Senate strips Arlen Specter of seniority.

[Occam Bandage]

Specter jumped from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party last week, putting the Democrats within reach of a 60-seat "supermajority" that could make it all but impossible for Republicans to block Democratic legislation.

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed that the party switch dropped Specter to the bottom of the heap in terms of seniority.

That means when the Judiciary Committee questions President Obama's yet-to-be-named nominee to replace Justice David Souter, Specter will be the very last to speak -- after even Sen. Ted Kaufman of Delaware, who has been a senator for all of four months.

In fact, only two of the 18 other senators on the committee have been in the upper house longer than Specter -- and he has been in the Senate longer than seven other committee members put together.

Specter lost his seniority on other committees as well, including the powerful Appropriations Committee -- the one that doles out money. He's now junior to Montana's Sen. Jon Tester, who has been in the Senate since 2007.

Specter has been citing his seniority on the Appropriations Committee as he hits the campaign trail as a Democrat.

"My senior position on Appropriations has enabled me to bring a lot of jobs and a lot of federal funding to this state," Specter said at a town hall meeting on Monday. A day later, the Senate stripped him of that seniority. The resolution, which set out committee assignments for the entire Senate, was approved on a unanimous voice vote.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/specter.seniority/index.html

I'm surprised to see this, given that early reports were that Reid promised Specter he would keep his seniority; Specter himself said as much. Looks like Reid actually caved to the Democrats for once, though, given all the Democratic complaining about losing seniority to a careerist ship-jumper*. Arlen better take this as a warning: Reid might like him, but Reid ain't the party, and this party won't hesitate to kick him out on his ass if he doesn't play by our rules.


* http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/30/Specters-seniority-bothers-some-Demos/UPI-80821241111017/

[polichick]

1. Well, maybe he's not quite loyal enough.

[malaise]

10. After that Meet the 'Presstitutes' on Sunday

he should consider himself lucky that the Dems even accepted him. Don't forget he also said he hopes Coleman (who lost) wins the seat.

sp

[polichick]

12. I agree - he's already worn out his welcome.

[MADem]

2. This is quite shocking. He must have said something that pissed Reid off. NT

[Occam Bandage]

11. Saying he hopes the MN courts "do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner"

probably didn't help his case much, nor did his declaration that he would vote against more or less everything the Dems want in the next month.

[MADem]

14. I took that as a TOTAL joke, not a serious statement--it was in the context of a shortage

of Republican Jewish legislators. Here's the exchange:

Q: With your departure from the Republican Party, there are no more Jewish Republicans in the Senate. Do you care about that?

A: I sure do. There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner.

Q: Which seems about as likely at this point as Jerry Seinfeld's joining the Senate.

A: Well, it was about as likely as my becoming a Democrat.



I.e., he thinks Franken will prevail.

He has a quirky sense of humor. I don't think he meant it the way people are taking it. However, he's used the "misspoke" word, because people plainly didn't get the joke and I suspect he just wants to put it behind him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/05/specter-norm-coleman-shou_n_197057.html

[Occam Bandage]

18. "he thinks Franken will prevail. "

"it was about as likely as my becoming a Democrat." I read that as "it seems unlikely, but things that people call unlikely do happen, don't they?" That seems to me more like a joke conveying the suggestion that he believes Norm will win it.

I'm sure the whole thing was a joke. I also think he wasn't saying anything he doesn't believe. Claiming a desire for the MN courts to "do justice" doesn't have much to do with the content of the joke; it seems more revealing of his opinion than a part of the joke. Had he simply said "There's still time for the MN courts to declare Coleman the winner," it would have been just as "funny" and offended far fewer people.

[MADem]

19. See, I think the exact opposite--I think he initially thought Norm would win, and he's

surprised that Franken surpassed Coleman, but he thinks Franken has it in the bag by a slim margin--which is the case.

If you look at the specific context of Republican Jews, it's clearer. He's saying "If you want a GOP Jew, you don't have me anymore--get 'em to send Norm back." His use of "Senator Speak" with the florid phraseology to make the point is wryly amusing--I just don't think he was serious at all.

There's plenty to gripe at him about, but I think he's getting an undeserved spanking over this matter.

