Specter gives in to pressure from ideologues to win post

Will the real Arlen Specter please stand up? Earlier this month, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania had some thoughtful, appropriate advice for Republican President Bush: Don't nominate judges who are opposed to abortion because they will have a difficult time gaining Senate confirmation, given Democratic opposition.
But last week, Specter, who is in line to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee, invited the president to nominate whomever he pleased and promised "quick committee hearings and early committee votes."
What a difference the threat of losing one of the most important chairmanships makes.
Indeed, Specter, a political moderate with an independent streak, hasn't yet begun to pay for what Republican extremists, led by anti-abortion activists, view as blasphemy.
Consider the comment from James Dobson, founder of the conservative Christian lobbying group Focus on the Family, after Specter issued a statement last week underscoring his support for Bush judicial nominees, which prompted the nine Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to back him for chairman: "However, he [Specter] will assume his new position on a very short leash."
In other words, the minute Specter steps out of line, Dobson and others like him will be there to remind him that he can easily be ousted. Such is the power and the influence of the religious right, which has claimed credit for President Bush's re-election and for Republican gains in the Senate and House.
Not only has the Pennsylvania senator backtracked on his earlier advice to the president regarding judicial nominees and the highly charged issue of abortion, but he has sacrificed his independence. The statement he read last week in an effort to garner the support of Judiciary Committee Republicans was cleared by members of the panel and the Republican leadership.
Litmus test
Thus, while Specter insisted that he does not have a litmus test for judges on abortion rights, there is a test he has shown a willingness to apply: win and keep the Judiciary chairmanship at all political costs. And if that means pushing through a nominee for the Supreme Court who could be expected to support a review of Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion-rights case, so be it.
But the senator, who faced stiff opposition in the Republican primary from a challenger put in the race by GOP conservatives, is willing to go a step further to persuade his critics that he is one of the team. He pledged to fight possible Democratic filibusters of the president's judicial nominees and added that if a rule change is necessary to avoid filibusters, "there are relevant precedents to secure rule changes with 51 votes." Republicans hold a 55-44-1 majority it the Senate.
The effect of this rule change would be to shatter the Constitutional authority granted the Senate to give "advice and consent" to the president.
Without being able to filibuster nominations they find offensive, Democrats would be rendered politically impotent when it comes to having a say on judicial appointments. Republicans would rubber stamp the president's nominations.
The Judiciary Committee will vote in January on the chairmanship. We hope Sen. Specter will use the time between now and then to consider just how high a price he is paying to secure a position of power.