Life Among the Cannibals: A Political Career, A Tea Party
Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It
By Arlen Specter with Charles Robbins
(Thomas Dunne Books, 368 pages, $26.99)
It’s a common problem in today’s economy. Older workers are laid
off from their longtime jobs at an age where it is hard to obtain
comparable employment but they are still too mentally active to
shuffle off to Florida and take in the early bird specials. What to
do for a retirement gig?
Arlen Specter found himself in this dilemma when he was bounced
from the Senate after five terms. The Russell, Kansas boy turned
Pennsylvanian is not friendly enough to be a Walmart greeter, so he
found other options. Specter will teach a college course this fall.
And he has become a stand-up comedian.
You read that right. The man who invoked Scottish law at the
impeachment trial of Bill Clinton and voted “not proven” has tried
his hand at open mic night. Clinton is a staple of his comedic
material. “I called Clinton up on his 65th birthday and I said,
‘Bill, congratulations on being 65. How do you feel?’??” Specter
deadpanned. “He said, ‘Arlen, I feel like a teenager. The problem
is I can’t find one.’??”
Bada-bing. The Clinton impeachment saga also makes it into
Specter’s routine. “Bill Clinton is a friend of mine because I was
a friend of his,” Specter cracked. “I voted not to impeach him.
That’s a hell of a thing to do considering the evidence.”
Please remember to tip your waiters and waitresses, ladies and
gentlemen. Specter isn’t limited to teaching and comedy. He is also
the author of a new book Life Among the Cannibals: A Political
Career, A Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know
It. The title and the subtitle capture the essence well.
Specter has plenty of scores to settle with the Republicans and
Democrats who ended his Senate sinecure, and settle them he does.
He feels wronged by his primary loss and subsequent departure from
Congress, and thinks the American people should feel wronged
too.
Yet Specter is an astute man. Realizing that he has just been
rejected by the electorates of both major parties, he understands
that the market of people who are sorry to be deprived of Specter’s
legislative services might not be that big. So he also offers a
history lesson, chronicling the Tea Party movement that was his
partial undoing and the problems moderates face in both parties. At
times, Specter is even able to do this somewhat dispassionately, a
genuine accomplishment considering the bruised feelings that
clearly remain.
SPECTER WAS A PARTY-SWITCHER and political opportunist long
before 2010. In 1965, the man behind the “magic bullet theory”
decided to run for district attorney. Specter was then a Democrat,
so he paid a visit to the party bosses in Philadelphia. “We don’t
need another Tom Dewey,” the Democratic chairman told Specter. They
wanted the next district attorney to be someone from the party
machine.
Desperate for a candidate, Philadelphia Republicans then
approached Specter about running on the GOP line. Local Republican
leader Billy Meehan promised Specter he would have the party’s
backing. “They didn’t do me any favors in offering me the
nomination, because it wasn’t worth much,” Specter writes. “I
wouldn’t claim to have done them any favor in being their
candidate.” Specter nevertheless took Meehan up on his offer and
became the Republican nominee for district attorney—even though he
remained a registered Democrat.
Quintessential Arlen Specter. Foreshadowing Michael Bloomberg’s
Republican mayoral run in New York City many years later—the GOP
primary was simply less crowded than the Democratic one—Specter
used the Republican Party to get to a general election even while
maintaining his ancestral ties to the Democratic Party. “When you
see a fork in the road,” Yogi Berra advised, “take it.” And being
Arlen Specter, the plan worked: he won the election by defeating
the Democratic machine candidate.
“I was the first Republican candidate to ever win the backing of
Americans for Democratic Action,” Specter boasts, a claim that if
true should have been his future party’s first warning signal of
what was to come. Specter’s Democratic father had died of a heart
attack while visiting Israel months before. “I was apprehensive
about running on the Republican ticket, which was almost like
changing my religion,” Specter acknowledges.
Yet Specter would soon complete the conversion politically.
After an election in which he benefited from the appearance of
being a fusion candidate, he decided to officially register as a
Republican. “It wasn’t out of any philosophical love or affinity
for the GOP cause,” Specter recalls, a fact he would spend the
remainder of his career demonstrating. “Ideology doesn’t drive city
government.”
In Specter’s telling, however, he was a good Republican soldier.
Although he wanted to run for governor in 1970, he didn’t do so
because GOP leaders wouldn’t back him. Instead he “continued doing
the party’s bidding” by chairing Richard Nixon’s 1972 reelection
campaign in Pennsylvania and running for a third term as district
attorney (a job he no longer wanted) in 1973.
The election was only days after the Saturday Night Massacre, a
major turning point in perceptions of the Watergate scandal.
Specter’s ties to Nixon proved too much to overcome. He lost by
28,000 votes. But he began his quest for a statewide office despite
the reticence of Republican leaders. “I was still by far the best
Republican candidate to run statewide,” Specter remembers
immodestly, “because of my popularity in southeastern
Pennsylvania.” But Keystone State Republicans had other ideas.
In 1980, Specter’s “popularity in southeastern Pennsylvania”
finally paid off. He won the GOP sena-torial primary over the
opposition of party leaders and then went on to prevail in the
general election. Yet he didn’t put together exactly the same
coalition that elected Ronald Reagan president. “Unlike nearly all
the other fifteen Republicans elected to the Senate in 1980,”
Specter writes, “I did not fly in on Reagan’s coattails as part of
‘the Reagan revolution,’ but in some ways in spite of it.”
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 6:34AM
Apparently, Specter Is Pickin' On Bones In: Life Among The Cannibals.
Tommy| 3.13.12 @ 8:40AM
Specter is an albatross around Rick Santorum's
neck. How can Rick the pro-lifer support the most pro-abortion Senator? Look closely at Rick during his next appearance and you will se the specter of Spector grinning in the background.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 9:29AM
As Junior Senator in PA, Rick Santorum didn't have a lot of choice. Specter stabbed him in the back in '08 when it was time to return the faver. The state GOP and the Bush Administration full bore solidly behind incumbent Snarlin' Arlen . Even so, he damn near lost to Pat Toomey in that primary and it wasn't due to Santorum's tepid support of Specter. On the other side, had Pat Toomey not been in the '10 election against Joe Sest-hack, we'd probably have Sest-hack in the Senate.
This year we have to defeat Clint's boy Bob (with one 'o' ) Casey with a genuine Conservative Sam Rohrer.
