in the Times Square case...

The searches were the product of evidence gathered in the investigation into Faisal Shahzad's alleged bombing attempt, but there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States," FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.

Faisal Shahzad lovers blame George W. Bush.; 5/13/10, 7:52 PM
Ken Pidcock said...: @John, I can't agree. In a year when we can predict that a generic Republican will defeat a generic Democrat, I think we can predict that Pat Toomey will defeat Joe Sestak. Meanwhile, many conservative Pennsylvania Democrats have been comfortable, for years, voting for Arlen Specter, and they may be once again.

As a Pennsylvania Democrat who buys into this scenario, I could never look Joe Sestak in the eye. He's worked hard for this opportunity, and had the full support of the party establishment until Specter bolted his party. And Specter only bolted his party because he knew he would be crushed in the 2010 Republican primary. (That observation, in my opinion, is proving more useful to Sestak than any link between Specter and George W. Bush. Few Pennsylvania Democrats are BDS sufferers.)

But that's politics, the favorite sport of the Keystone State.; 5/13/10, 7:57 PM