PrintDecember 22, 2010
You stay classy, Senator Specter (updated)
A parting shot to conservative Supreme Court Justices from a weasel of a former senator:
In his final speech on the Senate floor, Specter, the former GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, chastised Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito for "eroding the constitutional mandate of separation of powers.""The Supreme Court has been eating Congress' lunch by invalidating legislation with judicial activism after nominees commit under oath in confirmation proceedings to respect congressional fact finding and precedents," said Specter, who voted in favor of both Roberts and Alito when the Bush appointees came before his panel.Specter specifically took issue with the court's controversial 5-4 decision early this year, in which it relaxed federally-imposed campaign finance regulations for corporations and unions."Ignoring a massive congressional record and reversing recent decisions, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito repudiated their confirmation testimony given under oath and provided the key votes to permit corporations and unions to secretly pay for political advertising - thus effectively undermining the basic Democratic principle of the power of one person, one vote," said Specter. Chief Justice Roberts promised to just call balls and strikes and then he moved the bases."
If he got half as incensed at liberal judges who make law, overturned precedents, ignored the will of the people, and don't follow the Constitution, he might have a case to make. Apparently, Arlen's outrage only flows in one direction.
Which is an improvement considering his principles flowed down the toilet long ago.
Update - Katy Abram writes:
It was a sad day for Senator Arlen Specter as he took to the floor for the last time to give his farewell address to his friends and colleagues. I thought he would take this time to thank his colleagues and constituents for allowing him to serve in DC for the past 30 years, but as his speech began to put me to sleep his tone changed and so did the rhetoric.
The now politically impotent, soon be called former, Senator took this moment to point blame at those who he believes led him down the path of defeat. Specter threw down the gauntlet against an unnamed fellow Senator (Jim DeMint) for working against him during the Pennsylvania primary. "Senators have gone into other states to campaign against incumbents of the other party. Senators have even opposed their own party colleagues in primary challenges. That conduct was beyond contemplation in the Senate that I joined 30 years ago," said Specter.
The problem with incumbents watching each others backs in primaries is much like the robber protecting the bank. They will not watch out for the good of the community, rather they do what is in their own self interest. Senator DeMint, a champion of the conservative movement and believer in the Republican platform, had endorsed Pennsylvania Republican candidate for Senate, Pat Toomey during the primary. Senator Specter laid it out there today that this was unacceptable behavior.
Specter continued on his tirade stating that, "Eating or defeating your own, is a form of sophisticated cannibalism." He found it appalling that the "right wing extremists" in the Tea Party had undermined the GOP machine during the primary resulting in losses for Bill Bennett, Lisa Murkowski, and Mike Castle, each one a RINO in their own right.
On the contrary, I believe this isn't cannibalism, instead it is a form of weeding the garden. If you allow the weeds to take over you will end up with an unproductive plot of land. Weeding out the garden leads to a more prosperous and productive yield. The same goes for the Republican party. Moderates, like Senator Specter, have moved the entire party more to the left over the years leaving us with a Democrat party lite. That leaves much to be desired by the conservatives when it comes to the ballot on election day.
As Specter's snit fit continued he railed against the Tea Party movement again stating the GOP lost 3 Senate seats due to "unacceptable general election candidates." I would love to see the Senator's barometer of exactly what an acceptable candidate would be. Perhaps it would be someone who once voted against health care reform in 1994 and then voted for it years later? Or perhaps it would be someone who voted against card check and then later voted for it? Would this be considered an acceptable general election candidate, because that is the voting record of Senator Arlen Specter. Unlike the Senator, I trust the will of the people at the ballot box.
Soon the Senators tirade was over and he reminded the Senate in an ironic moment that "above all we need civility."
Sigh...
Katy Abram is the stay at home mom who told Senator Specter at a town hall meeting he had "awakened the sleeping giant." She is currently the Director of Policy for Americans for Prosperity in PA. She can be contacted at info@katyabram.com or Twitter/katyabram
