Specter is the smarmiest of republicans...

[WCGreen]

Reason: he gets to play the independent thinker...

A Rodinesque figure, if you will...

They call him the "Ponderer"...

When the Oval Office wants political cover for what ever they wish to do, send ol' Arlen out to lightly take a jab at the administration...

Remember how he was going to ask the tough questions of the SC nominees...

But when push comes to vote, you can count on Ol' Arlen to be there right with the rest of the locksteppers...

The problem is the press buys into this crap, calling him a voice of bipartisanship...

Well he reminds me of the sleazy commander in Catch-22 who told Yossarian that he was behind him all the way...

That is until he had to be...

Well Ol' Arlen was paraded out on Air Force One and guess what, the press bought it...

People right here on DU bought it...

He was brought along to show the press that there are Republicans who will stand up to the president...

But when push come to shove...

The Specter is no more than that...

A ghost of a man who leaves no lasting impression anywhere...

Poof, his bipartisan stands disappear...

Just like that...

[dchill]

1. Hey! That's MY senator you're talking about...

And you're absolutely right.

[Lugnut]

15. Mine also

And ditto. He's worse than useless.

[Zywiec]

2. How many people are on the Judiciary Committee?

Specter is one of NINETEEN. So turning him will do what with a Democratic majority?

[WCGreen]

5. You missed the point...

He has been built up to be this paragon of bipartisanship...

But he always, always votes the way the leadership, whether that is the Senate or White House, of the GOP wants him to vote...

[Zywiec]

6. So what vote is in question?

[WCGreen]

7. The way he was talking tough about Fredo...

But he would never vote to impeach him...

It's all part of the dog and pony show known as the GOP...

[polichick]

19. It's kind of amazing...

He must have a hell of a PR person!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Yes, I saw that....

And the respect I'd had for him just up and vanished...

Like the specter he is.....

I'd really thought better of him...

Too bad...

On edit: K&R

[Mike Nelson]

4. Yep...

His job is to LOOK tough and indy.

[dbt]

8. K & R for the Brain-Dead Goob who

said we ought to explore impeaching Clinton AGAIN (NBC "News") after he had left office. Funny, you can't hear a WORD about impeachment out of him nowadays...

[zulchzulu]

9. Arlen Specter = Right Wing Paper Tiger

Whenever Specter appears to be reasonable, make sure you just ignore him. He ALWAYS goes back to being a puppet. Name the event, name the issue and you can see he talks tough...but in the end, he wilts and falls back.

[Lugnut]

16. It astounds me that people are still fooled by him

He growls and scowls for the cameras then folds like a deck of cards when it's voting time.

[Klukie]

10. couldn't agree more n/t

[Randypiper]

11. What a weasel

According to the Capitol Briefing blog at the Washington Post, Arlen Specter was unable to even decide how he wanted to vote when it came down to whether or not Bush administration officials should be subpoenaed to appear before the Judiciary Committee. On voice vote, when the ayes were called for, all the Democrats and Chuck Grassley of Iowa voted ayes and Specter looked like his lips moved but said nothing. When the nays were asked for, Specter’s lips remained motionless.

Following the vote, when asked which way he voted by the press he told them he wasn’t going to say how he voted and that if the press didn’t notice he wasn’t going to help them. Finally, Specter relented saying, “The fact of the matter is that I did not say anything. I did not vote and say either ‘aye’ or ‘nay’. I just sat there hoping that it would all go away through negotiations. Factually, I did not say a thing”

http://www.keystonepolitics.com/specter-unwilling-take-stand-congressional-subpoenas

[rateyes]

12. Whaddaya expect from...

Warren Commission Specter?

[gulliver]

13. Specter does his little "All Star Wrestling" kabuki ...

... every time a Republican is in trouble. When it is clear that a fellow Republican deserves punishment, Specter's job is to pretend to punish them. They, in turn, pretend to be hurt. Specter never delivers a real blow to a fellow Republican, though. He just makes a lot of noise. Then he quietly does everything in his power to help his fellow Republican out of trouble.

And you're right. The press is stupid for not seeing Specter's game. Maybe they even see it, but as with All Star Wrestling, they suspend disbelief in the interest of advertising revenue.

Dems should completely nail Specter. Right now, they are playing him. Not sure it is working.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Water boy

He's **always** been a right wing water boy.

Does anyone recall th single bullet? That was Arlen's work. One of his first mob hit job successes.

[Cobalt-60]

17. Specters distance from Bush = 0.0

they got a picture of him on Shrub's butt cam the other day.
Make no mistake, this man is as much a Shrubber as Santorum.
He just doesn't want to accompany Chimpy and Ricky into political oblivion

[mcg]

18. Republicans are flipping while they're flopping.

They want to act like they're standing up to Bush while at the same time supporting him.