Why isn't Arlen Specter facing any pressure for the clause which gave Gonzo

[The Backlash Cometh]

the right to remove federal prosecutors and replace them with ideological-minded cronies?

I don't understand the incredible double standard here. John Edwards has an assistant who writes an opinion on a blog which stirs up tremendous controversy and ends up with her turning in a resignation, but what happens to Specter's staffer who actually sneaks in a clause into the Patriot Act that makes Saturday Night Massacres legal? Nothing. Who was that staffer and why aren't we calling for his/her removal?

[KeepItReal]

1. Good question. And who is this unknown "aide" that did this? Who told the "aide" to do that?

<eom>

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. We know the name of Edwards staffer, right?

So why can't we get the name of Arlen's staffer so we can question him/her?

[zeemike]

2. Believe me Spector knew about it

Anyone who invented the single bullet or magic bullet theory to explain away the assassination of a popular president cannot be trusteed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Yes, but the media said that a staffer snuck it in, so what happened

to the follow-up questions? Why didn't anybody think to ask what the name of the staffer was so that we could interview him or her and find out if Arlen was hiding behind him/her.

[librechik]

7. Specter got slammed--and says he's going to fix it

and there are plans now to change the wording so oversight is reinserted and the "interim" aqppts ar temporary not indefinite.

We need to keep up the pressure to make sure he does it--or his aide!

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Hmmm...any link to a mainstream paper as a source?

[librechik]

9. here you go on the action in the Senate

http://www.examiner.com/a-566943~Senators_oppose_effort_to_replace_federal_prosecutors.html

on the Dem side--couldn't find the Specter link, but I know I read it somewhere, after he was forced to admit that his staff person did the dirty deed.

[antonialee839]

12. Here's the dirt on the creepy aide and Specter the Stupid

http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2007/02/how_justice_rem.html

At the behest of the Justice Department, an aide to Sen. Arlen Specter slipped a provision into the bill that permitted the White House to place its own appointees in vacant U.S. attorney positions permanently and without Senate confirmation. So silently was this sleight of hand performed that Specter himself now claims, many months later, to have been completely unaware of the amendment's passage. (Of course, it would be nice if the senators actually read the legislation before they voted, particularly when they claim to be the authors.)

The staffer who reportedly performed this bit of dirty work is Michael O'Neill, a law professor at George Mason University and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. As the Washington Times explained when O'Neill was appointed as the Senate Judiciary Committee's chief counsel, many observers believed that Specter had hired him to reassure conservatives of his loyalty to the Bush White House. Right-wing distrust had almost ousted the Pennsylvania moderate from the Judiciary chairmanship, and appointing O'Neill was apparently the price for keeping that post.

Evidently O'Neill rewarded Specter by sneaking through legislation to deprive him and his fellow senators of one of their most important powers, at the behest of an attorney general intent on aggrandizing executive power. The results of this backstage betrayal -- now playing out in a wave of politicized dismissals and hirings -- were perfectly predictable and utterly poisonous.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Federalist Society or Heritage Foundation.

I smell their dirty work. If indeed this came in without Spectre's approval, then this untrustworthy mole should be removed.

[bryant69]

4. An Overzealous Staffer?

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=18951

But of course the big difference is that Republicans tend to stand together more often, and Republicans not as much.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. We still have a right to know the name of the person who made

a major public policy change, don't we?

Is this like allowing Loose Lips Armitage to remain in a position that requires secrecy? A bullshit cover story? C'mon media. Fair is fair. If we know the name of Edward's staffer, then we should have the same level of journalism applied on people who are actually making public policy.

[antonialee839]

13. His name's Michael Oneill, a former clerk for none other

than Clarence Thomas. Splains alot.

[DemReadingDU]

10. evening kick

[Canuckistanian]

11. And another

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Jim Sagle]

14. Because he's a Republican.