Curious Timing of Specter Scandal
Now I have no problem with the USA Today running this story. It's newsworthy and it raises serious questions that Specter should have to answer. But I am curious how USA Today first latched on to this story. The original article doesn't mention any source.
Now consider this story from a week ago:
The White House has been twisting arms to
ensure that no Republican member votes
against President Bush in the Senate
Judiciary Committee's investigation of the
administration's unauthorized wiretapping.
Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of
Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist
any Republican who votes against the
president. The sources said the blacklist
would mean a halt in any White House
political or financial support of senators
running for re-election in November. "It's
hardball all the way," a senior GOP
congressional aide said. . . .Over the last few weeks, Mr. Rove has been
calling in virtually every Republican on the
Senate committee as well as the leadership
in Congress. The sources said Mr. Rove's
message has been that a vote against
Mr. Bush would destroy GOP prospects in
congressional elections. "He's [Rove] lining
them up one by one," another congressional
source said.
And from Wednesday's Washington Post:
They attributed the shift to last week's closed
briefings given by top administration officials
to the full House and Senate intelligence
committees, and to private appeals to
wavering GOP senators by officials, including
Vice President Cheney. "It's been a full-court
press," said a top Senate Republican aide.
And TIME reported last month that the White House was "leaning very hard" on Specter not to hold hearings on the NSA program.
Despite all this, Specter held hearings and has consistently challenged the Administration's legal position. Specter also openly opposes the DeWine compromise being floated about right now that would make the program legal subject to some minimal oversight by a congressional subcommittee. Specter is instead pushing through a bill that would require the FISA Court of Review to evaluate the constitutionality of the NSA program. In other words, Specter has been a consistent thorn in the White House's side of late and has, so far at least, refused to back down.
That's why I find the timing of this Specter mini-scandal to be curious. It may just be a coincidence that this story surfaced just as Rove and company are busy twisting arms behind the scenes. Or it could be a shot across Specter's bow. Rove's certainly proved himself capable of such tactics over the years. Then again, maybe I'm just being paranoid.
posted by A.L. at 2:50 PM
8 Comments:
I don't think you are being paranoid -- while I think there is merit to the alleged conflict of interest, I have no doubt that something defanged Specter, not only on the NSA issue but dating back to Alito as well. The question is whether now that the story is out there, it will make Specter mad enough to defy them. Perhaps Rove & company were using it to hold over his head, but someone else leaked the story in essence to free Specter from the blackmail threat.
Keep in mind that proper conservatives have had a lot to dislike about Specter, and it was Bush's intervention that threw him a rope in a tough primary a while back.
So this might be the WH directly, or Reps who have had it in for him for years finally being let off the leash.
Tom Maguire
A good point, Tom. The White House is certainly not the only player with a motive to undercut Specter.
i had a similar thought about the timing when i first read of specter's problem yesterday evening.
and it's certainly not paranoid to speculate thusly in the current political environment. this is precidsley the sort of thing rove would do to an opponent.
but there are others, some groups who opposed alito come readily to mind, who may be upset that specter let alito slide thru so easily.
if it's the white house, it would seem to rank as a real bone-headed move because, once you have used this on specter, you can't use it again to threaten him,
and you've made him made as hell.
still, for now, i thhink the white house is a good bet.
if it's the white house, it would seem to rank as a real bone-headed move because, once you have used this on specter, you can't use it again to threaten him
Unless the message is: "there's more where that came from. We mean business. Don't *bleep* with us."
I think you are right on target Anon Lib- Rove is known for his arm-twisting and mafia-style, political thug tactics.
It may even involve the Office of the VP, not just Karl Rove. After all, while the blogosphere and media were busy reporting on the Veep shooting his friend in the face, Cheney himself was meeting with (ie. twisting the arms of) top level GOPers trying to get them to kill the NSA spy investigation and it appears with great success.
Remember when Specter came out prior to the Roberts nomination and said any nominee that opposed Roe would be questioned vigorously and low and behold, Rove and Company let it be known that if that were the case, Specter could find himself no long head of the Judiciary Committee?
This is an administration that doesn't take kindly to people who don't walk lock-step with their agenda. Just ask Joe Wilson. Specter is a respected [so-called] moderate who has little to gain in his home-state come re-election time, by mindlessly following the dictates of the Bush junta.
I have to admit though, specter does a lot of posturing but often caves to the administration- case in point the Alito hearings and even the NSA investigation- it was Specter who ensured AG Gonzales wouldn't have to testify under oath and Specter is in the process of caving once again with respect to continuing the inquiry in the senate. So, someone clearly got to him and this story about his office's ties to Abramoff might be what finally got to him.
I am tired of Specter, Snowe, McCain, Hagel, Chafee and others who claim to be "moderates" in the GOP because when it comes right down to the wire, they can't be counted on to buck the administration- they always cave. Always.
Oh to bring back a true moderate Republican, like the former senator from my former state, Charles "Mac" Mathias.
I don't think you're being paranoid. Whether or not that's what's happening here, it totally reeks of Rove's MO.
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