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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Arlen Specter RIP

Arlen Specter RIP

by DougJ|  October 14, 20122:05 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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The Times obit.

Whatever else he might have done, I respect the hell out of him for leaving the insane Republican party.

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63Comments

  1. 1.

    Mathguy

    October 14, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    Sorry, it’s really hard to forgive him for the Thomas hearings and what he did to Anita Hill. Just because he had a “come to Jeebus” moment doesn’t erase his essential asshole-ishness.

  2. 2.

    smintheus

    October 14, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    I don’t know that he did have a “come to Jeebus” moment. He knew he’d lose the Republican primary, seems clear that’s why he switched parties.

  3. 3.

    Warren

    October 14, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    And now he’s dead. Fuck that guy.

  4. 4.

    Alison

    October 14, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    Doesn’t erase it, no, but this does make me think forgiveness can be found:

    https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/257530891805528064

    Years after Thomas hearing, Specter felt badly about how he had treated Anita Hill, and sought my help in arranging a reconciliation.

    I mean, you could say, too little too late, and I wouldn’t argue. But…the fact that he did this at least shows a glimmer more character than the vast majority of his colleagues, IMO…

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 14, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    His switch came far too late, if he had more balls and followed his conscience during the Bush years (I’m basing this on statements he made during the second Avignon term) we might have a better and different country. But grading him on a Republicans who knew better curve that runs from (A) Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffee through (B) Chuck Hagel and (C) Colin Powell, down to (F) Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Richard Lugar, I guess I’d give him a B+
    ETA: this seems a little harsher than I’d intended, but I’ve always really believed Specter knew better. I remember an article about he and Olly whining about how small their “Wednesday group” of moderate Rs had become, all the while they were voting with Rove, Cheney and the K Street project.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    October 14, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    RIP , Senator Specter

  7. 7.

    Ben Franklin

    October 14, 2012 at 2:21 pm

    I don’t normally speak ill of the dead, but Magic Bullets always get ya.

  8. 8.

    MikeJ

    October 14, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    He’s a good Republican.

  9. 9.

    Ben Franklin

    October 14, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    @smintheus:

    Yeah. I’m not sure saving your job is a redemptive act.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Whatever else he might have done, I respect the hell out of him for leaving the insane Republican party.

    That’s because you’re a fucking moron.
    “Will enable me to be re-elected.”

    One of the more devastating political ads of the day.

  11. 11.

    PsiFighter37

    October 14, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    RIP, even though I cared little for him, even when he conveniently switched sides. His only lasting (positive) legislative contribution is that if Obama gets re-elected, his vote helped us get through healthcare reform.

    ETA: And I agree with others who are pointing out that respecting him for leaving the GOP is total malarkey. He left because he knew Toomey would kick his ass. There was no George W. Bush or Rick Santorum to save him as there was in 2004.

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    October 14, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    Gonna wait for geg6 to weigh in on this. I can imagine she has a few choice thoughts on his passing.

    I’ll just say he’s onto his next adventure, whatever that may be.

  13. 13.

    Cervantes

    October 14, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    @MikeJ: I see what you did there.

  14. 14.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    October 14, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    I have a feeling he will go down in history as the guy who brought forward the Magic Bullet Theory in the Kennedy Assassination.

  15. 15.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 14, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    Now that guy will never get out of the vestibule.

  16. 16.

    geg6

    October 14, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    Well, he was my senator and I have mixed feelings for Arlen. I’ll never forget what he did to Anita Hill, but he did apologize to her, I believe. He made a lot of votes in favor of stuff that he, self-evidently, knew were a load of crap, but he always stayed loudly and proudly pro-choice.

    The best I can think to say of him is that he may have been the last of the “good” Republicans. I never liked most Republicans at all, but he wasn’t batshit crazy, bigoted, or stupid. And that’s a rare thing among today’s GOP.

    And to those who ascribe the worst of intentions to his party switch, I won’t deny that he wanted to stay in the Senate. But I truly do believe that he couldn’t deal with it another minute. That’s why he finally had to deal with White House on the ACA vote and switch. It was driving him nuts to deal with those people in the GOP.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    October 14, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    I thought he was an often good man in a party that went off the rails. Which he left.

    I don’t think that many of you give him enough credit.

    RIP Arlen Specter, and I respect him a lot more than President Snowe.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    October 14, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @geg6: Thanks for the comment. It is difficult to look past his treatment of Anita Hill but something must be said about his apologizing to her.

  19. 19.

    Ben Franklin

    October 14, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Lyrics and music…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KWPxd9aTvg

  20. 20.

    Paul

    October 14, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Amen to that. And to those people who can’t seem to forgive Specter for his past, can you name any Democrat who is free of sin?

    There were plenty of Dems who voted for the Iraq war, almost every Dem voted to keep Gitmo open etc etc.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    @geg6:

    I never liked most Republicans at all, but he wasn’t batshit crazy, bigoted, or stupid.

