Sen. Specter's Critics Turn Fire on Tort Reform

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Critics seeking to keep moderate Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter from chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee were broadening their offensive on Friday by attacking his record on curbing lawsuits.

Specter, who supports keeping abortion legal, is already engulfed in a political firestorm fanned by opponents of abortion rights, who do not want him to head the committee that oversees judicial nominations.

Detractors say Specter is also a friend of trial lawyers who earn big fees by bringing suits against companies, and generally donate more money to Democratic than Republican politicians.

Specter has defenders, though, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pro-business lobby, which has pushed hard for legal reforms.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6802936

It's like "Dawn of the Brain-Dead".

Not many moderate Pugs of any consequence left.

His state went blue. Even with voter manipulation, it is still a fairly liberal state (well, the cities anyway). Santorum has been nothing but an embarrassment to the state, so he'll be out in '06 and Specter is probably safe, though I'd like to see him replaced with a Democrat also. If he'd like to switch back to Dem, I'm sure we'd take him.

DEMOCRAT! They're starting to eat their own for not being stupid or bigoted enough. Excellent.

The first is the vicious hatred and intolerance the Reich Wing of the republican party has for anyone even slightly different from themselves. This of course has been well known for some time to any objective observer of politics. But it is interesting and informative that they now are so willing and eager to openly attack republicans who they grudgingly once tolerated as necessary to their party.

The second thing actually is more interesting to me. That is their willingness to admit their actual motivation for tort reform.

trial lawyers who earn big fees by bringing suits against companies, and generally donate more money to Democratic than Republican politicians.

They are motivated by a desire and plan to defund democratic candidates. Republicans have used the power of the federal government before to intimidate and punish businesses which support democrats. But they have been more secretive in the past. Probably because it is illegal. Now they apparently feel no need to disguise their criminal behavior.

Who will notice what's going on? Will the "librul media" ever report this sort of internecine fighting. If this war isn't publicized we lose the benefit of the fallout.