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"I not only voted against Bork, I led the charge against him."

- Arlen Specter

Very nice..but perhaps BETTER done as his epitaph on a political tombstone..

Specter may claim he led the charge against Bork, but he didn't. The charge was led by the "Gang of Four" - Joe Biden, Pat Leahy, Ted Kennedy, and Howard Metzenbaum. They were against him from the start. Orren Hatch, Alan Simpson, and Strom Thurmond supported Bork along with Grassley. Specter was a swing vote, along with Deconcini. Specter asked for an extra public session of three hours, then declared against him, dooming the nomination.

When Simpson was questioning Anthony Kennedy, he mentioned that it was terrible that Bork was rejected, but that he would have been confirmed if he had shown an ounce of compassion. Bork comes across as cold and humorless -- he was even that way on Hannity's show, when Sean kidded him about not listening to his show. So I don't hold Specter completely responsible for Bork's defeat -- but he definitely ended whatever chance he had of confirmation.

Specter did at least support Thomas and trash Anita Hill. Had he attacked Thomas, that nomination would have been lost.

I'm not happy that Specter will sit in the Chairman's seat, but it's probably unavoidable. I don't think he will use his power as chairman to block votes on nominees. He's voted to support the President and end filibusters. Also, he will strongly influence other Senators on judicial confirmation votes, and I'd rather have him in the tent p*ss*ng out than on the outside p*ss*ng in. If he does block votes, then we'll need to change his name to Senator Sphincter.