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 5:06PM
That's A Lie.
You're A Liar Coward, Hawk.
I Never Voted For Casey & Never Will RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooge Buffoon, Hawk.
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 6:52PM
So you voted for Rick Santorum then?? If not, you helped elect Casey, you dork.
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 7:22PM
I Voted For Neither One, Like Many Real Conservatives, Liar Coward Hawk.
Now, Tell Us About Your 2004 Vote In The Pennsylvania General Election, RINO-CINO Liar Coward, Hawk.
I Refused To Vote For The RINO-CINO Poster Boy, Specter & His Democrat Opponent In That One , As Well.
You're Up Liar Coward Punk, Hawk.
JJ| 3.13.12 @ 2:16PM
Specter may have switched parties but not beliefs. He is the author of the infamous "magic bullet theory" in the JFK assassination. If you can't believe him now, how can you believe the Warren Commission.
Yes, Santorum campaigned for him. But is that any worse than campaigning for Romney? Seems the same to me.
Moe Blotz| 3.13.12 @ 6:38AM
When Snarli' Arlen was DA in Phluffya, he allowed Ira Einhorn to walk and jump bail in the Holly Maddox murder case. Did that one catch up with him? Reflecting his law firm partner, a certain talk show personality in Phluffya moved to the centre and is now an independent. The wishy-washy Michael "The Smerc" Smerconish has carried water for Arlen Specter for years and allows him air time to spread his lies frequently on his afternoon program. As for the Specter comedy routine, it is about as funny as a phart in a phone box.
Moe Blotz| 3.13.12 @ 6:39AM
Darn fingers are not working well, I dropped the "n" from Snarlin'.
Maxwell| 3.13.12 @ 7:59AM
To this day when I come across Smerconish on the radio I have to turn it off. Much rather listen to my truck motor.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 8:38AM
Specter's new law firm is a (as Mark Levin calls them) slip and fall outfit. The Smerc specializes in sueing Doctors and fits right in like a John Edwards. The two have been best buds a long time. Smerc is also a big Fast Eddy Spendell butt kisser. We now have to get rid of the Specter/ Rendell Republicans that run the state committe. They are endorsing another RINO shapeshifter, Welsh, for Senate. The rest of us are supporting Sam Rohrer, the Conservative in the race.
BTW, The Smerc took over the afternoon slot and pushed Hannity out. The Smerc has no ratings ( He loves to talk about himself more than anything else.). Want to bet that Snarlin' Arlen's influence isn't in this somewhere??
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 5:31PM
Our Tea Party Patriot Phil Duffy From West Chester Was Tossed Out By Hotel Security,When The GOP Staff Refused To Let Tea Party Patriots Deliver Their Petition To Have The Republican Committee Chairman Stay Out Of Primary Process And Allow The Primary Voters Decide.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is In Pennsylvania.
We'll Walk Away From Their RINO-CINO Former Democrat Steve Welsh, Like We Walked Away From Specter.
Moe Blotz| 3.13.12 @ 9:25AM
Yo Maxwell, big or little truck, six cylinder diesel or gas powered V-8? My C-15 has a sweet sound at 1400 rpm, but my 5.7 litre Dodge is too quiet.
spike59| 3.13.12 @ 6:39AM
Spector is the poster boy for all that is wrong with politics-he inherited the title from Alphonse D'Amato, the Senator from La Cosa Nostra
Bill| 3.13.12 @ 6:39AM
Specter betrayed people of PA and was ditched at the right moment!
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 12:25PM
"That nigger lover President Clinton had the pen and vetoed so many good bills passed by the Gingrich-led Congress."
- Written by Bill, in the Time for Newt to Do the Honorable Thing thread:
http://spectator.org/archives/.....ent_749403
You're a moron and a racist, Bill.
GO AWAY!
Bill| 3.13.12 @ 2:34PM
NICK IS A CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTER. WATCH OUT!
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 3:19PM
Aren't you capable of telling the truth, Bill the Bigot?
What a sad, little man you truly are.
Now, GO AWAY!
Bill| 3.13.12 @ 4:33PM
NICK IS GAY AND LOVES MASTER-BEDDING.
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 5:10PM
Don't you realize, Bill the Bigot, that no one cares about your lies, once they know you are a racist?
Why do you keep embarrassing yourself?
GO AWAY!
Bill| 3.13.12 @ 5:28PM
NICK IS A CONVICTED FELON. TOO BAD HE CANNOT VOTE. OOPS!
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 5:39PM
Too bad you can't stop being a racist, Bill the Bigot.
Richard Baker| 3.13.12 @ 6:42AM
Specter is a duplicitous backstabber. But, I repeat myself (thanks for that thought from Mr. Twain).
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 6:50AM
We Tea Party Patriots Chased Snarls Outta The GOP And Elected Our Tea Party Senator Pat Toomey Senator.
Cuffs| 3.13.12 @ 12:20PM
Yes we did!
ayrnieu| 3.13.12 @ 6:55AM
"an economic-fiscal conservative and a social libertarian."
An economic-fiscal conservative who votes for bailouts and stimuli. A social libertarian who votes for 'hate' laws and the PATRIOT Act.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 6:58AM
I don't recall seeing you around the Toomey HQ or at any of the rallies Clint. Quit trying to take credit. That's pretty good coming from a Bob (with one 'o' Casey) supporter.
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 5:41PM
You're A Serial Sociopathic Liar, Hawk.
I Never Voted For Or Supported The Democrat Wimp Back Bencher Junior Casey.
Wanna Come To Our Valley Forge Tea Party Meeting And Say That Lie To My Face, Punk. I'll Get Up In Your Grill And Call Ya The Sociopathic Liar, That You Are, Hawk
I'm A Member Of The Valley Forge Patriots And Voted For Pat Toomey In The 2004 Republican Primary And Again In The 2010 Primary And General Election, RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooge, Hawk.
I Didn't See You Either, RINO-CINO Sociopathic Buffoon, Hawk.
The Tea Party Rebellion Steps On Hawk's Face.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 6:59PM
I have photos of me with Pat Toomey, do you?? STFU, blowhard.
Clint| 3.13.12 @ 7:26PM
Why Don't You Try To Make Me STFU, Liar Coward, Hawk.