[Occam Bandage]

20. I think it's fair to disagree on that, but I do agree that the affair is overblown

in comparison to his bizarre and offensive rightward tack in positioning himself on policy. Still, I approve of people bashing him for it. He deserves to be bashed for his anti-Democratic fuckery, and I think it'll have a similar effect whether the bashing is on a particular bit of policy-related guff, or on a bit of Coleman-related guff. The message is the same: you've stepped on our toes too often in the past week, and we're getting pissed.

[MADem]

21. Yep. I think it's the chafing of the new bit that might be setting him off, myself.

Ya still gotta serve somebody. He's being required to "eat it" and behave, and he won't get his seniority back unless he's a good boy. I still think they want his vote on Judiciary to send Supreme Court nominees to the full Senate for a vote. If he does a good job with the Souter replacement, and any others that come along, well, he may get a gold star and a smiley face on his papers! If not, well, they can trot out a player to be named later to challenge him. He's really behind the eight ball, now. He'd better "get correct" and do it in a hurry.

[Occam Bandage]

25. I'm very disappointed in your third sentence of the text body

There isn't a metaphor, reference, or aphorism anywhere to be found! It definitely breaks the otherwise-awesome chain.

[MADem]

28. Heh heh! Falling down on the job, I am! nt

[ClarkUSA]

3. Reid did well. This is carrot-and-stick to get Spector to behave better until 2011. (Quote -->)

Link to WaPo quote: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8392949&mesg_id=8393188

[Occam Bandage]

4. Ah, so we'll take a look at it after 2010? Grand.

Arlen was not a very good houseguest over the past week. Glad the Dems are taking action about that.

[Mz Pip]

5. I don't think Specter should be surprised

All he's done as yammer on about how he's going to do what he damn well pleases. At some point he needs to do something that merits the (D) at the end of his title.

Gotta give us something Arlen. That's what being a member of a party is about. You don't have to be loyal 100% of the time, but once in a while is expected.

[phantom power]

6. I'm glad to see the Dems display a little pride.

If Specter hadn't come right out of the gate acting like a complete dick, I bet he would have kept his seniority.

[asjr]

9. Agreed! The opinion Specter has of himself

is highly overrated.

[depakid]

16. That was part of our bet, too

Sadly, Specter showed his stripes- on a bet I wanted much to lose.

[T Wolf]

7. This piece of shit is NOT a Democrat. Never will be. But the other bullshit in the

article is the pro-forma lead phrase about that magic Number 60. That scare tactic is never followed up by a statement that the Dems will never stick together to vote for closure of a puke filibuster.

[MADem]

23. Actually, it is hard to believe, but he started out his political life as a Dem.

He flipped to GOP in 1965. Now he's flipping back....


http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/washington-whispers/2009/04/28/arlen-specter-started-out-his-career-as-a-democrat.html

[Marr]

8. I'm shocked. Really- I never would've thought they'd do this.

Harry Reid actually made a pro-Democratic Party call. I'm flabbergasted.

[DURHAM D]

13. I think Reid made the deal with Specter without consulting other Senators.

After they put up their hand and said no way Reid is now spinning it as fast as he can to make it look like he has Specter in a box.

I think Harry got a hard slap-down by his own colleagues. Now he is trying to cover it up. I am sure there are a lot of quiet cloak room discussions about Reid's leadership abilities going on right now.

We need bold and partisan leadership right now. Reid is to the right of center. He is the wrong person for the job at this moment in history. He is a wuss.

[derby378]

15. And yet, to this day, Lieberman remains untouched

:shrug:

[pleah]

26. Yep.

[DonCoquixote]

17. Reid is a JOKE!

Granted, I love the fact that Specter has to earn his keep now, as he damn well should!, but the fact that Reid tried to sweeten the deal and then got laughed out shows how WEAK he is, which means that the Evan Bayhs will realize they can run their own little kitchen congress using the democratic banner. Granted, we do not want to become like the GOp and isolate everybody who deviates from point X, but we do need to remind some Democrats what team they are supposed to be on!

[rucky]

22. He Disrupted Poorly. n/t

[Gregorian]

24. Specter is moonwalking his way into retirement?

I was dearly hoping we wouldn't hold this specimen up on a platter.

[Hepburn]

27. Geeeee, Arlen - Honey, maybe that remark about Coleman...

...did not sit well with the Dem leadership?

:eyes:

[bvar22]

29. They should have done the same with Joe Lieberman.

!