Spector cannot ever be trusted to follow through. He's up to something else, for sure.

Specter is Lucy, you are Charlie Brown.

How many times does Specter have to do this shuffle before you wise up?

Did he INDICATE he was going to do it, or did he SAY he was going to do it?

The first would be typical, the 2nd would be a different critter altogether.

The 2nd would be good, the 1st, bad.

Do yourself a favor. Wait to see if he actually does it before you treat it as news. Arlen's got no spine.

If he wasn't actually going to vote this way, why would he say anything? What could be the effect, that Dems might think they don't need to, and/or that Repubs might feel OK in voting the same way?

I too am a democrat, but I think we need to give Sen. Specter a little more credit. He has taken stands apart from the rest of his party. A few examples: I'm pretty sure he asked for Gonzales to resign. I also think he was one of the group of senators who made the deal to avoid the judicial filibusters. (Though addmitedly(sp?) I'd prefer that we did filibuster the nominations.)
Anyway, my point is that despite his being a republican, Sen. Specter is not nearly the devil you make him out to be.

[Spector's] amendment would, rather than granting the telecoms retroactive immunity for cooperating with the administration's warrantless wiretapping program, substitute the government as the defendant in the numerous lawsuits against the telecoms.

*scratches head*

You know, I think I might actually consider that preferable to the Feinstein amendment. Is there a downside here?

Very interesting development.
Arlen must finally have had enough of the b.s., he sees the Dems have finally started to stand their ground, and he saw what happened to Santorum in his own state last year.

Something must have really gotten under his skin; he was already fed up with the wackos before they tried to strip him of his chairmanship. Lott is headed out the door, and what's McConnell got on Arlen? Probably not all that much -- it's a safe bet that many of his constituents do not support retroactive immunity, so why should he kill his political career by bowing to Cheney?

Coin: The problem with the substitution amendment is that it will allow state secrets to trump the case entirely. if the case continues against the telcos, the state secrets problems will only apply to the evidence desired from the government. there would still be a chance of discovery against the telcos themselves.

Let's see. Arlen says he will vote no. Some chicken shit democrat that would rather save his sorry political ass instead of voting for the Constitution decides he can now vote yes because they won't get the 60 votes anyway. Looks like my Senator Tim Johnson can vote to save his sorry political ass.

Yeah, right.

Let's see what Arlen actually does.

Remember Arlen's chief campaign strategy, one that has kept him in office:

1. He goes on the TV.
2. He hems and haws and sounds all moderate-like.
3. During voice votes, he coughs vague words into the microphone like "Ayahanay!" and "Nayahawkayeay!" during yay or nay voice votes.
4. He votes exactly as the Republican leadership tells him to vote.

He's one of the worst kinds of scoundrels: one who smiles to your face as he sticks the knife in your back.

I'll believe it when I see it. Specter is a world-class waffler.

Dusty, actually he's talkin out of his ass --- his mouth knows better and so should we .....