Come To A Valley Forge Tea Party Meeting And Try It & Then I Can Legally, Kick Your Lyin' Ass All Over The Parking Lot, Liar Coward Punk, Hawk.
You' re Up Coward Liar, Hawk.
squalis| 3.13.12 @ 8:17AM
Arlen got what he deserved ppolitically in 2008. Hope he gets what he deserves now; complete disinterest in his new book.
P. Aaron| 3.13.12 @ 8:39AM
He'll get passed by on FOX but (P)MSNBC & CNN will probably give him a few minutes when they fail to sell that dead air time to commercials.
WillianInWien| 3.13.12 @ 9:00AM
One can only hope that any college level class to be "taught" by the lovely ARLEN is an elective since it will be focused on Arlen by Arlen. Might even assign his own book as the course text to boost the sale of the book off the "remainders" shelf.
Evan| 3.13.12 @ 9:30AM
Specter was also always trying to interven in foreign policy. Remember his love affair with the Assads?
Bert| 3.13.12 @ 9:33AM
Pennsylvania actually has rarely had conservatives in either the governorship or senate. Specter was only one example. They also had Richard Schweiker,John Heinz,Hugh Scott etc. Their governors have been guys like Tom Ridge usually.
Anthony| 3.13.12 @ 10:01AM
I believe it was Charles Krauthammer who said Arlen Specter gives opportunism a bad name.
Krauthammer was spot on.
Specter is one of the poster-children for all that has gone wrong in Washington over the past 50+ years. Washington, as we discuss daily here at TAS, has become a cesspool for career politicians whose only concerns are power, longevity, and insider trading to become filthy rich.
Specter's book must read like the distorted prism that he has seen himself in over these many years. There's nothing of value to be gleened from his warped distortions and massive denials.
I just wish the American people would retire a lot more Arlen Specters.
SUBVET| 3.13.12 @ 10:24AM
I say term limits.................
bill| 3.13.12 @ 10:09AM
Boo hoo.
The joke wasn't on specter, it was on the American people and it was a very bad joke indeed. speecter is and always has been an unprincipled, corrupt, power crazy, egomaniac. He represents everything that is wrong with Washington. Hasta la vista crap weasel.
Russel| 3.13.12 @ 10:46AM
What a poster boy for term limits . No wonder Penn . is voted the worst state in the union . With all its woes , from an awful business environment to colossal taxes , hardly surprising the likes of Specter and Dodd are repeatedly voted in .
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 11:18AM
We are not the worst in the country and on top of that the Republicans are in charge now. All the damage of the Fast Eddy Spendell years will hopefully be mitigated but is a job that will take time and a purge of RINOs. Thank God we don't live in NY, CA, MA, NJ or IL.
PolishKnight| 3.13.12 @ 11:20AM
You forgot amazingly corrupt, filled with as many union bob bosses as nearby Jersey (and as much toxic waste), and manners that make New Yorkers seem polite by comparison.
James Carville was wrong. PA isn't like Arkansas. It's more like Detroit.
Anthony| 3.13.12 @ 11:25AM
We in CT only wish Dodd had come from PA rather than here.
While both these reprehensible POS did mega damage to America, Dodd got the better of the deal with his multi-million dollar gig as lobbyist for the motion picture industry from Hollywood.
While I agree term limits are the answer, congress will never vote themselves out of office, hence, we Americans will have to do it ourselves.
Does PA really outdo Ill as the worst state in the union? Certainly Ill is the most corrupt.
TMI| 3.13.12 @ 10:48AM
I will have nightmares about Teddy Kennedy climbing into a hot tub for years to come.
Dick Nome | 3.13.12 @ 11:19AM
His nickname of 'The Cape Cod Orca' was well earned.
John Navratil| 3.13.12 @ 11:50AM
One must know what a universally respected man Specter is when he even managed to get the "finger" from Nina Totenberg. Lot's of love goin' on around than man. May this be the last we hear of him.
Peppermint Tea| 3.13.12 @ 12:22PM
Let Arlen take his place among the famous political opportunists of all time: Benedict Arnold, Judas Iscariot, and Brutus.
Hey Arly, thanks for Obamacare, YOU JERK. Hey, and remember that oath you took to uphold the constitution? Maybe you could take time in your retirement to READ IT.
You are a worthless piece of political power pandering cr*p pie that has now dried up and blown away. And stealing jokes from MILTON BERLE? Just because he stole it from someone else doesn't make it funny. Just the thought of a teenager with Bubba or with you Arlen makes the rest of us want to vomit. I hope you live long enough to see Michelle Bachmann take away your senate pension you miserable ugly man-whore.
Dixon| 3.13.12 @ 1:16PM
Adios to "Spector", aptly named as soon his American memory will be but a wispy trace of a ghost.
Just like his book...that will be read by a very few...about cannibal behavior in DC...how's if feel, Arlen...when you new found lib/prog friends in DC take some chomps out of your unprinicpled, turncoat boney butt?
Gene| 3.13.12 @ 1:25PM
Mr. Spector's "Magic Bullet" did not just require a magic bullet to dance around and cause 7 wounds. They also had to magically and fraudulently and criminally change the Autopsy Report of a murdered President and move the back wound up at least five inches so that they can claim it was in the lower neck. Unfortunately for Spector and Co., there is an actual autopsy photograph that exists that shows they are lying and thereby being complicet in a crime after the fact.
JohnK| 3.13.12 @ 3:07PM
Quite right Gene. Specter was more than happy to bend any evidence necessary to provide the conclusion that was required. Mere facts were immaterial to him. Anyone who was interested could have got the measure of this piece of slime in 1964, yet he managed to thrive in the American system for another 40 years, a very sad indictment of a failed body of politics.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 3:18PM
You are both pretty well full of crap. It was not a 'magic bullet', but a single shot, probably the second one, and forensics has shown it was the case. No dancing, zigzagging or any of that conspiracy stuff. Have you been to Dealy Plaza?? Have you read or seen any of the forensic reasearch of the last few years?? Specter was right on this one. Your conspiracy theories have pretty much been debunked. Oswald did it.
Crassus| 3.13.12 @ 9:37PM
But his intended target was Governor Connally not JFK. Remember that. His wife even said so in her testimony in front of the Warren Commission.
