Specter draws fire on Pickering appointment

[Freddie Stubbs]

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer





WASHINGTON -- In what his critics called a new campaign flip-flop, Sen. Arlen Specter came under fire Wednesday for failing to condemn the White House for sidestepping Congress and appointing federal Judge Charles Pickering to an appeals court.

Specter, the four-term Republican who is in line to chair the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee next year if he survives re-election, condemned a similar 1997 appointment by the Clinton administration he then called a "serious constitutional issue of separation of powers" that could "poison the water on other important matters which require senatorial concurrence."

In a letter sent Wednesday to Specter, Rep. Joe Hoeffel, D-Pa., called Pickering "a man whose record on civil rights does not represent the views and values of our constituents."

"Mr. Specter strongly opposed the use of the recess appointment in 1997," said Hoeffel, the Philadelphia-area Democrat who hopes to unseat the senator in November. "I hope he is still standing by that conviction."

more: http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2004/01/21/breaking_news/story04.txt

[11 Bravo]

1. Anyone surprised by a Republican act of of hypocrisy

is probably also stunned by a display of male chauvinism from a pimp.

[tom_paine]

2. Or cross-burning from KKK members

Or bears shitting in the woods

Or the Pope attending Catholic Church services

and so on...

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. But aren't Democrats who are now criticizing Bush hypocritacal

becasue they did not raise any concerns when Clinton did the same thing?