Arlen Specter

A Senate Republican on Tuesday directly challenged President Bush's declaration that "I am the decision-maker" on issues of war. I would suggest respectfully to the president that he is not the sole decider," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said during a hearing on Congress' war powers amid an increasingly harsh debate over Iraq war policy. "The decider is a shared and joint responsibility," Specter said.

MJ Fox joined George Stephanopoulos today in an important interview and answered questions about his illness, Limbaugh, Bush's veto on embryonic stem cell research and why stem cell research is so important to him. This is a heartbreaking interview because when a person battles an illness---we have good days and bad days---good hours and bad hours---good minutes and bad minutes. It doesn't matter what political persuasion you are--we all watch our loved ones battle diseases and relate to the horrors that they cause. MJ Fox in the middle of the interview has a moment of some peace and it's quite telling. Limbaugh's disgusting attack on him tells you all about Rush's motives and his cold hearted behavior. It's not surprising that he declined to be interviewed. FOX: What is crueler, to not have hope or to have hope? And it's not false hope. It's a very informed hope...

Hope is now off limits to the compassionate conservatives that support Rush Limbaugh. What's next?

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Transcript and more via ABC
FOX: I'm just about to hit a pocket. This is good.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But after a short break, his medication kicked in. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) You were just saying you're about to hit a pocket.

FOX: Yeah, I just hit a nice pocket. It should be calm for a sec.

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Suburban Guerrilla: Arlen Specter, weasel

have skunk: Newsweek provides a perfect illustration of what is wrong with American media

Get In Their Face! War I$ $ell

The Reaction: The bigotry vote

alicublog : Conservative idea du jour--that our declining wages don't matter because we have iPods and Starbucks!

Radar Online: The perfect pair, Abramoff and Imelda?

Cliff Schecter hammers GOP pollster Jon Mclaughlin over the torture issue..

The Battle Begins between Dobson and Specter!

James Dobson attacks Arlen Specter for his words about judicial court nominees and begins to apply the pressure from the Christian right on President Bush. Also when Stephanapoulos questioned a hate remark he made, Dobson replied:

"Do you think you ought to lecture me on what a Christian is all about?"

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Arlen Specter responds to Dobson's charges on Face the Nation, also explaining his moderate stances on stem cell research.

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Sen. Bill Frist discusses Arlen Specter and the "Nuclear Option," to filibustering.

Sen. Joe Lieberman counters the charges that Frist makes, stating his case for the Dems and criticizes the Republicans for blocking many more of President Clinton's nominees.

Video

Updated version.

Mike's Blog Round Up

Donkephant: A proposal at the UN to stop the re-broadcast of any MSM material. Let me be a little more clear: No redistribution of Main Stream Media video or audio on the Internet of any kind. Seems like everyone's interested in the internet - especially dictators.

Blue Collar Politics Blog: Sow poverty and despair, reap anger and nationalism

MaxSpeak, You Listen! Madeleine Begun Kane is glad that Bush's presidential signing statement abuse is finally getting some serious attention from the media and, it appears, from Arlen Specter:

Ode To The Signing Statement
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Dub's never once vetoed a bill,
Though he's threatened to, sounding quite shrill.
At long last we know why:
His stealth statements defy

Arlen Specter: Bush Owes Leak Explanation to American People

Arlen joined FOX NEWS Sunday, and asked the President to explain himself over the new revelations that the President leaked classified information.

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Specter: Brit, I think too often we jump to conclusions before we know what all of the facts are, and I'm not about to condemn or criticize anybody, but I do say that there's been enough of a showing here with what's been filed of record in court that the President of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people.

In our ongoing "Rubber Stamp Congress Project," Matt Stoller brought over a thousand and seventy seven rubber stamps to Arlen Specter's office so that Arlen had the appropriate apparatus to use as he approves everything the President does. Remember, Specter didn't feel that Alberto Gonzales should be put under oath during the NSA hearing.
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ReddHedd:

Our first Rubber Stamp Republican Congress stamp delivery went well. And we have the video to prove it! We decided to target Sen. Arlen Specter of the Senate Judiciary Committee as our first rubber stamp recipient--Matt Stoller of MyDD and the fantastic folks at PoliticsTV helped us make this delivery possible, and I cannot thank them enough for all their hard work in putting the video together for everyone. Big thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who pushed this initiative forward — and ENORMOUS thanks to everyone who took the time and the cash to order a stamp or two and send it on its way to Washington....read on

Jane spells out what needs to be done:

Now that the Senate Intelligence Committee has caved like a bad souffle and voted not to investigate the illegal NSA wiretaps it's time to put some serious pressure on Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. We need Pennsylvanians to write letters to the editors of every major Pennsylvania paper and call Specter in his DC offices to demand real oversight of the NSA wiretapping program by the Judiciary Committee.

Local blog PSoTD has a great post up about this effort this morning. Glenn Greenwald and Anonymous Liberal have been doing a superb job covering the major points of this matter so if you need a talking points refresher you can find it at Unclaimed Territory. And Pastor Dan and rkrider have put together a terrific newspaper contact list at pennsylvaniaroots.blogspot.com which they will be continually updating, so if you're from Pennsylvania or have a reasonable tie to the state and feel qualified to write a personal appeal please do so. Therisites2 at VichyDems also has Specter's office contact info.

Russ asks the body to censure Bush over his warrantless wiretapping.

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From Russ's camp: "He is introducing to censure President George W. Bush for authorizing an illegal domestic wiretapping program and then misleading Congress and the public about its existence and legality. Feingold says the resolution is a responsible step for Congress to take in response to the President's undermining of the separation of powers and ignoring the rule of law."

Arlen Specter responds: TPM

"It was coming to this. Responding to Sen. Feingold, Sen. Specter is now arguing on the floor of the senate that FISA is unconstitutional. Ergo, President Bush couldn't have been violating the law becuase it's not valid law.

Quite a way for Specter to end his career."