JohnK| 3.14.12 @ 1:26PM
Yes Mike, I have read a lot of feorensic research on this case, and unlike you I don't need to resort to insults. But tell me, if you are so keen on the Warren Commission Report (1964), why are you not so keen on the House Select Committe Report on Assassinations (1979)? Is it because the second inquiry conducted by the federal government did find that the assassination of President Kennedy was as the result of a conspiracy?
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 3:14PM
Wrong, Gene.
The so-called "Magic Bullet" had a trajectory from the 6th floor sniper's nest straight through President Kennedy and Governor Connally. It was proven in the documentary Beyond the Magic Bullet, on the Discovery Channel.
The entrance wound in Governor Connally's back was elongated. This can only happen if the bullet was tumbling when it entered the governor. The only way the bullet could be tumbling is if it hit something first, like President Kennedy.
The reason that the bullet-hole was lower on Kennedy's jacket and shirt is the result of his clothing being pushed-up when he sat down, which is normal. This was also proven in the documentary.
There was nothing magic about the "Magic Bullet." Just simple physics.
Here's a site that has the documentary in three parts (the re-creation of the single-bullet shot is in part three) :
http://jfk-archives.blogspot.c.....ullet.html
JohnK| 3.13.12 @ 3:21PM
Sorry Nick, I disagree with you. On a very simple basis, if you look at photographs of President Kennedy that day, his clothes were not rucked up his back in any way. Both his shirt and coat, and the autopsy photo, and the autopsy drawing, show a bullet wound in this back between 5 and 6 inches below his collar. If you believe these TV documentaries are genuine atempts to find the truth, sadly you are mistaken.
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 3:50PM
Sorry, JohnK, they proved it in the documentary with X-rays. I don't remember which part its in, but it's there for all to see.
"On a very simple basis, if you look at photographs of President Kennedy that day, his clothes were not rucked up his back in any way."
You mean like this picture, taken just seconds before the shooting started?:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6kYz.....howing+JFK's+Car+On+Elm+Street.jpg
President Kennedy's coat and shirt didn't have to be pushed-up that much to have the bullet-hole where it is, either. Also, remember that Kennedy was wearing his back-brace. Put on a coat and tie, sit down, and see how much they ride-up on you. Especially, when you raise your right arm.
Bear in mind, you are conversing with someone who used to believe almost all of the conspiracy theories. So, I know the arguments. But, unlike most of the nutters out there, I've actually been to Dealey Plaza.
This site has many photos of President Kennedy's coat riding-up on him that day in November, 1963:
http://kennedy-photos.blogspot.com/
What about Governor Connally's entrance wound? Why is it elongated? What made the bullet tumble?
JohnK| 3.14.12 @ 2:04PM
Nick:
Are you saying JFK's coat (and shirt) were so rucked up that bullet holes in them five inches below the collar would corresponded to a wound at collar level? The drawing used in the Warren Commission shows a wound at collar level, so as to support the single bullet theory. The clothing, and the autopsy photos, and the autopsy drawing, all show a wound five inches below the collar. The point about Arlen Specter is that he is, and was, a man who will do and say anything which secures his personal advancement. His word means nothing.
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 1:23PM
Did you look a the pictures in the links that I provided, JohnK? You stated as fact that all the photos taken that day show that President Kennedy's "clothes were not rucked up his back in any way." In fact, the exact opposite is true. I provided links to several pictures that show his coat "rucked up his back."
Did you watch the documentary Beyond the Magic Bullet? Did you watch the part where they take X-rays of a guy sitting in the same position as President Kennedy when he was shot the first time? Try to have an open mind.
Also, don't use a drawing as your evidence. Have looked at the actual autopsy photo? The back entrance wound was just above his right shoulder-blade. This is slightly above the exit wound at the base of the throat. His coat and shirt would not have needed to be bunched-up 5-6 inches, as you keep asserting. Here is link to a pro bunched-up jacket essay that has actual autopsy photos of the back wound:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/bunched.htm
You didn't answer any of my questions about Governor Connally's elongated back wound. Why not?
p.s. I can't stand S-P-E-C-T-E-R, never have. I agree completely agree with your statement: His word means nothing. That being said, the SBT is true.
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 1:42PM
p.p.s. You can find the X-ray experiment, which shows that the clothing bunched-up, between the 9:30 and 14:00 minute marks in Part II of the Beyond the Magic Bullet documentary.
http://jfk-archives.blogspot.c.....ullet.html
(You have to go more than half-way down the page to find the videos.)
JohnK| 3.15.12 @ 2:03PM
Nick:
I am glad we agree on Specter. I have not watched this show, as I live in the UK. However, I am well aware that these TV documentaries are made in liaison with Gary Mack at the Sixth Floor Museum, and are always designed to show there was no conspiracy.
I have of course looked at the autopsy photos, but the entrance wound is not above the shoulder blade, it is several inches below. Furthermore, the President's death certificate states the wound is adjacent to the third thoracic vertebra. It really was several inches below the collar, and Specter had to make it appear higher, for instance by using a totally false drawing in the Warren Commission Report, so as to support the single bullet theory.
As to Gov Connally's back wound, my understanding is that at it was somewhat "elongated", whether that meant it was inflicted by a "tumbling" bullet or merely a bullet fired at an angle to him I don't know. I do know that he had a lot of metal fragments in his wrist, many of which went to his grave with him, whereas CE399, the magic bullet, was slightly deformed, but had almost no metal missing from it.
Did this documentary mention that Dr Finck at the autopsy felt the back wound with his finger, and found that the wound was only as deep as a couple of his finger joints? They could find no wound channel to the throat, or indeed anywhere. This only became an issue when Specter decided there must have been such a channel, it was not something the autopsists saw.
My theory, for what it's worth, is that a misfired bullet hit JFK in the back, only penetrated a couple of inches, and was the intact bullet, CE399, found on a gurney at Parkland Hospital. Many witnesses said that when they heard the first shot, it sounded like a firecracker, unlike the clear rifle shots heard a few seconds later, so it occurs to me that the first round fired, which was over 20 years old, may have been a misfire.
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 4:16PM
JohnK,
Hey, I'm part English (or Welsh, we're not really sure) on my late mother's side. We could be cousins!
I assume you have never been to Dallas? I went to the Sixth Floor Museum during my aforementioned trip, 20 years ago. Keep in mind, I was a 100% conspiracy theorist then. I was there a few months after Oliver Stone's film JFK had opened. I found the Sixth Floor Museum's exhibits to be unbiased. Maybe this has changed in the past 20 years. But back then, they made no conclusions, one way or the other, and even listed many of the competing conspiracy theories.
