Comments (27)

Matt in Eugene wrote on January 25, 2007 1:58 PM:

It is appaling to see how fast the Bushies have dismatled the Constitution. In only six years they have undone much of what it took 230 years to build. I'd say this would be a great campaign issue in 2008 but with the number of people in this country who just don't bother to watch what is going on I don't have any real hope...

As much as the administration hates Hugo Chavez, they would love to be ruling the same way he is now -- by decree.

Garbo wrote on January 25, 2007 2:20 PM:

Of course, if Specter is allowed anywhere near Feinstein's bill you can kiss it goodbye. What a weasel.

Sharon in PA wrote on January 25, 2007 2:21 PM:

What angers me about this is the total lack of coverage of this in the mainstream media. I haven't seen any mention on the evening news or in the newspaper. Could anyone point me to any article dealing with this?

SeeDee wrote on January 25, 2007 2:35 PM:

Roughly paraphrasing some previous explanation of the descent of 'good Germans' into the hell that Hitler created:

When they came for the homosexuals, I looked the other way; when they came for the Jews, I looked the other way;...finally, when they came for me there was nobody remaining to turn to for help...Well, you get the idea.

Americans today are, frankly too d... lazy to be bothered about someone else's concern with the constant push by Bush to dismantle the Constitution...finally, when it is far too late, they will piss and moan and gnash their teeth at the loss of these freedoms.

Sharon in PA wrote on January 25, 2007 2:51 PM:

A google search yielded not much beyond many blog posts. I did find this editorial in the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/opinion/18thu2.html?ex=1169874000&en=d88645ca07e72d4d&ei=5070

wagonjak wrote on January 25, 2007 2:56 PM:

After some initial angry remarks on this scandal, Senator Diane Feinstein has been strangely silent on this issue recently.

Are you there Diane?

Are you going to follow up on your inquirys about the US Attorneys for San Diego and San Francisco?

Have you been bought off?

Chabuka wrote on January 25, 2007 3:12 PM:

There is a rumor, that Specter is the little weasel who stuck that "provision" into the Patriot Act (a remake of Hitlers Enabling Act) in the first place...while the Dems were a minority..Specter (the weasel) blocked or stopped every investigation, every inquiry, even stopped the "swearing in" of witnesses...he should have been voted out, but well, you know how those people in Kansas are...I am not overly inclined to trust Fienstein..(lots of Democratic Congressman and Senators on the "military industrial complex" payroll) but I sure as hell wouldn't let The Weasel in on anything...he will just run to the White House to warn them...and, up starts all the paper shredders on Capitol Hill

lisa wrote on January 25, 2007 3:20 PM:

Much as I hate to admit it, Specter is from Pennsylvania, not Kansas (unless this is as in "What's the Matter With Kansas?"). He is fortunate not to have run for reelection last year, hopefully he'll get the same treatment from PA that Santorum did. He always tries to run to the center come election time, then proceed to do the rightwing thing after he's been reelected.

libra wrote on January 25, 2007 3:24 PM:

Hey, Chabuka, your sentiments are admirable, but do, please, focus better next time you aim. Specter ain't from Kansas. And, he didn't run in the last ycle, so he couldn't have been voted out.

Nellieh wrote on January 25, 2007 4:18 PM:

All they have to do is go back and remove it from the Act that declares it. If they can't get a veto proof vote, hold the Senatoregretrs that want it in up for ridicule as the 109th Congress did to the Democrats.

Nellieh wrote on January 25, 2007 4:20 PM:

My apologies. I lost my cursor and didn't place it in the code box. I should have proof read my comment.

steveconga wrote on January 25, 2007 4:56 PM:

The quote is from Deitrich Bonhoeffer, the brilliant Lutheran minister imprisoned and executed by the Nazis. I highly recommend his "Letters and Papers form Prison".

Anonymous wrote on January 25, 2007 5:02 PM:

It bears repeating that Arlen Specter was the staffer that came up with Kennedy's "magic bullet". It's work like that that earns you "ranking" committee member status.

Knowing what that did to protect the principles of the Zapata Petroleum Corporation will tell you for who Specter really works.

Cugel wrote on January 25, 2007 5:06 PM:

"As much as the administration hates Hugo Chavez, they would love to be ruling the same way he is now -- by decree."

Please! Hugo Chavez has about a 60% approval rating in Venezuela and just won re-election, depite a hostile media campaign that makes the swift-boat scumbags look like Walter Cronkite!

Bush could only dream of having as much popular support for his policies as Chavez does!

SeeDee wrote on January 25, 2007 5:06 PM:

Folks should realize now, or very soon at least, that we have our own 'Axis of Evil'...and it is 'Cheney/Bush/Lieberman'...