    That makes him craven. Because he continued to vote with them until his ass got hung over the drying line.

  22. 22.

    smintheus

    October 14, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    @Ben Franklin: And Specter started out as a Democrat, only switching to the Republicans after he was elected district attorney in Philly (bizarrely enough running on the GOP ticket but as a registered Dem). He was an opportunist from the beginning.

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    RIP Arlen Specter, and I respect him a lot more than President Snowe.

    A new standard.

  24. 24.

    raven

    October 14, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    @Corner Stone: Missed you last night.

  25. 25.

    TG Chicago

    October 14, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    IMHO, if there is a reason to respect him, it’s not due to his party switch per se, but for his votes for Obamacare and the stimulus (the latter of which was when he was still a Republican).

  26. 26.

    geg6

    October 14, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    @JPL:

    I also can’t help but love that he had the balls to do comedy after his last defeat. And he was actually pretty funny.

    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/watch-arlen-specters-stand-comedy-routine-isnt-bad/46728/

    He did this more than once. The last one I could find was this past March, just before he got sick again.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    October 14, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @Paul: Biden was not exactly a role model during the Anita Hill hearings so your point is taken.

  28. 28.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    @raven: I was otherwise engaged. Seemed like a pretty good game. Some homer calls, IMO, but that late INT by SCAR just killed them.

  29. 29.

    James E. Powell

    October 14, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    His switch came far too late, if he had more balls and followed his conscience during the Bush years

    You are assuming he had a conscience, right? Because when I consider everything I know about Specter, I don’t see any evidence of a conscience. I see a politician doing what he needs to do to get re-elected.

  30. 30.

    tcolberg

    October 14, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    He was very critical of Robert Bork during his confirmation and stood with the Dems against him.

  31. 31.

    Chris

    October 14, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    @geg6:

    Agree with all of this. Though of course, in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king.

  32. 32.

    raven

    October 14, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    @Corner Stone: Spurrier’s whining bought them a call late but it didn’t make the difference.

  33. 33.

    amk

    October 14, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    Voted for ACA. The one (only?) good thing he did in his life.

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    Jacoby Jones for the 108yd TD!
    (Former Texan now BAL)

  35. 35.

    Smiling Mortician

    October 14, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    @amk: And against Bork makes it two.

  36. 36.

    JoyfulA

    October 14, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    @geg6: I have trouble calling him a good Republican, but the last of the sane Republicans works.

    He did not change parties for any other reason than to get reelected. He’d narrowly won renomination against Toomey the last time around–dragged along by GW and Santorum–and he had no hopes of the GOP nomination in 2010. He did not make the jump until the White House and the DNC had gotten the PA Democratic establishment, from Rendell and Casey on down, in line. I got to see a lot of this from the semi-inside as an “influential Democrat” invited to one of the meet-and-greet breakfasts staged for him around the state.

    At any rate, his first vote as a Democrat was against cramdown, which is hard to forgive.

  37. 37.

    JoyfulA

    October 14, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    @geg6: I have trouble calling him a good Republican, but the last of the sane Republicans works.

    He did not change parties for any other reason than to get reelected. He’d narrowly won renomination against Toomey the last time around–dragged along by GW and Santorum–and he had no hopes of the GOP nomination in 2010. He did not make the jump until the White House and the DNC had gotten the PA Democratic establishment, from Rendell and Casey on down, in line. I got to see a lot of this from the semi-inside as an “influential Democrat” invited to one of the meet-and-greet breakfasts staged for him around the state.

    At any rate, his first vote as a Democrat was against cramdown, which is hard to forgive.

  38. 38.

    JoyfulA

    October 14, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    @geg6: I have trouble calling him a good Republican, but the last of the sane Republicans works.

    He did not change parties for any other reason than to get reelected. He’d narrowly won renomination against Toomey the last time around–dragged along by GW and Santorum–and he had no hopes of the GOP nomination in 2010. He did not make the jump until the White House and the DNC had gotten the PA Democratic establishment, from Rendell and Casey on down, in line. I got to see a lot of this from the semi-inside as an “influential Democrat” invited to one of the meet-and-greet breakfasts staged for him around the state.

    At any rate, his first vote as a Democrat was against cramdown, which is hard to forgive.

  39. 39.

    JoyfulA

    October 14, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    Phooey! I wrote a long response to geg6, and then the site crashed. My last line was: His first vote as a Democrat was against Cramdown.

  40. 40.

    JoyfulA

    October 14, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    Phooey! I wrote a long response to geg6, and then the site crashed. My last line was: His first vote as a Democrat was against Cramdown.

  41. 41.

    eemom

    October 14, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought it was the stimulus where he cast the “saving” vote (together with Collins and Snowe), not HCR.

    Anyway, he didn’t leave the republican party, it left him. Also too, good news for John McCain. Too soon?

  42. 42.

    eemom

    October 14, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    @Chris:

    in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king.

    I had a colleague who used to love to say that, in the context of some people fucking up less than others.

  43. 43.

