"Frist was very fair and made Specter earn it. Now Specter has pissed all that good will away, and we want blood."Yeah! And a pound of flesh, too!!
Let's get series. We ALL saw this coming.
Posted on 01/20/2005 9:59:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter went back on his word to Republican caucus members and conservative groups alike when he recently hired Hannibal G. Williams II Kemerer, who until recently was the NAACP's assistant general counsel. Specter hired Kemerer against the wishes of his senior Judiciary Committee staff. "We warned him this was going to cause trouble, but Specter said it was his committee, we are his staff, and he's going to do what he believes is right," says a Judiciary Committee staffer.
Kemerer was a protégé of Elaine Jones, who three years ago, as head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, lobbied Sen. Ted Kennedy to delay confirmation of many of President Bush's judicial nominees to a federal circuit court where her group had pending litigation. When Jones and Kennedy's deal was revealed, she was forced to resign.
Specter hired Kemerer to deal specifically with the nominations and vetting of federal judicial nominees, a position many conservatives were led to believe by Specter would go, at the very least, to a Republican, and most likely to a conservative.
Specter, according to a longtime conservative judicial observer, made those promises during a meeting in late 2004 at which Specter was pleading for an opportunity to serve as Judiciary Chairman.
When word of Kemerer's hiring spread within the NAACP and Democratic Senate ranks, virtual whoops of glee were being emailed about.
As word earlier this week began to leak of Kemerer's employment, Specter slid his new hire into a staff position on the committee dealing with civil litigation issues and tort reform. And according to the Judiciary source, word is that all remarks made to the press are to make clear that Kemerer will not be working on judicial nominations.
But Specter, according to some close advisers, has told them as well as Kemerer that Kemerer will play a "critical" role on the Judiciary Committee.
"What everybody seems to be forgetting is that this guy is going to have access to all of our files, to all of our briefings. He will have access to everything because he is on the majority staff. If he were a Democratic hire, it might be another matter," says the Judiciary staffer. "But theoretically he is one of us."
Specter has further inflamed both the White House and Republican leadership in the Senate by his request that all judicial nominees -- even those who previously were cleared by the Judiciary Committee -- go through committee hearings. This would mean that someone like filibustered Texas supreme court justice Priscilla Owen would have to face full committee once again. "That hasn't gotten out too far, as far as I know," says the committee staffer. "But conservative legal groups are livid."
Specter's decisions are expected to have rippling effects. Already there is talk among some conservative groups of punishing fellow Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum for what they view was duplicitous behavior in backing Specter's candidacy for the Judiciary chairmanship. Santorum, who expects to have a tough reelection fight in 2006, is expected to distance himself from Specter in the coming days.
Meanwhile, other conservatives are attempting to figure out what can be done to have Specter removed as chairman. Meetings are planned on Friday and early next week with Sens. Jon Kyl and John Cornyn to map out strategies. One figure looming large, but who has not yet spoken out on this issue, is Sen. Sam Brownback. According to Senate insiders, Brownback was very active early in the controversy in November and early December when Specter's candidacy and position as Judiciary Chairman was in doubt. Brownback's staff met with a number of grassroots organizations actively opposed to Specter's chairmanship. And this was before Brownback knew he would be sitting on the Judiciary Committee.
As for Senate Republican leadership, it is believed that Sen. Bill Frist is not necessarily inclined to prevent his caucus from taking steps either to punish Specter or to leave him twisting in the wind. "When Specter was worried about his job, you didn't see Frist out there patting him on the back and telling him it would be okay," says a staffer on the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Frist was very fair and made Specter earn it. Now Specter has pissed all that good will away, and we want blood."
Spectre was warned, and Frist was warned.
A leopard DOES NOT change his spots! After all, who really expects a career politician to keep their word?
Is there where we all say TOLD YOU SO!!
How on earth could he possibly justify that?
ROFL I can hardly wait for Gonzales to get in. La Raza anyone? I suppose the tired ole nags will be ringing their hands once again. Wish they'd wise up.
Can he do that?
He is TOAST!
Spector you are a FOOL!
good grief, what in the wide-world-of-sports is going on around here?! Surely there are ways to remove Spectre,,,, right?
Specter = treachery and temerity at it's best
Did the Senate Republican leadership make a mistake by giving the Senate Judiciary Committee chairmanship to Arlen Specter?
Yes (0) 0%
No (0) 0%
Too early to tell (0) 0%
I don't think he can even do that........what would the purpose be?
If he could do it, then every single committee up there could "revise" the work of the chairman before them.......stupid.
Look what I found at NRO:
SPECTER SLAPS THE RIGHT [Ramesh Ponnuru]
You may recall the controversy that arose when Elaine Jones, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, was revealed to have asked Ted Kennedy to delay the confirmation of some of President Bush's judicial nominees in order to affect litigation in which her organization was involved. Jones ended up resigning during that controversy.
Now Arlen Specter, in one of his first acts as chairman of the Judiciary Committee in a Republican Senate, is hiring one of the NAACP's top lawyers. Specter wanted Hannibal G. Williams II Kemerer, who has been the group's assistant general counsel, to handle nominations for the committee. There has been resistance to that idea, however, and Kemerer appears likely to take over other duties on the committee.
Perhaps Kemerer was some sort of dissident at the NAACP, and is not bitterly hostile to most Republicans and their ideas. It's always possible. But here's a friendly description of a speech he gave in 2003: Kemerer "roused the more than 150 people present to a new sense of awareness with a focus on the 'new racism' that is now prevalent in the United States. A racism that hides behind civility, persuasive code words and black faces." That's not very encouraging.
Kay Daly of the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary remarks, "I don't think Senator Leahy is calling Manny Miranda" with job offers.
(What the heck kind of name is that?)
"Frist was very fair and made Specter earn it. Now Specter has pissed all that good will away, and we want blood."Yeah! And a pound of flesh, too!!
Let's get series. We ALL saw this coming.
I don't think he can do that, but I'm not sure
He thumbing his nose at republicans
He had a chance and he blew it
THROW HIS BUTT OUT OF THE PARTY!!
What a fool. Possibily sick. Maybe Jimme Carteritis.??
Did the Senate Republican leadership make a mistake by giving the Senate Judiciary Committee chairmanship to Arlen Specter?
Yes (5) 100%
No (0) 0%
Too early to tell (0) 0%
Total Votes: 5
You're thrilled, I'm sure.
All you have to do is look at AS's work on the Warren Comission. Mr. Magic Bullet helped perpetrate a major fraud upon the American Public. I am not talking about second gunmen, etc. Just the fact that the commission was never out to find the truth, but rather to prove a foregone conclusion. As a result of a completely botched investigation, this controversy has lived on for 42 years. If a proper investigation was performed, things might be different now.
I always believed that his political rise was a result of his manipulation of the Warren Commission. But more importantly he proved himself completely untrustworthy and the epitome of the pragmatic cynical politician that has done so much damage to the country.
Spectre is a RINO worm, like the other four or five. The GOP should strip him of all responsibilities and perks. Does somebody know the number of Rent-A-Spine, to be forwarded to limp-one Frist?
Alright alright .. you were right this time
Now instead of gloating .. how about we find a way to take care of this?
I guess that makes it official, and unanimous. Wondering if someone will be brave enough to vote that it was not a mistake.
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