Arlen Specter: lapdog-- and self-neutered at that

When I wrote the piece suggesting that Arlen Specter could possibly reverse course on NSA spying and stand up to the White House rather than let them lead strongarm Congress, I had no idea that he was simply fishing for some gratitude. His angry letter to Dick Cheney intimated that he was ticked off because Cheney had gone over his head to lobby other senators on the issue. Apparently he was just ticked off because he wanted recognition for standing aside and letting it happen.

The Washington Post writes that Specter's proposal on the issue is to A) make it optional for the White House to obtain warrants for domestic wiretapping, etc., and B) to pardon anyone involved in breaking the FISA laws. Quite a switch from his position earlier this very week that the law had been violated.

Yep. Arlen Specter, chair of the Judiciary Committee, has proposed that the White House is free to break the law and that the judiciary branch of government can't do anything about it. Just one more victory for the neo-fascists.