That's how I see it. It's ridiculous to argue. Whoever sits in the Oval Office is going to set their agenda, regardless of how many people support them.
Stumping for Spector was a huge mistake.
There are two ways to go:
1) Bounce him out of Judiciary.
2) Leave him as Chairman but with the private lecture that if he strays, he's gone.
Option 1 has risks. He could go semi-Jeffords and become a media darling to whom the reporters go whenever they need a quote to humiliate the GOP. He could also use his considerable seniority in the Senate to obstruct all sorts of things in revenge. We should not discount his power to do this. From his perspective, he's in his 70's, he's paid his dues to the party (and he has at least somewhat -- he did stymie the liberals on Clarence Thomas. He was very effective for us then), and he'd be outraged if he was publicly humiliated by the party.
Option 2 risks again his considerable power of seniority. He could Bork our nominees and defend himself in public, making it very hard to remove him after the fact. There is some way to reduce this risk. Possibly the WH can make him a player in the nomination process. "Consult" with him. Nominees do NOT, EVER, answer the abortion question. "I cannot comment on any matter relevant to a case that might come before me as a Justice on the Court." So the nominees will have to be well camouflaged anyway.
It's a tough situation. I think the optimal solution is to PROMOTE him to a "higher" committee and offer him enough sugar in that promotion that he accepts. That would be best. But if he doesn't consider any committee higher and won't accept the efforts to avoid humiliating him, we are facing Option 1's risks.
I orginally stuck up for Bush, and his stumping for Specter. I like and admire loyalty, and would have had a problem if President Bush had supported Toomey, after Specter had lent him his support when he was up at bat in 2000. You stand up for people who stood up for you, it's only right and proper.
However, knowing what I know now, it was a mistake. President Bush did the right thing and remained steadfast and loyal. He returned the favor, Specter won the seat, and then promptly knifed the president in the back. This is probably Arlen's last term too, so he'll take the gloves completely off and really make things difficult. I guess we should be thankful that the senate isn't close enough for him to pull a Jeffords.
Exactly!! We voted in a President and we need to trust him to take care of this situation. How do we know how he wants to handle this situation and for us to jump the gun and start doing petitions is acting like the dims.
Thats their thing, petitions.
Settle down and let the GOP deal with it as THEY see fit.