Shocker: Specter is a Hypocrite

When Jim Jeffords jumped ship in 2001 it was none other than Arlen Specter who wanted the rules changed to prevent this from happening in the future. I'm thinking he's happy his proposal never saw the light of day.

Accepting Senator Jeffords ' decision was based on principle for the reasons he gave at his news conference on Thursday morning, a question still remains as to whether any such inducement was offered and whether it played any part in Senator JEFFORDS' decision. Questions on such offers and counteroffers should be considered by Senators and by the Senate in an ethical context, but at this moment I do not see any way to effect such conduct by rulemaking or legislation.

This week's events raise very profound questions for the governance of our country as well as the operation of the Senate. I intend to press a rule change which would preclude a recurrence of this situation and will be discussing with my colleagues the whole idea of inducements as an incentive for a party switch.

It will be interesting to see what inducements Chia Pet Biden offered old Arlen while they were pumping iron at the gym.