"[...] but the entrance wound is not above the shoulder blade, it is several inches below. "
I don't understand how you can make such an assertion. The entrance hole is the bigger of the dark spots on the photograph. The HSCA concluded this was the case. Did you go to the link that I provided? The hole is just above the right shoulder-blade, and just to the right of the spine.
"Furthermore, the President's death certificate states the wound is adjacent to the third thoracic vertebra."
Actually, it states "[...] and a second wound occurred in the posterior back at about the level of the third thoracic vertebra." (Emphasis mine.)
See: http://history-matters.com/arc.....Image1.htm
Why should I give more weight to the recollections of the president's personal physician, when I can look at the actual autopsy photos for myself? Just because Dr. Burkley's description of a non-specific location happens to line-up with the holes in the jacket and shirt, when standing up, does not mean that a picture of the actual bullet entry wound can be ignored, does it?
As far as believing that Specter, and everyone else involved in the investigation, conspired to alter ALL the evidence to fit the SBT, I think Occam's razor is the best formula to use.
"As to Gov Connally's back wound [...]."
Although I'm not a conspiracy theorist any longer, I don't claim that I have answered all of the questions that I previously held. I still have questions about CE399 and the metal fragments in Governor Connally. CE399 could very well be a plant, I'll readily admit. And, I haven't heard an L.N. (lone nut) theorist address the fragment issue to my satisfaction, yet.
I don't believe the documentary addressed Dr. Finck's claim. I'd encourage you to watch for yourself, it only takes an hour and a half to watch the whole thing. My own opinion would be that his recollection could be wrong. Just as half the doctors at Parkland claim the wound to the president's throat was an exit wound, and the other half claim it was an entrance wound. Who are we supposed to believe? Also, I find it helpful to find out how long after the assassination people started making the claims they do/did.
A misfire is certainly a possibility, but a remote one, in my opinion. In the documentary, when they re-create the single bullet shot, they used ammunition from the same lot number as the rounds used by Oswald. That would make those rounds 60 years old. And they still replicated 6 of the 7 wounds found in the president and the governor. Also, a rifle can easily be mistaken for a firecracker from a distance.
I notice you didn't address the photographic evidence that proves that President Kennedy's jacket and shirt were indeed "rucked up his back" just prior to the assassination. Do you now concede that they were?
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 4:30PM
p.s. I forgot to add, concerning Governor Connally's back wound, that the only way for the entrance wound to be elongated, as it in fact was, is for the bullet to have hit something first and then to begin tumbling. CE399, if it is genuine, would have began this tumbling as it traversed the president and hit the governor sideways. Connally's entrance wound is almost the same size as the Mannlicher ammunition. In the documentary's re-creation, the same kind of elongated entrance wound was made in the "governor's" simulated torso.
Compelling evidence, is it not?
JohnK| 3.16.12 @ 1:20PM
Nick:
I live not too far from Wales, so maybe we are related!
Obviously, there is hardly space here to rehash the Kennedy assassination, when we came to discuss the venal and self-serving creep known as Arlen Specter.
It is my argument that in concocting the single bullet theory, Specter showed himself to be the careerist creep he was to remain all through his sorry life.
To recap:
When President Kennedy and Governer Connally were shot, and three fired cases were found at the TSBD, the case seemed clear enough: JFK had a back wound and a head wound, Connally had a wound through his chest, wrist and leg. Three wounds, three shots fired. However, within a few weeks, it became known that one bullet had missed the car entirely, struck the kerbstone, and injured bystander James Tague. This is not in doubt, and has been accepted both by the Warren Report and the HSCA. So now you have a problem: three wounds, but only two bullets. Specter's solution was the single bulet theory: one bullet hit JFK, went through him, and then hit Connally. The thing to remember is that the single bullet theory is just that, a theory, which jumped fully formed from Specter's imagination.
The fact is that for all their faults, the three pathologists who conducted JFK's autopsy were experienced doctors, though they were not trained as forensic pathologists. Nonetheless, Dr Finck has stated that he probed the back wound with his finger, and it went nowhere, his finger only went into the President's back to the depth of two finger joints. There was simply no wound channel for them to dissect, if there had been they would have done so. They were not forensic pathologists, but they were three trained and experienced pathologists.
For the single bullet theory to work, there had to have been a wound channel between the wound in JFK's back, and the wound in his throat. The men who actually examined his body at Bethesda did not find it. It only "exists" because Arlen Specter insisted it had to exist, because otherwise JFK and Connally had to have been shot by more than one rifle, and he could not accept any hint of a conspiracy.
If Specter had had any decency (I think we both agree he does not), then he would have had to recommend that JFK's body be exhumed to check if there really was such a wound channel. This would have caused embarrassment, but when the President of the USA has been assassinated, surely any diligent public servant would want to get to the truth? All Arlen Specter wanted, and has ever wanted, is to secure his passage to his next lucrative position.
Nick| 3.16.12 @ 4:19PM
JohnK,
My great-grandfather's surname was Tucker. And through census records I found out that his family lived in Bristol in the 1880s. He moved to Canada in the early 1900s.
I agree we can't solve the crime in these comboxes. There are plenty of websites for that sort of thing. I, too, couldn't stand Specter for years because of the SBT. I didn't learn what a liberal pro-abort he is until the mid-1990s. When I learned these facts, it only reinforced my disdain for the man.
But, my belief that the SBT was false didn't change the facts of the case. Either it's possible, or it isn't. For years I believed it was impossible, based on false information. All the documentary does is prove that it was possible for one bullet to inflict the seven wounds.
To address your recap, I too have questions about the shot that wounded Mr. Teague. Last November I watched a program on The National Geographic Channel called JFK: The Lost Bullet which had an interesting theory about that shot. Basically, they theorized that the first shot hit the traffic-light on the pole close to the corner of Elm and Houston. They couldn't prove it because that traffic-signal had long been replaced.
But, it was food for thought, one might say. (Ha-ha!) I had long thought it was possible that Oswald might have hit a branch from the tree in front of the TSB. I just don't know if the FBI ever look in that tree for that possibility.
