I am disturbed about the exchange between Specter and Kennedy today.

[hang a left]

Something is bothering me about the exchange that took place today between Specter and Kennedy. I have watched it a couple of times and I have thought about it. Something about it just doesn’t seem authentic.

During the second viewing I noticed at the beginning of the confrontation Specter turns around to one of his aides and you hear him say, “I got a letter…”. Before he could finish Kennedy launches into his tirade about sending the letter and he knows what he sent and so on. Kennedy is tearing into him as if he was denying he sent a letter but at the beginning Specter was attempting to admit he received something. Now I don’t know if the two men were talking about the same thing originally or not. I don’t know it just left me uneasy. Anyone else sense this?

Also equally bothersome, is I am thinking that the whole CAP records issue might be a trap. Why would they allow access to those records if they hadn’t already been “cleaned up”. I mean it’s not like we have been able to get any other documents we have ever requested (ie Bolton, Roberts et al). It was mentioned, after the lunch break today, that the LOC had received a request for the records, but according to Specter, because they didn’t know who the request had come from they did not fulfill the request. My point is, they knew that the Democrats were seeking those documents, and after Kennedy had his fit, they allowed access to the documents. That has never worked before, why did it work now? Does anyone get what I am saying?

So if it turns out that there is nothing there, we are going to look bad. I can hear the spin now….”those nasty dems just beat poor Alito up and made his wife cry and put him through hell when all along he was telling the truth. He couldn’t remember because there was really no personal involvement in the organization by Alito.” So the worst thing that could come out of this for this nominee is that he lied on a job application to curry favor with a nasty right-wing administration. Well come on, that is no reason for a filibuster.

Did we go after a red-herring? Were we set up? Or, even worse, are we throwing the fight?

I hope my instincts are wrong.

[shance]

1. It looked as if Specter realized his hand was caught in the cookie jar

Because he said "how do you know if I received it?"

What kind of defensive answer is that?

Then Kennedy just happened to have proof that Specter had received it.

[AX10]

2. That seems right to me.

[applegrove]

7. Remember how Nancy Pelosi was shaking after meeting with Bush

& others during the Katrina crisi - she visited the WH and Bush had said "what went wrong?". Or some such thing to her?

It happens. Being faced with liars will do that.

[Patsy Stone]

3. Nah

I think it's just two more candidates for the "Coot-Off". If Teddy was thinking he was being ignored, he'd have been as angry as he was. If Specter thought he was being accused unjustly, he'd have been as angry as he was.

If Specter was questioning the aide, then the only dastardly plot that I could imagine is that someone stymied the request.

The documents will at least shed some light on what this CAP really was and that's more than we know now.

[punpirate]

4. There's a bit of a difference...

... in the records matter--in the case of Bolton and Roberts, it was the WH doing the stonewalling, while in this case, it's business records of an organization filed by the owner of the documents with the Library of Congress. The LoC is an arm of Congress, not the WH, so it should be easier.

The offered reason from Specter's staff was that they were personal records. That doesn't wash, because a subpoena is a subpoena, and Kennedy's staff replied, no, they were business records of a well-known organization held by an individual.

Actually, what can come out from those records is membership files, unattributed editorials and other communications between Alito and the group which would pin him down. It's a crap shoot on the part of the Kennedy staff--they're counting on there being something substantive in the files.

Cheers.

[hang a left]

8. That makes sense.

Let us hope that Kennedy knows not to ask a question unless he knows the answer, huh?

[LSK]

16. thats what I was thinking too as I read the OP

[journalist3072]

5. It seems as though Specter flop-flopped to me....

At first he said this was the first he had heard of Ted Kennedy's request.

And then he said something about he talked about it with someone over the phone before he left for Iraq (or something to that effect).

Did anyone else notice that?

[hang a left]

6. Yes..

I heard that whole explanation after they came back from lunch. What I was referring to in my first paragraph, is the initial interaction between the two before the lunch break.

[tnlefty]

12. My gut reaction was that Sen. Kennedy wanted to get this into the record.

Think about the numbers of articles that have been posted here about how the Dems have been shut out of the process, i.e., not being notified of committee meetings, letters ignored, etc. I remember seeing Charlie Rangel on c-span talking about this very thing.

[progressivebydesign]

9. Specter came off as an addled old fool... way too defensive.

He sounded like a total nincompoop who could not even lie properly. He turned the exchange into a fight about whether or not he received a letter. God.. it was embarrassing for him. what a twit.

[carolinalady]

10. I do not know whether or not this is true, but I heard on one of the

news programs that over the lunch break Specter sent one of his aides to the library and he was immediately given the records without a subpeona. I think the RW guy who was in control of those records may have set us up.

[dweller]

11. if you could view the cspan coverage

after they broke for lunch, with Leahy and Kennedy speaking with reporters, Kennedy said the request was made and they had a message back saying the documents would not be requested, and then he responded with a message that 'it was a mistake' not to get the docs. Or that's the way i heard it. So this all went on back and forth before the hearings.

I think Kennedy was just trying to get it in the record that the request had been refused, and he had already warned Specter that it would be a mistake to refuse, so then comes the hearing and he was pointing out he had made the request. During the dustup at the hearing btwn Ted and Arlen, Kennedy questioned whether he did get the request, (and it sounds like he was unsure whether or not Arlen had said he did/didn't recieve it) and Arlen started his sanctimonious diatribe immediately in response which if you listen carefully seems way overblown in response to a question...about did you say you did (or didn't?).

So i gathered, or am just speculating they had already had some civil, yet testy exchanges before the hearings, and nothing had progressed from it. Kennedy was crossing t's , dotting i's. It's on the record now.


just mho.

dp

[hang a left]

kay...thanks

I didn't catch the press conference after the break. I went and got something to eat.

[cry baby]

13. The spin you are talking about is already happening...

and I believe it's effective.

I am really, exceptionally depressed about the direction our country is going in. The media is how most Americans get their info, right? The media is trying their best to paint dems in a bad light because they are asking the questions that need to be asked of this nominee. Liberals have been dissed for so long now that it's easy for anyone to believe that we are the bad guys. Anyone that watches tv news or reads newspapers are going to believe that those mean LIBRULS made that poor woman cry.

I am a proud lib and feel alone (with the exception of DU and a few other blogs) in my panic that this is a pivotal moment in history and we are taking the wrong fork in the road.

[hang a left]

15. I feel ya...

turn off the tv. I did a couple of years ago, it does wonders for you. I have even been able to lower my meds. :)

[cry baby]

17. you're right, of course! I also made the mistake of listening to

cspan callers during the breaks of the hearings today. BIG MISTAKE!!!

[hang a left]

14. dupe