Here we go.
Specter is such a toady.
Of course, they want their yes man to cling to the AG spot until all of the crooks are long gone.

Leahy sounds a little upset. :)

John

Specter is such a grandstanding charlatan.

Hey Arlene, what was Scooter Libby's role in Mark Rich's pardon? What? Oh yeah, he was the LAWYER.

Once again the Republicans are taking the Wide Stance (TM) on the tissues of the day. How typical.

Will Pat make Specter mad enough to use the standard Cheney GOP line?

Did anyone else see the second part of this statement: "We need to be sure the attorney general does not bend his views in any way that is partisan or political, there are many other matters that warrant inquiry." as signalling not that Holder warrants inquiry but that Specter is fearfully aware that Holder will be handed a pile of politically incendiary files that target Bush and the Repubs?
It's hard to make sense out of the complete statement in any other way than to think he's playing scared for himself or someone else who pays.

I'm fine with this. Specter is on record, right now, as having serious concerns about the abuse of the power to pardon. Now let us see what he does after Bush exercises his pardons.

Time to play hardball.

Remember this Paul Kiel TPM MR post from October 2006? The investigation seemingly died on the vine.

"USAT: Specter Staffer under Investigation"

"Yet another federal investigation. From USA Today:

The FBI is investigating whether a member of Sen. Arlen Specter's staff broke the law by helping her husband, a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients, the senator acknowledged Tuesday.... The federal probe stems from a February report by USA TODAY about Siegel. Specter helped direct $48.7 million in Pentagon spending over the past five years to clients of her lobbyist husband, Michael Herson.

Specter has acknowledged he used his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee to put special-interest language in Pentagon spending bills directing the money to clients of Herson's firm, American Defense International.

Specter says he didn't know of the link to Siegel, who was one of his top advisers on spending issues until last fall."

This morning, Roll Call reported that the FBI reviewed Specter's financial disclosure records this past April.

Spector most certainly did know who Michael Herson was. Vicky Siegel Herson, the top advisor and senior aide referred to in this story, was married to him for seven years before this story broke. Plus Herson ran for Congress in a New Jersey shore district in the early '90s and he was an intern in the Reagan administration.

I looked into Herson's somewhat checkered past and I'm very surprised the FBI dropped the case.

Herson built a pretty decent sized lobbying firm doing a lot of business in the Middle East before 9/11. Another member of the firm, Jim Zumwault (the admiral's son), led the first delegation of US business ever to visit the DPRK - a delegation that included major companies such as GM and MCI.

Maybe we can convince the Honorable Henry Waxman to investigate the FBI's investigation of Senator Spector.

Per my esteemed Senator's Web page, I called my local state office and left a voice message telling him to quit this bullshit.

Gawd, to think that Chris Matthews might actually be an improvement over Darlin' Arlen.

Oh for christ sake.

Lets search the record to see if the honorable Sen. Specter raised such concerns with the AG nominations of Gonzalez or Mukasey. Why didn’t Mukasey’s support of torture raise a red flag for Specter? Why didn’t the nomination of Bush’s personal attorney for AG raise a red flag for Specter? Its seems Specter has selective enforcement of his values

I agree with "chuck dc". BTW, remember how Specter called habeus corpus a right that went back to before the Magna Carta, and then voted against habeus corpus?

Scottish law gives him this right to be a C-O-G-L-I-O-N-E, ya'know!
Please to my good friends in PA, show this guy the door, next election!