As I previously stated, I have no adequate explanation for Dr. Finck's claim, except a faulty memory. I also believe that it's possible that Dr. Hume, as the chief pathologist in attendance, decided that he knew the cause of death, so, there was no need to probe the back wound any further. The purpose of an autopsy is to determine the cause of death, after all. The gaping wound in the president's head was pretty much all they needed.
I also disagree with some of the facts as you have related them.
The three doctors performing the autopsy didn't know that there was a throat wound, if I remember David Lifton's Best Evidence correctly. The tracheotomy performed on the president obscured the wound in the throat. It's possible that when the got the X-rays back, and didn't see a bullet in the body, they assumed the bullet didn't penetrate very far and fell out. It would also explain Dr. Finck's recollection.
It's important to remember the pressure these men were under. They worked through the night so that the body could be taken to the White House for viewing that Saturday. I'm sure that was a long night.
I also seem to recall that the SBT arose from the viewing of the Zapruder film. It was when the Commission lawyers realized that there was no time for Oswald to have gotten off two shots in the time shown on the film, that they had to reconcile the problem of the 7 wounds in both men. Mr. Teague could have been hit by a fragment, after all. I believe it was some weeks later that the FBI found the mark in the concrete curb. There are some who argue that the nick in the curb was not caused by a bullet.
Just because Specter is a vile person, this does not prove that the SBT is false. That would be faulty logic.
I apologize for the length of this reply. I, again, implore you to watch the documentary, and at least consider the arguments that are made.
Have a nice weekend.
Nick| 3.16.12 @ 4:33PM
p.s. I forgot to mention something, again.
If you ever make it to Dealey Plaza, and stand where Mr. Zapruder stood, you will see that there could not have been a shooter behind the stockade fence, above the grassy knoll, where "badge-man" is supposed to have been.
The corner of the fence is about 15-20 feet from the concrete pedestal that Mr. Zapruder was standing. If you make a quarter-turn to the right, you can see completely behind the fence.
Also, given how close Mr. Zapruder was to the position that the second shooter was supposed to occupy, don't you think he would have flinched from the report of the rifle?
If the throat wound was an entrance wound, as many claim, he would have had to flinch when the limo was emerging from behind the sign. He would also have had to flinch after the head shot. But, Mr. Zapruder's filming is near flawless.
Just more food for thought.
Take it easy!
JohnK| 3.17.12 @ 12:44PM
Nick:
With regard to Dr Finck, I don't think it's a case of his recollection being at fault. He was the army pathologist brought in because he was an expert in bullet wounds, which Hulmes and Boswell were not. In conducting an autopsy, all bullet wounds would be dissected, the fact is that Finck found no wound channel from the bullet hole in JFK's back beyond two of his finger joints. The only reason the SBT was concocted was that the round which missed meant that only two rounds had to have caused all the wounds, unless there was more than one shooter, which Specter and the Warren Commission would not consider. Thus, the pathologists who examined the body found no evidence of a wound traversing JFK from back to front, such a wound exists merely as a theory, a theory not backed by the physical examination.
As to James Tague, he was standing a long way away from the car, I think it is accepted that it was a bullet which hit the kerbstone in front of him. I heard him on the radio a year or two back, and he seemed like a very reasonable witness. He said as the motorcade came round the corner he heard a sound just like a firecracker (as many have said), and wondered to himself who had been so stupid as to let a firecracker off. Then, about five seconds later, he heard two distinct rifle shots, one right after the other, and it was only then that he realised that he had been hit in the face by fragments from the kerbstone where the bullet had hit it. So, based on his own words, I would say he could not have been hit by the first, firecracker-like, bullet.
Have a good weekend too!
Nick| 3.18.12 @ 4:00PM
JohnK,
I don't know whether to thank you, or, curse you!
I only get into the assassination about once or twice a year. Usually around November, of course. But, once I start, I keep finding link after link of, "Boy, that looks interesting." The next thing I know, 4 hours has gone by!
I found a couple of documents of interest concerning Dr. Finck. One was his letter to General Blumberg, which is a summary of his autopsy notes. Have you ever read this letter?
There are several interesting facts that I found in this document, a copy of which can be found here: http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/.....umberg.htm
Dr. Fink relates that the back wound could not "be probed through the body." He then states that he ordered the X-rays to try to find the bullet, since there was no apparent exit wound. Later, the Dallas doctors told Dr. Humes that the throat wound was an exit wound, which was "extended" to perform the tracheotomy.
He also writes, "None of us noticed a bullet wound along its course."
The reason he gives is as follows:
"THE ORGANS OF THE NECK WERE NOT REMOVED: THE
PRESIDENT'S FAMILY INSISTED TO HAVE ONLY THE HEAD EXAMINED Later, the permission was extended to the CHEST."
If the neck organs were not examined, this would explain why the bullet track could not be observed, would it not?
The other interesting thing I found was this:
"The apex of the right lung is hemorrhagic, without laceration of the pleura."
I'm no doctor, but a simple search found that the apex is the top portion of the lung. Finding that the top of the right lung had hemorrhaged is precisely what you would expect to find if a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle had entered the right upper-back and exited the throat.
A bullet traveling at that speed causes a shock-wave through the body. This is why rifle wounds are so devastating, as compared to a slow moving hand-gun projectiles.
Dr. Finck also suggested that they not check the "Complete Autopsy" box. Dr. Humes disagreed. Because the family didn't allow them perform a full autopsy.
At a couple of other sites, it was speculated that the back wound was not found until rather late in the autopsy, maybe around 23:00 hours.
I also found that Dr. Finck agreed that the throat wound was an exit wound based on the physical evidence provided by the clothing:
"Immediately below the upper button of the front is a bullet hole
perforating both fk flaps of the shirt, right and left. There is dry
blood on the margins of both holes. The innermost hole reveals fibers
directed outward, which indicates an EXIT PERFORATION, The wcikx. outermost
hole also shows this outward orientation of the fatmlely bloody shirt fibers,
but to a lesser extent. These two anterior holes below the collar button
correspond to the exit wound found by the Dallas surgeons at Parkland
Hospital and which was extended for tracheotomy purposes. Dallas records
show that the trachea had been lacerated by the bullet. WE DID NOT HAVE
THIS INFORMATION AT THE TIME OF AUTOPSY."
He also stated this:
"The wound in the upper back of the President, to the right of
the mid-line was oval and had a regular, soiled inverted margin. I
stated that this was an entrance, ^fy attempt to probe the path of
the bullet was unsuccessful."
