Frist Making Specter Squirm - But It's Not Enough
From yesterday's AP wire:
"Senator Arlen Specter must prove to his Republican colleagues that he is the right man to head the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday.
"Specter, R[INO]-PA, will make his case to GOP colleagues this week when Congress returns for a postelection session.
"Frist, R-TN, said he expected a chairman to understand that he is responsible 'to the feelings, the wishes, the beliefs, the values, the procedures that are held by the majority of that committee.'
"He added that Specter, as chairman, 'has a clear obligation ... to take what the President nominates (and) get that nomination through committee.'
"Frist would not say if he backed Specter for the job."
I like the tenor and content of Senator Frist's remarks, as far as they go. My concern, though, is that they have the feel of not going far enough. Like Specter getting the Judiciary gavel he covets is a given, and Frist is finger-waggingly setting the parameters within which he expects Snarlin' Arlen to operate. But of course, once Specter is Chairman, there really isn't a whole lot Frist can do to control him or rein him in when he bolts the reservation again.
A darker interpretation is that Frist's remarks aren't directed so much at Specter as at spinning a GOP base that is quite understandably alarmed at the prospect of the "borker" taking over the Judiciary Committee and doing the Dems' dirty work for them and doesn't want to take the chance on the Clinton-acquitter confirming their suspicions instead of the President's judicial appointments.
The bottom line is that Arlen Specter can be trusted only to do what he has always done when not under concentrated political pressure: screw his own party. Not just on judicial selections but on every single issue that falls under the purview of Senate Judiciary. His chairmanship shouldn't even be under consideration, because once he gets it, with no more re-election considerations to tug him rightward, there'll be nothing to stop Specter from becoming Pat Leahy's Charlie McCarthy.
That's not primarily up to Bill Frist. But it would be prudent of him and the pachyderms he leads to give more heed to the 60+ million voters who gave George Bush another term to try and de-wackify the federal bench than to the contrived, extraneous Senate "customs" that in this case will effectively thwart the will of the people - without the Democrats having to lift a finger.
"Senator Arlen Specter must prove to his Republican colleagues that he is the right man to head the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday.
"Specter, R[INO]-PA, will make his case to GOP colleagues this week when Congress returns for a postelection session.
"Frist, R-TN, said he expected a chairman to understand that he is responsible 'to the feelings, the wishes, the beliefs, the values, the procedures that are held by the majority of that committee.'
"He added that Specter, as chairman, 'has a clear obligation ... to take what the President nominates (and) get that nomination through committee.'
"Frist would not say if he backed Specter for the job."
I like the tenor and content of Senator Frist's remarks, as far as they go. My concern, though, is that they have the feel of not going far enough. Like Specter getting the Judiciary gavel he covets is a given, and Frist is finger-waggingly setting the parameters within which he expects Snarlin' Arlen to operate. But of course, once Specter is Chairman, there really isn't a whole lot Frist can do to control him or rein him in when he bolts the reservation again.
A darker interpretation is that Frist's remarks aren't directed so much at Specter as at spinning a GOP base that is quite understandably alarmed at the prospect of the "borker" taking over the Judiciary Committee and doing the Dems' dirty work for them and doesn't want to take the chance on the Clinton-acquitter confirming their suspicions instead of the President's judicial appointments.
The bottom line is that Arlen Specter can be trusted only to do what he has always done when not under concentrated political pressure: screw his own party. Not just on judicial selections but on every single issue that falls under the purview of Senate Judiciary. His chairmanship shouldn't even be under consideration, because once he gets it, with no more re-election considerations to tug him rightward, there'll be nothing to stop Specter from becoming Pat Leahy's Charlie McCarthy.
That's not primarily up to Bill Frist. But it would be prudent of him and the pachyderms he leads to give more heed to the 60+ million voters who gave George Bush another term to try and de-wackify the federal bench than to the contrived, extraneous Senate "customs" that in this case will effectively thwart the will of the people - without the Democrats having to lift a finger.
posted by JASmius at 9:12 PM
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