Is Specter Rotting Out The Senate Democratic Caucus From The Inside? Did Master Chess Player Steele Pawn Him Off On Biden Like A Trojan Horse?

The shitheads at the Senate Democratic policy lunch yesterday gave Benedict Arnold Arlen Specter a strong round of applause, a standing ovation according to Senate Majority shithead Harry Reid (NV). This is all about them-- the Insiders-- and their Insider games that are always so destructive to ordinary working families. (Three senators less given to hyperbole and wishful thinking contradicted Reid and said Specter was applauded but there was no ovation, standing or otherwise.) But even the disgruntlement with the disgraceful deal brokered by Reid and Biden to throw Specter's political corpse a line life and allow him to call himself a Democrat is almost solely based on their own selfish pretensions and not at all on Specter's continued adherence to all things Republican including committing to join the Republican filibuster against Obama's nominees and agenda, from health care to ameliorating foreclosures. He told the NY Times that if there's justice in Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman will be back in the Senate, not Al Franken.

Specter’s highly publicized switch rankled some in the party over an agreement Reid made with Specter that would allow the Pennsylvania senator to retain the seniority he earned through his five terms as a Republican... Specter claims that Reid has promised to recognize him in the 112th Congress with the same seniority as a Democrat elected in 1980.

In general, Reid seems more enthusiastic about the new Democratic senator from Pennsylvania than several of his colleagues.

Democratic leaders tried to ensure that Specter would feel well taken care of. He sat at the leadership table, which is usually reserved for Reid, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), said a Democratic senator in attendance.

This almost sounds like a plot to destroy the Democratic brand-- except anyone who's watched Biden in action over the years knows he's too inept to even do that properly. Oddly enough, new polling in Pennsylvania found that although the state's Republicans absolutely loathe Specter and would have voted overwhelmingly for radical right kook, Pat Toomey-- the admitted reason for Specter's fence jump-- Toomey would be slaughtered if mainstream conservative Tom Ridge, a Maryland resident, and the choice of the GOP Inside the Beltway Establishment, runs against him. And furthermore, most Pennsylvania Republicans actually support Employee Free Choice, which Specter was busy undermining yesterday inside the Democratic caucus.

Let's watch very closely to see which Democrats in the Senate stand with Democratic voters and which ones stand with the putrid and corrupt Specter. We already know where reactionary corporate shill Tom Carper (DE) stands. No doubt he was one of the barking seals applauding loudest and longest for a fellow hack scared to death of offending his big campaign donors-- and not nearly scared enough of working families.