You find these quotes here: http://www.archive.org/stream/.....t_djvu.txt
I have yet to find anything in Dr. Finck's own words stating that he probed the back wound with his finger and could feel the end of the wound, as so many conspiracy theorist have claimed for years, and which Oliver Stone has Dr. Finck saying in JFK. In my opinion, this seems to be a false inference based on taking quotes out of context.
I think that many people infer this conclusion based on a selective reading of what the pathologists have said about this wound. If you are going to use this finger probing as evidence that the SBT is false, why do you ignore Dr. Finck's testimony that the bullet did enter and exit the president as the W.C. says that it did?
Or, how about Dr. Finck's conclusion that skull fragments from the head wound show that a missle entered the back of the president's head and exited the right-front? He was the Army "expert in bullet wounds," as you stated, remember?
Regarding Mr. Teague, as I previously stated, I still have questions about that shot, which have not been answered to my satisfaction, as well as many others.
Take care.
JohnK| 3.19.12 @ 2:10PM
Nick:
Like you, I find this subject fascinating, and indeed infuriating!
Dr Finck's letter (which I had not seen before) was most interesting. You note he did try to probe the back wound, without success.
I have heard the claim that the Kennedy family did not want a full autopsy, but I do not accept it. The pathologists had the legal right and duty to examine all wounds to the President's body, and if there had been any bullet track from the back wound, they would surely have done so. I wonder if anyone can show any evidence that the Kennedy family attempted any sort of veto over a full autopsy?
As to the brain examination, you will notice that Dr Finck says that photographs were taken, yet these photos, not to mention the brain itself, have been lost. All very strange, to say the least!
It has often been noted that Dr Finck, and army doctor, was rather at odds with his two navy colleagues. He was an expert in bullet wounds, they were not, he arrived after the autopsy had started, and they refused his request for more X-rays. He also complained that his notes were taken from him, and as he says, wanted the autopsy to be recorded as "not complete". There is also evidence obtained by the Assassination Records Review Bureau that the two navy doctors examined the brain privately first, some days before they invited Finck. I get the impression the navy did not want the army doctor interfering!
RCV| 3.13.12 @ 4:35PM
Once again, Nick, you are spot on. Gerald Posner's "Case Closed" was a devastating debunking of so many of the JFK conspiracy garbage.
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 5:03PM
Posner's book was superb.
W| 3.13.12 @ 5:13PM
I agree. Also good is Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History."
RJ| 3.14.12 @ 1:46AM
"Case Closed" seemed to put an end to the conspiracy cottage-industry and some years later, one of the networks, I believe it was NBC, had a documentary that included modern analysis. As the years go by, it seems clearer and clearer that Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone. When I toured Dealey Plaza, I felt I understood why there was such strength to the conspiracy theories; it is hard to accept that one nut with a $12 rifle could cause so much grief. It is a national trauma whenever the President is physically threatened. I hope it never happens again. RIP JFK.
JohnK| 3.14.12 @ 2:07PM
The books by Posner and Bugliosi are essentially presenting the case for the prosecution. If you read only them, you will have no doubt that Oswald killed JFK on his own. Then again, if a jury were only to hear the prosecution case, you would not expect a fair trial would you?
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 5:38PM
Thanks, RCV.
Actually, I was in Dallas, in the spring of 1992, at an assassination conspiracy museum when Mr. Posner happened to walk in, with a fetching young lady on arm. The man who ran the museum (can't remember his name) knew about his upcoming book, and they bantered back and forth. Then he brought out one of the Mannlicher-Carcano rifles that he owned and let Mr. Posner hold it and site down the scope. And then he let me, and a few others, do the same!
I didn't know who Mr. Posner was, at the time. When his book came out, I was still a rabid C.N. (conspiracy nut) and dismissed him out of hand. So, I have never read his book, I'm sorry to say.
You know what's funny, RCV? Although I had a few doubts about a vast conspiracy by the late 1990s, when I found out just how left-wing Mark Lane and Oliver Stone really were, it was then that I started to have serious doubts and re-thinking my positions.
It became clear that these lefties promoted conspiracy theories because they couldn't believe one of there own killed the president. It had to be the right-wing military-industrial complex, who needed the Viet Nam war to get even richer than they already were.
That's the great thing about being a C.N. You never need anything like proof or evidence. All you need are a whole bunch of dots, which you can easily connect (because you're brilliant).
W| 3.13.12 @ 6:28PM
Nick,
Mark Furhrman wrote a book "Murder in Dallas" from the viewpoint of a homicide detective, and concludes Oswald did it.
JohnK| 3.14.12 @ 1:29PM
The racist LA cop who never said "nigger"? Oh well, that surely proves it!
W| 3.14.12 @ 5:43PM
OK, JohnK, who killed JFK and why?
You sound like an OJ juror given your Fuhrman remark.
JohnK| 3.15.12 @ 1:41PM
Fuhrman was a racist and corrupt cop, anyone who doubts it hasn't looked into it. As to who killed JFK, I can't say, but I can point out that the House Select Committee on Assassinations, after a three year inquiry, concluded it had been a conspiracy.
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 1:49PM
Yes, based on a Dictaphone recording and faulty conclusions.
The documentary Beyond the Magic Bullet also deals with the House Select Committee's findings, as regards the open microphone and which motorcycle it came from.
The conclusion of the HSCA was wrong.
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 1:50PM
Oops! I should have mentioned that you can find this information can be found at the end of Part I of the documentary. Sorry.
JohnK| 3.15.12 @ 2:38PM
Nick:
The HSCA's experts found a 95% possibilty that a shot had been fired from the grassy knoll area. About ten years ago British accoustic experts reviewed the evidence and found it proved to a 99% certainty. Food for thought?
Nick| 3.15.12 @ 2:59PM
JohnK,
As I've told you previously, I'm a former conspiracy theorist. I'm well acquainted with all the arguments. I even spent 2 weeks in Dallas, exactly 20 years ago, when I got out of the Army and was on my way home.
So, I believed the HSCA's conclusions, at one time, as regards the acoustic evidence proving a shot from the grassy knoll. But, listening to the counter-arguments, with a more open mind, made me question the committee's conclusions.
