Posted on 11/10/2004, 11:15:49 PM by GeneralHavoc
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., wants to make his case to be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee directly to the panel's GOP members next week.
Conservative groups want senators to pass over Specter for the chairmanship because of his postelection comment that anti-abortion judges would be unlikely to be confirmed by the Senate.
Specter, who is an abortion rights moderate, has been calling and meeting with senators individually to assure them he wouldn't personally block Bush nominees from being voted on by the full Senate.
The senator now wants to go in front of the GOP's Judiciary Committee members and hash things out next week in a private meeting, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a committee member.
The GOP committee members get the first vote on whether Specter will replace current chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is stepping down because of party-imposed term limits. Whatever decision they make can be appealed to the full GOP caucus later.
"I expect we'll sit down with him and hear what his plans are to support the president and his nominees," Cornyn said Wednesday. "The ball's in Sen. Specter's court to satisfy the Republicans on the committee and in the Republican conference."
It was not immediately known whether Hatch agreed to call the meeting or when it would be held.
Conservative groups already have announced plans to protest Specter's possible chairmanship at the Capitol next week, and are working to turn votes and the Senate leadership against his future chairmanship.
Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said the president's judicial nominees face a "difficult Senate Judiciary Committee if Sen. Arlen Specter is elevated to the chairmanship."
But none of the GOP senators have opposed Specter publicly, while several have come to his defense.
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., offered his support Wednesday, saying Specter "has a good case to make for why he should be chairman."
"He is someone who has stood by the president's nominees for the last four years," Gregg said. "And he's a tough guy who knows how to run a committee and is very effective. And I think he'll be a strong chairman of that committee and a great benefit to the president as chairman."
Cornyn, who met with Specter privately on Tuesday, said he also expected Specter to make some type of public announcement or assurance to confirm what he's been telling senators privately.
"I know that private conversations are sometimes remembered differently in the future," Cornyn said. "That's why it's important to memorialize things in a public fashion where everybody's clear on what the understanding is."
A public statement would also help senators who are being flooded with calls and e-mails from anti-abortion groups. "I have a responsibility to them to tell them this is why I voted to support Sen. Specter's chairmanship," Cornyn said.
If those things happen, "I think he is likely to be confirmed," Cornyn said.
Looks like we need more calls to these guys. We don't care what Specter tells them or us, as he has NO credibility.
Conservatives can trust Arlen Specter about as far as they can throw Ted Kennedy...
Senator Orrin Hatch 202-224-5251
Senator Charles Grassley 202-224-3744
Senator Jon Kyl 202-224-4521
Senator Mike DeWine 202-224-2315
Senator Jeff Sessions 202-224-4124
Senator Lindsey Graham 202-224-5972
Senator Larry Craig 202-224-2752
Senator Saxby Chambliss 202-224-3521
Senator John Cornyn 202-224-2934
It's too late Arlen. You're toast. Call Trent Lott for the number to BET. Maybe you can go on Tavis Smiley's old show and try to save your ass.
Specter wants this post so he can cause trouble and create his "legacy." To hell with that.
Bottomline for me here is this guy came out and said, in essense, "I absolutely have a pro-abortion litmus test," and that's entirely unexceptable.
Who are the swing votes on that list?
Specter is a liar and a snake in the political grass. Not only that, but he is a fool, as well -- just look to his vote in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Send this boy off to Scotland as soon as possible!
No, he'd do it in conjunction with his democrat friends. Double-talking POS.
The old Scot is done.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005875
I think he'll be fine....
"I need to be able to cover my ass with the folks back home."
What can he possibly say to the "panel" that they haven't already heard? He keeps repeating the same lines from his script and saying it loud and long isn't going to change anything.
AP-speak: Moderate = Pro-abort.
sheesh
Ridiculous! Look it comes down like this... Keyes is anti-abortion fanatic, advocating no exceptions which makes Bush an abortion rights moderate for supporting exceptions like rape, incest and life of the mother. Boxer, embracer of any and all abortion, would be an abortion rights fanatic. Spector is disturbingly close to Boxer's position although at some point he did vote for a partial-birth abortion ban.
Don't forget Ed Gillespie, head of the GOP.
Office of the Chairman
Ed Gillespie, Chairman
Maria Cino, Deputy Chairman
Phone: 202-863-8700
Fax: 202-863-8774
Email: Chairman@gop.com
Thanks for listing the numbers again. I'll call them all tomorrow.
Who?
Oh, I forgot to ask. How is "Kyl" pronounced? ...to avoid embarassment, you know.
Of all the things he has said that infuriated me, the one that nearly drove me off the cliff was when he said that the same "forces" that were after him in Pennsylvania were the ones objecting to him now!
Wrong. If PA is stupid enough to vote for him, that's not MY problem; THIS is.
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