Word: specters
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...seven years in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter has earned a reputation as a ferociously independent politician who keeps his own counsel. In 1985 the Pennsylvania Republican stunned liberals and some moderates by unexpectedly voting for the MX missile; then last year he managed to enrage conservatives by opposing aid to the Nicaraguan contras. During the past two weeks, trying to read Specter's mind on the subject of Judge Robert Bork has proved as confounding as ever...
Before the Judiciary Committee began its hearings on Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, Specter was considered one of three undecided Senators on the 14-member panel. During a tough, often dazzling interrogation of the nominee, he seemed to be leaning away from Bork. But last week, after the Senator grilled pro- and anti-Bork witnesses with equal vigor, the judge's supporters felt Specter was inclining their way. Specter was characteristically cryptic. Although he challenged Bork's shifting positions on civil rights and women's issues, he told conservative Economist Thomas Sowell that the judge's more recent...
...Bork's philosophical backpedaling. Before the hearing, many lawmakers were concerned that Bork was too rigid in his conservative ideology. During the judge's testimony, they wondered aloud if he was, instead, too changeable. "What troubles me is the very significant and profound shifts," said Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, who has remained undecided. "Where's the predictability in Judge Bork?" Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy fired a more serious charge at the witness. Accusing Bork of mendaciously softening his ( views to ensure Senate approval, Leahy called the judge's changes of opinion a case of "confirmation conversion...
Despite Bork's gruff but courteous style and ability to turn the hearings into a legal seminar, the "confirmation conversion" issue could keep him from winning Senate approval. The three swing men -- Republican Specter and Democrats DeConcini and Howell Heflin of Alabama -- expressed reservations about Bork's ever changing views. "There are those who raise the issue that your changing of your position," Heflin told Bork, "came only at a time when a carrot was being dangled before your eyes." Replied Bork: "I can assure you that that's not the way I operate...
Winning ratification may take all of Reagan's persuasive power. But an INF treaty, while no panacea, is the essential building block for any further progress. Future hopes for a move away from the ghastly specter of nuclear war will be riding on the Senate debate...