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Specter prepares his farewell after 30 years in the Senate (good riddance to Snarlin' Arlen)
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 21 December 2010 | Thomas Fitzgerald

Posted on 12/21/2010 7:39:20 AM PST by Erik Latranyi

WASHINGTON - The family photographs came down Monday, packed in bubble wrap and boxes for the trip home, leaving nothing but some nails and sun-faded outlines on the walls of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's inner office.

After 30 years on Capitol Hill, the state's longest-serving senator is clearing out and heading back to Philadelphia.

Specter, 80, will deliver his final floor speech Tuesday morning, decrying a gridlocked Senate that has lost its political center and the sense of collegiality that once kept senators from campaigning against one another.

"Eating or defeating your own is a form of sophisticated cannibalism," Specter, a Democrat, plans to say, according to his prepared remarks, referring to conservative Republican senators - notably Jim DeMint of South Carolina - who helped tea-party insurgents fell three moderate incumbents in the 2010 primaries.

"Collegiality can obviously not be maintained when negotiating with someone out to defeat you, especially in your own party," Specter says in the 2,600-word speech, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. "In some quarters, compromising has become a dirty word. . . . Politics is no longer the art of the possible when senators are intransigent in their positions."

In some ways, Specter's journey over the last 20 months sums up the plight of the homeless centrist: He was all but forced out of the Republican Party and was embraced by the White House and other top Democrats, but could not survive his new party's primary.

He says he is cheered by the triumph of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who lost to a tea-party candidate in the primary but who has evidently won reelection as a write-in.

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: amoral; noethics; pennsylvania; senate; specter; sphincter; twobitpolitician; worthlesspos
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To: Erik Latranyi

No one could find a better example of what’s wrong with American Politics than Arlen Specter, though there are many contenders for the crown. Here’s the embodiment of the RINO turned Democrat who made his bones as a young operative by whitewashing the Kennedy assassination, and as low a point as that was, it was all downhill from there. He engineered the circumstances for the flight of murderer Ira Einhorn, out of favors owed to the local political establishment, and everything he’s done since then has been consistent with political whoredom. Bye bye Arlen.


21 posted on 12/21/2010 7:55:56 AM PST by supremedoctrine (Come closer. I want to get a better look at you.)
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To: wmileo
"ARSE_HOLE"

Yeah; I don't speak Scottish, so maybe that's right.....My bad....LOL

22 posted on 12/21/2010 7:56:03 AM PST by traditional1 ("Don't gotsta worry 'bout no mo'gage, don't gotsta worry 'bout no gas; Obama gonna take care o' me!)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Good Ridance to Sphincter! He cared about nothing except his own Arse for 30 Horrible Years! Don’t fret tho, Sphinchter will never go away!


23 posted on 12/21/2010 8:00:25 AM PST by True Republican Patriot (May GOD Continue to BLESS Our Greatest President :George W. Bush!!)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Will he quote Scottish law in his final speech?

Specter thinks way too highly of himself and it shows.


24 posted on 12/21/2010 8:00:33 AM PST by Obadiah (BHO -- out the door in 4!)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Heavens to Betsy. Just go. Nobody is going to miss you. The country will survive. The sun will come up tomorrow.


25 posted on 12/21/2010 8:01:45 AM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Somebody finally found the real “magic bullet” -

and put it to good use!


26 posted on 12/21/2010 8:04:28 AM PST by I cannot think of a name
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To: supremedoctrine
Also remember he was a Democrat-turned-RINO-turned-Democrat, changing parties as it seem to suit his election chances.

However, it seems that in his heart, he was always a democrat. If forget who said back in '09 that he was happy when he heard Specter changed parties, but was disappointed that Specter was still was a democrat.

27 posted on 12/21/2010 8:05:11 AM PST by kosciusko51
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To: Erik Latranyi
"Eating or defeating your own is a form of sophisticated cannibalism," Specter, a Democrat, plans to say, according to his prepared remarks, referring to conservative Republican senators - notably Jim DeMint of South Carolina - who helped tea-party insurgents fell three moderate incumbents in the 2010 primaries.

Hear! Hear! Well said, Mr. Sphincter.

One question, though. How did you become a Sinator in the first place?

28 posted on 12/21/2010 8:05:48 AM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: Erik Latranyi
"Collegiality can obviously not be maintained when negotiating with someone out to defeat you,

What a scumbag...

29 posted on 12/21/2010 8:06:39 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Arlen Spector was the Magic Bullet Theory in the Senate.

His ideals were all over the place and caused a lot of damage.


30 posted on 12/21/2010 8:06:48 AM PST by Le Chien Rouge
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To: Erik Latranyi

Hey Specter; GFY!!!


31 posted on 12/21/2010 8:07:33 AM PST by theDentist (fybo; qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspelll)
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To: Erik Latranyi

I hope to see that procession continue for a few more elections. Don’t let the door hit your ass as you leave.


32 posted on 12/21/2010 8:07:33 AM PST by Mouton
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To: Lurker

Who is he talking to......Dems, Pubs, himself.........


33 posted on 12/21/2010 8:08:42 AM PST by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Boy, he sure made Rick Santorum look stupid.


34 posted on 12/21/2010 8:09:35 AM PST by Sybeck1 (Memo to Mitt Romney: Just go away.............)
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To: Erik Latranyi
In some ways, Specter's journey over the last 20 months sums up the plight of the homeless centrist:

Typical cherry picking by The Professional Left.

Sphincter has been in politics for about 150 years but the Inquirer only goes back 20 MONTHS to make whatever futile point it is pathetically trying to make.

Hey, Inquirer guy. Sphincter started his career as a RAT. How come you don't mention that?

Corrupt Bass Turd.

35 posted on 12/21/2010 8:09:38 AM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Don’t let the door...... you POS.


36 posted on 12/21/2010 8:09:44 AM PST by b4its2late (Ignorance allows liberalism to prosper.)
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To: Erik Latranyi
In some ways, Specter's journey over the last 20 months sums up the plight of the homeless centrist:

Centrist my ass. The only accurate description of the guy is Opportunist.

37 posted on 12/21/2010 8:11:21 AM PST by Ditto (Nov 2, 2010 -- Partial cleaning accomplished. More trash to remove in 2012)
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To: dfwgator

38 posted on 12/21/2010 8:12:06 AM PST by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: Sybeck1
Boy, he sure made Rick Santorum look stupid.

In all fairness, Rick did that to himself.

39 posted on 12/21/2010 8:20:29 AM PST by kosciusko51
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To: Erik Latranyi

40 posted on 12/21/2010 8:22:47 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality. Save America From Bankruptcy.)
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