Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A Haunted Specter

I have to say, I feel bad for Arlen Specter: hated by the left wing of his current party, hated by his former party, and hated by folks who, by some miracle, manage not to soil themselves throughout the day.

At a crowded community college, Mr. Specter heard from speaker after speaker who accused him of trampling on their constitutional rights, adding to the federal deficit or allowing government bureaucrats to take over health care.

"You'll be gone, by God the bureaucrats will still be here," said one man.

"My children and grandchildren are going to pay for this," said another.

"One day God will stand before you and judge you!" shouted a third man before security guards approached and he left the room.
Granted, Arlen's done some damned silly things in his time, but I get the sense that if he still had a little "R" after his name he would be "a staunch ally in the fight of global Kenyan-fascist-socialism" or some other such nonsense.

I wonder what it's like for his staff to get calls from rank and file Democrats telling him to "hang tough" and that "we're pulling for you." Must be weird.

2 comments:

MH said...

On the one hand, Specter seems between than average for his peer group (members of Congress). On the other hand, I'm all for rage at Congress and I'll take incoherent rage if that's all there is at the moment.

Justin said...

Well, Specter is now a Democrat because Pat Toomey was polling better than him. So actually I think Specter is getting the same crap he would've been getting back then.

As for feeling weird, I doubt it. Plenty of evidence that what Specter stands for is reelection. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/07/since-primary-challenge-specter-voting.html.

That said, I'll hold my nose and vote for him if it comes down to.