Phone Call to Arlen Specter
The news of Senator Kennedy’s cancer hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. I am typically hostile and caustic to politicians, but there is one major exception: I love Ted Kennedy. I think he’s perhaps the greatest sitting senator of my lifetime. His tireless efforts on behalf of the poor, those without health insurance, and in protecting the rights of women are staggering.
When I saw the decrepit and corrupt Arlen Specter slither out from under his rock to express his support for the Senator, I could taste vomit in my mouth. After all, this is the guy who propsoed that Kennedy’s brother was killed by a magic bullet, and who stands against almost everything Kennedy stands for: Specter staunchly supports the war in Iraq, supports the President’s illegal wiretapping program, supported cutting welfare benefits and food stamps, and opposes national health care.
So I called his office to tell the old bastard to put his money where his mouth is. I didn’t really keep track of the whole thing and don’t have an amusing play by play this time.
But if Arlen Specter really wants to pay tribute to Senator Kennedy the way to do it is to put his clout and effort behind one of Ted’s lifelong missions: to give every American national, universal health care that can never be taken away, the same kind of health care that’s afforded to people like, well, Arlen Specter and Ted Kennedy, courtesy of the US taxpayer.
Talk is cheap, Senator Specter.
