I don't believe that's the issue. The GOP will have at least a two-vote advantage on the committee, perhaps three.
The leadership won't be asking Specter to commit his vote on any pro-life candidate. Instead, they don't want him adopting any delaying tactics, bottling up pro-life candidates in committee.
With the expanded margins, Specter's vote in the committee and on the floor can be overcome. It is his procedural cooperation that is at stake.
If Specter will commit to that proposition, I personally have no objection to his being named Chairman (so long as they extract a similar pledge not to bottle up tort reform).
Remember that, while we don't need Specter's vote for judicial nominees in committee or on the floor, we do need his vote (and the votes of the other RINO moderates) on cloture motions.
Yep, pretty much what you said.
I think too many confuse not being enthused about nixing Mac's promotion with defending MacSpectre in any way. I don't. I'll never forgive him for Bork, unless he someday repents of it. And I could go on and on.
And I don't trust his promise or vow any more than anyone else. I think he's a shallow, callow, self-absorbed politician. But given that, I think that if he did try any funny business, he knows he's being watched like a mouse at a cat convention. After all his assurances of fairness and impartiality, I think the pressure's on the old fraud.
It's not the level of comfort I'd like, but this is politics. /c8
Dan