This 'Axis' has wrought more misery in the world in six years or so than the other 'Axis' identified by 'W' as Iraq/Iran/North Korea.

The attempt to politically align the U.S. prosecutorial process with this 'Axis of Evil' should be rescinded IMMEDIATELY.

As the other commenter asked: Where did you disappear to, Diane?

SeeDee wrote on January 25, 2007 5:25 PM:

Thank you, steveconga...Bonhoeffer, of course...one sometimes rtemembers some gem of wisdom without remembering the original source.

And to Cugel RE Chavez...As undersandable as it is hat 60% of the Venezuelans approve of his governing, especially his policies to gain control of Venezuela's main resource from the 'big oil' crooks, his ruling by 'decree' is not something I would ever advocate.

With yet another reference to the Nazi era, I think Hitler enjoyed a 90%-plus approval rating circa late 1940 in Germany...And he ruled by 'Decree'...totally.

Salmo wrote on January 25, 2007 5:53 PM:

Huh? Is there some question about the politicization of the courts; is there some unknown aspect of the qualifications of those appointed to replace prosecutors who were so blind as to convict Republicans? It is not as though the Bush Administration and its cronies are doing all this without plenty of background.

Rhonda wrote on January 25, 2007 6:34 PM:

Keith Olbermann covered this story the day after it happened-virtually the only reference I've seen in the MSM.

jdw wrote on January 25, 2007 6:39 PM:

Specter is a weasel, but one also needs to look at this stategically. Does anyone except to let a bill closing the loophole with *just* Dems voting for it get by without a veto? If Specter, the one who wrote the loophole, signs onto closing them (to a degree making a symbolic admission that the loophole was a mistake or accident or whatever he wants to call it), you are more likely to get additional GOP members of both houses jumping ship and making a veto more difficult.

We need to be honest. As unsavory as this loophole is and how it's being used, it doesn't have a pot to piss in for the vast majority of people in this country. It isn't the Iraq War with a sub-30 approval rating. It simply doesn't register with them.

Most GOP in both houses know that. So if one wants to reverse course on this in the next two years while a veto is a risk, you need to build *GOP* support in Congress to make it veto proof.

Chas West wrote on January 25, 2007 8:47 PM:

For what its worth, Specter is in fact from Kansas. In 1996 Dole and Specter ran for president and I recall a big deal being made about them coming from the same podunk town or some such.

Chaz

Curt wrote on January 25, 2007 10:40 PM:

Sen. Arlen Specter? Are you kidding me. He is the one that plays for time by pretending to agree. Then rolls over at the last minute in order to prevent any more debate. I can't believe what I am reading. What is it with the folks in Washington. Do they live in a complete vacuum? Is this how things are done? You sleep with the enemy. I am beginning to wonder if any of them are worth supporting. In South Dakota we elect Domocrats that vote like Republicans. I just didn't think the rest of the country was as stupid.

Paul in LA wrote on January 26, 2007 5:20 AM:

"Have you been bought off?" --wagonjak

Nice work on cultivating the relationship, wagon.

You clearly haven't bothered to check that Senator Feinstein just got reelected, and will be with us until at least 2012.

Mind throwing rotten tomatoes at people you actually have a shot at?

She brought the bill forward, but politics on such issues rarely goes directly forward.

Paul in LA wrote on January 26, 2007 5:24 AM:

"Is this how things are done? You sleep with the enemy. I am beginning to wonder if any of them are worth supporting." --Curt

Do yourself a favor and read the first 100 pages of "The Master of the Senate" by Caro.

If you need a 100% conformity with what you see as right, you should probably pray to the Virgin Mary instead of Senators.

It's the politics of the possible, and it isn't amenable to purists.

Mitchell wrote on January 26, 2007 12:14 PM:

Define "from". ;) Specter was born in Wichita, KS, and raised in Russell, KS, as was Bob Dole, there's a big sign on Interstate 70 bragging about it. Why escapes me.

3reddogs wrote on January 26, 2007 1:48 PM:

I'm a lot more optimistic about this being overturned than most of the commenters here. Specter's sneaky little provision pretty much pisses down the neck of his colleagues who, in the past, would have had to confirm these appointees. Specter may wind up looking like a jackass when (IF) he winds up supporting the closure of this loophole, but then, how many times have we heard him talk the good talk but when push comes to shove he'll ultimately do what he's told to do by Bush and Cheney.

Scott L wrote on January 30, 2007 12:38 AM:

The Nixon White House would be proud of this group. It is impressave how many fronts of our country are under attack by this White House.

epenisa wrote on January 11, 2008 1:21 AM:

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