Free Republic

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., says he doesn't know how he will vote at the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is trying to resolve his inner struggle arising from his deeply held political beliefs, his personal ties to Alito and his loyalty to the Republican Party, reports USA Today.

The recent announcement by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter that confirmation hearings on Judge Samuel Alito have been postponed until January was only the latest in a series of painful examples of what happens when Senate Republicans wimp out.Senator Specter did not wimp out. The Senate Republican "leadership" wimped out when they made him chairman of the Judiciary Committee after he had fired a shot across the bow of his own President, right after the election, publicly warning President Bush not to nominate anyone to the Supreme Court who would stir up controversy in the Senate.That was the time...

How The GOP Made The Specter Issue Irrelevant The GOP juggled commitee assignments today, shifting two strong anti-abortion advocates to the Senate Judiciary Commitee to give George Bush ample political support for the expected conservative nominees to federal courts this session of Congress: Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sen.-elect Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)[emphasis mine] will join the panel's eight returning Republicans next month, assuming the Republican Conference follows tradition and approves the leadership's committee assignments for all 55 GOP senators. The breakdown of Judiciary will be 10 Republicans and eight Democrats. ... Brownback and Coburn replace Sens. Larry E. Craig (Idaho)...