Adios, Senator Eject Arlen Specter

by Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Adios Senator Arlen Specter. His desperate Hail Mary, of course, failed.

We haven't much cottoned to the Senator since his relentless hectoring of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. But in the end, no one really likes a turncoat/rat and Specter was sent packing...

Welcome to the new Senator Elect, and a not so fond farewell to the Senator Eject.
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Rebuttal: Pablo Fanque, are you out of your f***ing mind? Arlen Specter: Hero?

By Jack Brummet
All This Is That Arts and Lifestyles Editor

In Pablo Fanque's misguided recent posting on Arlen Specter (Celebrate! Sen. Arlen Specter extricates himself from The Hive--> The GOP begins to succumb to The Sickness) on All This Is That, Pablo makes the error of postulating Arlen Specter's party-switch as an heroic act. In fact, Pablo, Arlen Specter has explicitly stated that he switched parties to save his own skin. He was basically run out of his own party on a rail, and faced a primary battle which pollsters said he was sure to lose. So he jumped ship, and came on over to our party. And within one day, admitted he may not follow his new party's line, on Senate procedural issues a/k/a The Filibuster), or on whomever BHO nominates for the Supreme Court Associate Justice slot. That's possibly OK. It's not just the G.O.P. who like their mavericks. We like people to get "mavericky" too. But, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, "a rat is a rat is a rat."




Arlen Specter has always been one of my favorite Republicans, mostly because he would cross the aisle, and has co-sponsored bills with Democrats like Joe Biden. He is an intelligent man. I've never quite forgiven him for what he did to Anita Hill in the Thomas confirmation hearings.

He's no Hero, Pablo, and certainly not deserving of the halo you awarded him. Sure, I'm glad he's on our side; but let's face it, he's on our side as long as it suits his purposes (e.g., being re-elected at all costs). He jumped to our party because he has nowhere else to go.

I recommend we welcome him into the party, and "trust, but verify." In short, sure, bring him in, but don't trust him any further than you can throw him. What's to say he won't jump ship on us once the prevailing winds change direction? For now, let's bring him along. . .even if he ends up as a double agent. But let's not call him a hero. He's a politician, with all the treachery, ambition, and madness that entails.

Pablo, I wonder, from your anointing of Senator Specter, if you don't have a Republican streak yourself? And, as for you Arlen Specter, if you're going to abandon ship, why not jump the shark and become a full-blooded Yellow Dog Democrat? You'll be leaving behind the festering cadaver of the G.O.P., but you'll be gaining a brother and sisterhood of The Right Stuff.
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Celebrate! Sen. Arlen Specter extricates himself from The Hive--> The GOP begins to succumb to The Sickness

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Wow. This is, to quote John Sebastian at The Woodstock Festival, a "mindf***er of all mindf***ers." We DID know Specter's break with the Party in voting for BHO's budget was not just a break, but a massive, and perhaps irreparable breach. Arlen Specter! He's been a Republican longer than most Republicans have been alive!

It's no secret to political junkies that Specter is a close friend of the Vice President. Biden has cajoled Sen. Arlen Specter to jump to the Democratic Party for six years. In the last week, he talked to the heroic party-switcher no fewer than 15 times, officials close to Joe Biden told Fox News. Ever since Specter voted against his party, and for the massive Obama stimulus package, Biden seems to have been pressing his case.

A decade ago, Republicans had nine senators in the 11 states stretching up the Interstate 95 corridor north of the Capitol. Today, they have three senators from those states, and one, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, will retire in 2010.

"This has been a long time coming," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity [cluck cluck cluck]. "He's been having this conversation with Specter for half a dozen years. They're close. You'd be hard-pressed to find a senator he's co-sponsored more bills with." The two are also Amtrak buddies, riding from D.C. to Biden's home in Wilmington, Del., and Specter's in Philadelphia. And they've served together forever on the Senate Judiciary Committee, often in concert, sometimes in opposition.

Yeah, they did split over the sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with Specter taking the low road and endlessly hectoring Hill during her testimony and attempting (in the end, successfully, and shamefully) to derail her charges.

The White House official told Fox that "Biden views the stimulus vote as 'a clarifying event' for Specter, one where he decided to back Obama's economic approach and risk retribution from his party." When Specter was faced with a dogfight with a very well-funded conservative challenger, Republican Patrick Toomey, it was the last straw, and he joined The Good Fight.



Readers of All This Is That--when they do not immediately recoil and click away upon seeing an article on The Greys--are well aware of the Alien Lore regarding "cerebral eviction" practices, or, the "Alien Rejection Technique", first used by John Loengard as a method of ganglion removal for human hosts implanted by the Hive. During the final moments of an A. R.T., the human host usually coughs up the ganglion,which must locate a new host. . .or succumb. In this case, however, Senator Specter ejected himself from the diseased host and immediately jumped to a new, healthy, positive host, leaving the former host to the pathetic ministrations of Rush "Oxy" Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, and Bobby Jindal.

And, hey, Republicans. . .the tent is big! Come on Senator Olympia Snowe, Senator Susan Collins, Senators McCain and Lamar Alexander. We will welcome all of you actual and alleged centrists. Even you, Joe Lieberman, you sub-human, sawed-off P.O.S. . .come into the big tent! There's lots of room, and we have lots of work for everyone.
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