Hewitt is wrong, and the effort to derail Specter is misguided. More important that either Specter or the composition of the committee is forcing a rule change in the Senate to eliminate the use of the filibuster in the case of nomination confirmations.
If THAT isn't done, NOTHING CHANGES, no matter whether Specter is in charge of the committee or not.
That is true, but don't underestimate the power of the Chairman's role. The Chairman sets the schedule and could potentially delay a nomination indefinitely or at least deley until the Democrats are done with their smear. Having a good Senator as Chairman will be advantageous to the process of confirming good judges. A rule change is extremely critical, and I would love to see the GOP pull it off. They should not be able to defeat or delay a vote with just 40 members.
If you want to help, figure out when and where these rules are voted on and let's contact our Senators about that too. We can not allow the Dems to be able to filibuster all of Bush's appointments.
I'm equally motivated on both because I don't think either makes a difference without the other.