On the Record with Arlen Specter
14 October 2009 5:34 pm by Taylor Marsh
–updated–
Talking with Sen. Arlen Specter on a small, select new media call.
Live report, with verbatim account of the call is below, with final thoughts at the end of this post.
Introductions begun… Opening statement from Specter, “the big issue on the agenda is comprehensive health care. … public option… “transformational medicine…”
Eve G: “I want to get into your heart. Do you have the heart of a Democrat?”
Specter: Parents were an FDR Democrat… “I was a JFK Democrat. … In the Senate I tried to bring back moderation…” I’ve been more aligned On the stimulus, I just couldn’t stand with the Republicans. Biden and Rendell have tried to convince him for years. “If you examine my heart I think you’ll find more Democratic heart than anything.”
Steve Benen: Are you prepared to make commitments on the long run?
Specter: “I was always a Salmon swimming upstream with the Republicans. … I was called a RINO for years.”
Taegan Goddard: 31% of Penn think you should be re-elected, comment?
Specter: Everybody’s poll numbers have been going down. “Obama’s down under 50 in Pennsylvania.” … “Listen, I’m in a race, I make no bones about it.”
Taylor Marsh: Introduced myself (lonely feminist hawk on Afghanistan, yada-yada-yada). Asked Specter about Afghanistan; withdrawal, talking to Taliban.
Specter: Need answers to whether Afghanistan is indispensable in stopping Al Qaeda? Will Somalia be a base? Yes, talk to the Taliban; talked to Arafat, Asad, many others. Talking to Biden; did so today. Not for withdrawal. Need answers to questions. Listening to Biden. People in National Security Council know a lot more than the Gang of Eight.
After he finished, later, asked another question re: Aid groups, getting money directly to the Afghans, and that if we can’t help the women Afghanistan won’t be stable. –pause– Didn’t speak to that specifically, turning the question to Karzai’s corruption, his brother’s illegal behavior… He wasn’t as comfortable with this thorny situation as he was with the question I asked on Israeli settlements – see below. Then went back to an interesting exchange he had with Pres. Musharraf rebuffing him in a conversation they had immediately after Bhutto’s assassination, when he traveled to Pakistan with colleagues. He continued saying the whole issue is very difficult, then eventually he stopped.
Specter: “Anyone have an easy question?” he asked, which pretty much said it all on the subject.
… ..
Eve G: Opt-out, trigger? Reconciliation?
Specter: “To answer that question would weaken my bargaining position in the Senate.” Reconciliation is “last, last, last option.”
Eve G: So, you could vote for a bill with a trigger?
Specter: “I don’t want to give Olympia Snowe too much power.”
Susie Madrak: “No coherent narrative to make this jump… (to Democrat)” Know your history, so get it. To consider a trigger, “I’d love to see you show some leadership on this…”
Eve G: “I agree!”
Specter:“When someone wasn’t screaming at me, I made those points.” Continues talking about his history fighting for healthcare and NIH, health care funding… Shared his history of health challenges… Code blue at one point, water in his lung… “You’ve seen my bald head on TV.”
Susie Madrak: I want you to share your passions in the Senate. Casey more a Republican than you are.
Specter: I’ll put that in my pipe and smoke it … and I’ll go look at the record and if I haven’t said enough I’ll consider doing more.
Eve G: Referenced Mary Landreiu’s comment today about “no free lunch.” You need to tell Mary Landrieu that you have good health care because you’re in the system. Speak to your colleagues and remind them others aren’t as fortunate.
Susie warned Specter that people will turn on the Democrats if health care reform isn’t good.
Both Susie and Eve are Pennsylvanians zeroing in on Specter and health care. The conversation was in depth and Specter engaged both openly.
The conversation continued… and, yes, I asked about obesity, my one health care question. He said you can’t penalize the obese who can’t help themselves; also talking about his son being a clinician on health care.
Someone asked how she could make a difference in what Senators do. Specter said that when he opposed Bork he got 160,000 letters… .. “Begin with calling Mary Landrieu.”
Taylor Marsh: Would you give your thoughts on the Obama drawing the line on the settlement freeze?
Specter: “Netanyahu has a point… had assurances on settlements from both Bush and Clinton.” … “What constitutes an enlargement.” …”Israelis willing to give up quite a lot… Not in east Jerusalem.” Bigger issues involve Iran and their nuclear weapons. “(Obama’s) got one of the smartest guys on the case, George Mitchell.” … “I would tell him to listen to Joe Biden who knows a lot on the issue.”
The call was to be 30 minutes. It lasted almost an hour, even after an aide warned of bad traffic. Specter commented on giving “you guys reporter’s privileges” if he can get his bill through. It was clear he enjoyed the call.
Now for the review on Sen. Specter…. The impression I received from talking, but also listening to Sen. Specter, can be said in three words, which I said on the call: “You surprised me, Senator.” Okay, four words. Sure, he’s been doing this a long time, but you can’t fake transparency and willingness to listen, or the obvious enjoyment he has when engaging us. My focus very different from the others, but he didn’t get whiplash from going from health care to Afghanistan and back again, then changing subjects back to Israel and settlements, which he talked much more fluently about than he did on the specific issues I raised on getting money to aid groups and NGOs inside Afghanistan and to the Afghan people. There’s a reason he asked if anyone had an easy question after that one. Perhaps he can ask Joe Biden about it next time he talks to him. I’d like to know.
So, after beginning questions from several on the call about Specter’s Democratic loyalties, that issue melted away. Talking to Specter was like talking to a politician who’d finally found home.