    Lojasmo

    October 14, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    I don’t wish for him to burn in hell.

    He was a craven, opportunistic douche.

  44. 44.

    geg6

    October 14, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    @JoyfulA:

    When I said “good” Republican, sane is a given even if unsaid.

    And I never said I liked the guy, although not everything he ever did or said was horrible. I just have some empathy for the man. That is why I’m a Democrat.

  45. 45.

    DFS

    October 14, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    Arlen Specter believed in nothing except the divine right of Arlen Specter to hold a Senate seat in perpetuity. It’s nice to imagine that anything he did had anything to do with actual principles, but it didn’t.

  46. 46.

    Another Halocene Human

    October 14, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    OT but relevant to our interests.

    So, I just found this definition of butthurt on Brad Hicks’ livejournal:

    I mentioned this to many people at Worldcon, and nobody I met disputed my nickname for it: “the butthurt panel.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with this particular bit of Internet (mostly gamer) slang, “butthurt” is when somebody who has received some trivial or minor injury or insult insists on monopolizing the conversation, insists on constantly steering all conversations back to how much they hurt, insists that their trivial inconvenience or insult or injury was as serious and painful as (say, for example) anal rape.

  47. 47.

    Dan

    October 14, 2012 at 3:46 pm

    “X was actually an asshole who does not deserve to rest in peace.”- Balloon Juice commenters after every death, ever

  48. 48.

    PsiFighter37

    October 14, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    @Dan: Thanks for your concern.

    Jerk.

  49. 49.

    waratah

    October 14, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    I have wondered if any of those senators or congress people think about how the votes they made will be looked at in history and by their children and grandchildren.

  50. 50.

    JoyfulA

    October 14, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    @geg6: I lived in Philly for a couple of decades, and I guess I got an overdose of both Rendell and the Specters (wife Joan was on city council for a long time; she started a frozen dessert business, whose products immediately appeared in every supermarket).

  51. 51.

    I_D_Inuse

    October 14, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    You called it. Whatever, why-ever we will never know what prompted his change of party, not once but twice, but…by his actions, not his words he did try to reconcile right versus wrong.

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    @Dan: Ghandi was kind of a selfish sumbitch, truth be told.

  53. 53.

    PsiFighter37

    October 14, 2012 at 4:38 pm

    @Corner Stone: Not sure if comparing Specter to Gandhi is really fair to the latter, but I get the gist of your main point. I did a very in-depth report on Gandhi in high school (showing a bit of my youth / age here, depending on your perspective), and this is definitively a true statement.

  54. 54.

    hoi polloi

    October 14, 2012 at 4:54 pm

    @smintheus:

    I agree. The switch was purely for the sake of remaining in the 100 club and had exactly nothing to do with anything else.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2012 at 4:56 pm

    The man faced cancer with dignity. Multiple times. And he wrote a book to encourages others in the same situation, I think. Politics aside, I give him good marks as a human being.

  56. 56.

    PurpleGirl

    October 14, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    “He was a man, take him for all in all,
    [We] shall not look upon his like again.”

    Hamlet, Act I, Scene II

  57. 57.

    gene108

    October 14, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    There’s the old quip from either Birla or Tata about how it cost them a fortune for Gandhi to live in poverty.

    @hoi polloi:

    He did switch and he did call out the Republican leadership for going crazy.

    If more senior Republicans took a stand against the right-wing entertainers extremists like Limbaugh, Hannity, et. al. you’d have a different GOP today. As it is these guys gave up control of their party to talking heads and Grover Norquist.

  58. 58.

    The Other Chuck

    October 14, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    @Another Halocene Human: I’m pretty sure the etymology of “butthurt” refers to the resentful pouting of a spanked child.

    As for Specter’s vote against Bork, he was a key player in getting Clarence Thomas confirmed. Is he even slightly better than Bork?

  59. 59.

    Bruce S

    October 14, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    “I respect the hell out of him for leaving the insane Republican party.”

    Low bar for “respecting the hell” out of someone, but then we’re talking about an ex-GOPer who has just barely escaped final destination at the Gates of Hell.

  60. 60.

    Ken Pidcock

    October 14, 2012 at 9:34 pm

    Because of Arlen Specter, I cannot claim never to have voted for a Republican.

    His sins are well documented, but it has to be acknowledged that, if we had a Senate filled with his like, we’d be a hell of a lot better off.

  61. 61.

    dexwood

    October 14, 2012 at 10:13 pm

    Fuck him. May there be a special place in Hell, if Hell exists, for those who could have done far more for their fellow humans, but didn’t.

  62. 62.

    Joey Giraud

    October 15, 2012 at 11:29 am

    @The Other Chuck:

    Is he even slightly better than Bork?

    Much as I detest Uncle Clarence, Bork would have been worse, if only because Bork would actually influence other justices.

  63. 63.

    brantl

    October 15, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    @Alison: He should have done it publicly, if he fetl he’d done wrong. Wimpy.

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