Sen. Specter believes we shouldn't reexamine past administrations: "This is not Latin America."

[sabra]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/02/03/some_call_for_bush_administration_trials/?page=2

<snip>

That echoed Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee that voted, 17 to 2, to send Holder's nomination to the full Senate.

After a private meeting with Holder about his nomination, Specter said the nominee had given him a satisfactory answer: possible prosecutions of those suspected of using torture would be decided on a case-by-case basis, and any potential defendant would have White House legal opinions on the issue as a viable defense. "I do think that President Obama has the right approach when he said that it is preferable not to look backwards but to look forwards," Specter said in a press conference last week. "If every administration started to reexamine what every prior administration did, there would be no end to it. This is not Latin America."

Yet many on the left argue the Bush White House operated with such secrecy and impunity that only full accountability - including punishment - can restore the governmental balance of power, renew the public trust, and show that not even the president is above the law.

In a radio interview earlier this month, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, acknowledged why Obama, dealing with two wars and a financial crisis, might want to move on. But "we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility," he said.

[McCamy Taylor]

1. This from the party that held hearings on Clinton's pardons? WTF?

[liberal N proud]

2. The republicans are good at exclusions

when it is to protect themselves

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. No kidding. One of my friends, well, one of the last I can call a friend,

said that Obama said we should help our neighbors. It's kind of funny the way she emphasized the words as if she meant I had to help out neighbors, who during the good times, failed to stepped up to help others in need, because they didn't believe that in this affluent community, there was anybody in need. And now, I should somehow forget the last ten years and help out neighbors who dug us in a hole during the good times? What am I suppose to do? Allow them to step on my head to get out of the hole they created?

Yeah, they have a way of spinning things in their favor.

[Beavker]

7. We see the absurdity

But it's excpected. Hopefully those Indenpendents and Moderate Republicans are seeing how embarassing it is to be affiliated with these people right now. Once the Geriatric Racist Republicans die off, the Super Elite Rich Self preservation ones will start seeing that being rich sucks if the neighborhood you live in is on fire and in ruins.

[struggle4progress]

30. This from the Senator who recently grilled Holder about the Marc Rich pardon

[Metta]

3. Spector doesn't want to be caught with his pants down again.

He's a lying sack of shit posing as someone who cares.

[MineralMan]

4. And Arlen Spectre speaks once again from beyond the grave.

Feh!

[LynnTheDem]

5. *snort* *choke* *gasp*

Ohhh the irony!!!

[IDemo]

6. Bank robber to cops after being surrounded in parking lot:

"Wouldn't it be best to forget about the past and just look forward?"

[Just-plain-Kathy]

11. That's pretty much what Joe Biden and Bill Clinton said.

:cry:

[burythehatchet]

8. I'm done

[stillcool]

9. What..the cover-up king..

doesn't have it in him any more?

[FraDon]

18. Mr. Magic Bullet ? • Whadda surprise !

This is the deal the oligarch's have always "negotiated", to move forward (sic). • Clawback. I like that word better each time I hear it. Ill-gotten gains plain & simple. • No bonus for failure.

[devilgrrl]

10. Gee, if they didn't do anything wrong - what's there to hide?

They're using the same rationalization pro-wiretapping assholes did. "If you're not doing anything wrong, what's there to worry about?"

What a joke.

[UTUSN]

12. Just 2 months ago he had to apologize for making jokes about Polish people

I guess SPECTER's apologies also will be on a case by case basis and Latin America doesn't qualify.

[Enthusiast]

13. "This is not Latin America" But, under

Republican leadership is was starting to resemble Latin America.

[EFerrari]

23. That's how "Latin America" came to resemble "Latin America", too.

And it's still the same way today. BushCo demonized and tried to tank the most vigorously growing democracies and supported the corrupt butchers that are sons of the last corrupt butchers that Nixon and Reagan put into power. That's how it works.

[bdamomma]

14. Arlen is not too guilty huh?

this guy needs to be voted out in 2010.

[raccoon]

15. "This is not Latin America''--no, but we're getting there, alas. nt

[MNDemNY]

16. Sorry folks, there will be NO prosecutuions...NONE.

So, make something of it, or get over it.

[KharmaTrain]

17. Afterwhich He Blamed The Clenis...

...for all the bitter partisanship inside the beltway. Give it a rest, will ya, Arlen!!

The Senator of Scotland has a spine of sushi...but at least he's consistant...he caves under both repugnican AND Democratic administrations.

Now you'd think a former prosecutor would not rest if there were crimes that remained unresolved...such as when his buddy Gonzo lied in front of him and the world. Now I guess bygones should be bygones, right Arlen? For years I thought that was a bad rug on your head...now I realize they're just very creative tread marks.

[EFerrari]

20. Hey, Arlen -- how many times did you sign off on destabilizing democracy in Latin America?

5? 10? 15 times? Fuck you.

[dgibby]

22. Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a winner!!!

How true. I was just getting to post that the US is a major part of the problem in Latin America. Just imagine how different things might be there if we'd left them alone! Wonder how many countries are going to kick up out before it's all over.

[spanone]

21. he's got it 100% wrong.....

[Joe Chi Minh]

24. No. It's the well of evil South American dictators have always drawn from.

[Hubert Flottz]

25. Okay then just let everybody out of jail and forget their past

too.

[pacalo]

26. This isn't just "another" administration we should be examining.

Its uniqueness (in crimes) provides the logic for scrutiny because we never want to see another administration like it again.

Duh.

[barbtries]

27. screw him and all of them

i might respect them even more if they just came right out and said fuck the law, fuck the constitution and fuck the american people. that's what i read between the lines. i fucking despise the republican fucks.

[JayMusgrove]

28. He must have consulted with that new GOP consultant...

Joe the plumber, and maybe Sarah Palin, too.

What a joke Arlen is!!!!!!!

[Swede Atlanta]

29. You have to be kidding me.......

This isn't about some vengeful investigations into the past. This is about determining if officials of my country, in my name, broke the law. If we are to be a nation of laws then we must hold everyone, including the highest executive in the land and his minions, to the law.