The HSCA concluded that the motorcycle with the open microphone was driven by Dallas police officer H.B. McLain, and that he was just about to turn onto Elm St. when the shots were recorded. The acoustic experts based all of their re-created rifle-shots based on this location.
Unfortunately, the photographic record shows that officer McLain was not where the experts said he was. Again, watch the end of Part I, of the documentary.
Remember, the HSCA was using 1977-78 technology. The documentary Beyond the Magic Bullet is using 2004 technology. Is this also not food for thought?
JohnK| 3.17.12 @ 12:57PM
Nick:
There is more than enough food for thought to go around in this case! For a layman like me, the accoustic evidence is very hard to get my head round, but I did find it very interesting that the British researchers backed up the HSCA's findings.
Whilst the HSCA did make a great deal of the accoustic evidence, it was not their only reason for finding a conspiracy. Lots of great work was done, and I found Gaeton Fonzi's book "The Last Investigation" very interesting, looking into areas such as Sylvia Odio's evidence and George de Mohrenschildt, who killed himself the day before Fonzi was due to interview him for the HSCA!
Nick| 3.18.12 @ 5:13PM
JohnK,
It is my recollection that it was the acoustic re-enactment that was supposed to show that a shot came from the grassy knoll. And that based solely on this "evidence" was a conclusion of conspiracy reached. All other investigative avenues were found to be inconclusive, as far a proving a conspiracy is concerned.
I'm not familiar with Mr. Fonzi's book, sorry.
Nick| 3.18.12 @ 5:18PM
p.s. Did you get a chance to watch the documentary Beyond the Magic Bullet, yet?
By chance, the same program is airing tonight, on the Military Channel. Although, probably too late for you, if you have this channel in the first place.
JohnK| 3.19.12 @ 2:17PM
Nick:
The accoustic evidence was indeed used as the "hook" for finding a conspiracy. But as Fonzi and others have written, the investigators found masses of evidence for conspiracy, involving actors such as Alpha 66, the anti-Casto group, and David Attlee Phillips, head of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division. These explosive conclusions were kept out of the final report, much to their disgust.
littleroundtop| 3.13.12 @ 1:27PM
Joe Sestak was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. Yet, he performed no greater service for our country than ending Arlen Specter's political career. For this, I will always be thankful, even though I voted for Toomey!!
Mike Hawk| 3.13.12 @ 3:10PM
I was glad to see Pat Toomey take them both out. Sest-hack was a Clintonoid/ Oborg useful pawn and a lousy Congressman. Good riddence to both.
shipley130| 3.13.12 @ 2:16PM
He has been part of the slime that has oozed over America for decades.
Louis Jenkins| 3.13.12 @ 2:56PM
Snarlin Arlan was a Democrat to begin with. Can't take the boy out of the country can you? (Apologies to those from the country.)
Evan| 3.13.12 @ 4:25PM
Specter is probably the most reprehensible politician we have ever seen. Right there with Ted Bilbo,KKK Byrd and others.
glenny| 3.13.12 @ 4:32PM
Hey, Arlen.
Scrue yew !
glenny
W| 3.13.12 @ 5:16PM
This is a tough choice. Do I buy the book now for $30 or wait four weeks and it will be on sale at my used book store for $2. Can we wait a couple of weeks for Arlen's story?
Arlen wrote another book touting himself "A Passion for Truth." Honest, did not make up this title. Ranks up there with Orrin Hatch's "A Square Peg" and Biden's book. I see them all on the $1 rack collecting dust.
Nick| 3.13.12 @ 5:42PM
W,
What are these "book stores" of which you speak?
Do they really exist? Ha-ha!
W| 3.13.12 @ 6:25PM
Nick,
Half-Price Books. People sell their books there, and they sell remainders. Great bargains.
I forgot Al D'Amato's classic something about "pasta and oil and garlic" and Toricelli"s page turner, Barbie Boxer's opus, Diane Feinstein's thriller, not enough time to read these classics.
PCP Smoker| 3.13.12 @ 8:46PM
Sphincter is a creep. The thought of a guy like this determining what my health care insurance looks like is definitely scary, but I have to give him credit for tearing Anita Hill a new sphincter. Few who saw that confirmation will forget the toughness he exhibited. For that action alone, I wouldn't spit on his grave.
POST American| 3.14.12 @ 12:06AM
---Great piece! ---for 1995!
"--Society is being engineered for
complete disintegration. ---Complete!
---I KNOW IT NOW! ---I SEE IT!"
-ALex Jones
(yesterday)
----------WHY ALEX JONES IS THE PRESS---------
WHY just about everyone else in media
is a rectum worshipper ---and the nature thereof
"Sin is NEVER still. It's ALWAYS linked
---ALWAYS on the move."
-Jonathan Edwards
Calvinist (ie GENUINE Christian)
1729
"Among the Christians ONLY the Calvinists
had the faculty for self-government and
ONLY the Calvinists would fight. Religion
is the KEY to history."
-Lord Acton
---IT IS ------and THEY DO.
--------------THE REPUBLIC HAS FALLEN-----------
----------------------------------NUREMBERG is here.
YOU ARE THERE
--------------"When your time comes
--------------------------WHAT WILL YOU DO?"
'IKIRU' released as we were saving --some--
of Korea from the awesome clutches
of the Globalist RED Chinese Halocaust.
The Halocaust that's engulfing us now
---by stealth --by degrees.
IN this, the 11th hour of the
Globalist CFR RED China handover.
sellout, TREASON and FINAL EUGENICS OP
-----ON this, the 60th Anniversary
of the staggeringly relevant KOREAN WAR
-----YOUR MOMENT IS HERE!
Cincinnatius| 3.14.12 @ 9:51PM
When a man who possesses no honor carps about the lack of honor, in an organization of which he has dishonored, it makes me want to hurl! That said, in a convoluted way, Specter has done us a favor by providing this insight into the filthy world of Congress and its politics. Honor? you've got to be kidding me!
tk| 3.15.12 @ 9:08AM
Arlen is a fraud. His legacy is shameful. Forcing people to pay for things he deems worthy and taking credit for it is nothing more than fraud. HE could never do anything on his own. And anyone who votes to force people to rely on government bureaucrats on life and death health care situation has no soul. He is an extremely cruel man. Of course, he exempts himself from such suffering. He is no good, cruel, and deserves nothing but scorn and condemnation for harmful and selfish agenda.