http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20100516_The_American_Debate__Democratic_champion_or_rogue_knight_.html#axzz0o8qVlqqAPosted on Sun, May. 16, 2010
A Republican for the last 29 years, Sen. Arlen Specter faces a new party and a serious challenge from U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak in Tuesday's primary.
By Dick Polman Inquirer National Political Columnist
Your basic Pennsylvania couch potato, having gorged by now on a surfeit of campaign commercials, may well believe that the heavy hitters in both parties adore Arlen Specter.
In the various TV ads, George W. Bush lauds the loyalty of Arlen Specter ("I can count on this man"), Barack Obama says he loves Arlen Specter, and Rick Santorum is shown applauding Arlen Specter. There's a freeze-frame shot of Sarah Palin sharing a podium with ally Arlen Specter, but we also know that Ed Rendell and the labor unions are working to stoke turnout in Tuesday's Senate Democratic primary for the benefit of Arlen Specter.
All of which prompts me to wonder, and not for the first time: Who exactly is Arlen Specter, anyway?
Thankfully, the primary results will provide some minimal clarification; he'll be a winner, or a loser. If he squelches the serious challenge from upstart Congressman Joe Sestak, the story line will be that Specter's sudden morphing from Republican to Democrat was a shrewd move; that this tough old bird could probably outlive the cockroaches during a nuclear winter. But if he is ousted by the Democratic primary voters - a very real possibility; one late poll had Sestak up by nine points - it shall be written that not even Specter could survive the undertow that threatens to drown incumbents in both parties.
Two Capitol Hill insiders have been summarily dumped by their respective parties during the last eight days: 18-year Republican Sen. Bob Bennett (who couldn't even get renominated at his Utah party convention), and 28-year Democratic congressman Alan Mollohan (whose well-earned reputation for pumping pork into his West Virginia district failed to impress the primary voters). Anger is the emotion of choice in 2010, and career politicians make the best targets.
Read more:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20100516_The_American_Debate__Democratic_champion_or_rogue_knight_.html#ixzz0o8r4XHh1FULL story at link.
Arlen Specter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlen_SpecterAt the recommendation of Representative Gerald Ford, he worked for the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. As an assistant counsel for the commission, he authored or co-authored<13> the "single bullet theory," which suggested the non-fatal wounds to Kennedy and wounds to Texas Governor John Connally were caused by the same bullet. This was a crucial assertion for the Warren Commission, since if the two had been wounded by separate bullets, that would have demonstrated the presence of a second assassin and therefore a conspiracy.<14>
Specter reproducing the assumed alignment of the single bullet theory