Free Republic

It’s probably not the endorsement that incumbent Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch needs right now, as the Republican is locked up in a primary challenge from Dan Liljenquist. But Saturday on Melissa Harris-Perry’s MSNBC show, former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the co-author of “Life Among the Cannibals: A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It,” pleaded with Utah voters to keep their senior senator. Specter told Harris-Perry that the current climate in Washington, D.C. isn’t lending itself to electoral success for moderate incumbents, which he said has been the focus of a crusade...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter on Tuesday was defeated in a Democratic primary in his bid for a sixth term after taking the risky step of switching from the GOP.

Sen. Specter says he's trying to lead the Republican Party U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa) talked with WILK's Nancy and Kevin this morning about the economy, healthcare reform, his opinion on Rush Limbaugh, and the leader of the Republican Party. Specter criticized RNC Chairman Michael Steele on his recent flip-flop concerning comments about Rush Limbaugh. When asked who's leading Republicans, Senator Specter laughed and said he was trying to lead them, "moving toward the center, where American's want to be governed." Specter was also critical of the man he'll face again in his next re-election campaign, Pat Toomey. He...

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) plans to review the Senate testimony of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito to determine if their reversal of several long-standing opinions conflicts with promises they made to senators to win confirmation. Specter, who championed their confirmation, said Tuesday he will personally re-examine the testimony to see if their actions in court match what they told the Senate. "There are things he has said, and I want to see how well he has complied with it," Specter said, singling out Roberts.The Specter inquiry poses a potential political problem for the GOP...

Two U.S. senators went against their usual party lines today to defend and criticize Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Cali., over her recent trip to Syria. Speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, Penn., said the Democratic leader did the right thing by going to Syria and meeting with President Assad, a trip the White House denounced. "She has a very prominent constitutional role in determining what's going to happen in the Iraq war," he said. "I don't think it is helpful for people in the administration to characterize her as being engaged in, quote 'bad behavior,'...

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), a moderate who has often clashed with the Bush administration and his fellow GOP lawmakers, said Monday he plans to seek a sixth term in 2010. "There are a lot of important things to be done and finally after being here to acquire some seniority, I'm in a position to do that," said Specter, 77. "I'm full of energy and my wife doesn't want me home for breakfast, lunch and dinner." Specter said he has fundraisers planned, including a large one April 4 in Philadelphia. "It's an enormous task, and that's why...

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago A Senate Republican on Tuesday directly challenged President Bush's declaration that "I am the decision-maker" on issues of war. "I would suggest respectfully to the president that he is not the sole decider," Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said during a hearing on Congress' war powers amid an increasingly harsh debate over Iraq war policy. "The decider is a shared and joint responsibility," Specter said. The question of whether to use its power over the government's purse strings to force an end to the war in Iraq, and...

Two prominent Senate Republicans bucked the White House on Sunday, expressing skepticism about more U.S. troops in Iraq and support for greater dialogue with Iran, Syria and others in the region. Sen. Richard Lugar, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the president to consult with lawmakers before announcing a new strategy on Iraq that could call for additional troops in Iraq. If Bush were to act with without involving the new Democratic-controlled Congress, he can anticipate "a lot of hearings, a lot of study, a lot of criticism," Lugar said. Bush is expected to deliver his...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Football League's ability to negotiate exclusive sports packages is under fire from the outgoing chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., twice said he would introduce legislation in the next session aimed at eliminating the league's freedom from antitrust laws. Specter said the NFL should not use the exemption to negotiate exclusive programming packages such as DirectTV Inc.'s "Sunday Ticket," which allows viewers to watch teams outside their regional market. "As I look at what the NFL is doing today with the NFL channel with the DirectTV ... a lot of people,...

The Senate, siding with President Bush shortly after he personally lobbied lawmakers at the Capitol, rejected a move Thursday by a leading Republican to allow terrorism suspects to challenge their imprisonment in court. The vote paved the way for final passage of Bush's plan to establish "military commissions" to prosecute terrorism suspects in legislation that also spells out violations of the Geneva Conventions, a treaty that sets international standards for the treatment of war prisoners. Republicans say the bill is necessary to ensure that terrorists can be brought to justice and that CIA personnel will not be charged with war...

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he has a problem with the Republican agreement on rules for the interrogation and trial of suspects in the war on terror. President Bush is pushing Congress to put the agreement into law before adjourning for the midterm elections, but Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday he "vigorously" disagrees with the habeas corpus provision of the bill. The provision would allow legal counsel and a day in court to only those detainees selected by the Pentagon for prosecution. Other terror suspects could be held indefinitely without a hearing. "The courts have...

An influential Republican senator said Wednesday that it's time for Congress to approve a law that would protect journalists from having to choose between jail time and revealing their confidential sources in court cases. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chastised a top Justice Department official who testified that a proposed bill to shield journalists from revealing their sources was a "solution in search of a problem." "I disagree with you," Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former prosecutor, told Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. "My view is that it's something that must be addressed legislatively." Despite opposition by...

President Bush's electronic surveillance program has been a festering sore on our body politic since it was publicly disclosed last December. Civil libertarians, myself included, have insisted that the program must be subject to judicial review to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment. The president has insisted that he was acting lawfully within his constitutional responsibilities. On its face, the program seems contrary to the plain text of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which regulates domestic national security wiretapping. The president argues, however, that his inherent constitutional powers supersede the statute. Without knowing the exact contours of the...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Arlen Specter, said yesterday that he is ``seriously considering" filing legislation to give Congress legal standing to sue President Bush over his use of signing statements to reserve the right to bypass laws. Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, made his comments after a Judiciary Committee hearing on signing statements, which are official documents that Bush has used to challenge the constitutionality of more than 750 laws when signing legislation . Bush has issued more signing statements than all previous presidents combined. But he has never vetoed a bill, depriving Congress of any chance to...

Vice President Dick Cheney Thursday defended himself against accusations by a leading Republican senator that he worked to thwart Senate plans to make telephone executives testify at a hearing about a U.S. domestic spying program. A day after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter rebuked Cheney for trying to head off subpoenas of the phone company executives, Cheney acknowledged that he had spoken to Senate leaders and members of Specter's committee. He said in a letter to Specter that he acted when the administration became concerned about a "compulsory process to force testimony" in a matter that could involve classified...

The government should consider a tax on oil companies if they make excessive profits amid rising gasoline prices, a leading Republican senator said Sunday. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said a windfall profits tax, along with measures to stem concentration of market power among a few select oil companies, could offer eventual relief to consumers hurting at the gas pump. "I believe that we have allowed too many companies to get together to reduce competition," Specter said. "They get together, reduce the supply of oil, and that drives up prices," he said. "In the short...