Demagogue

Is this a Samuel Beckett play? I think I've seen this Act before.

With the GOP's political fortunes looking grim, the party has decided (yet again) to play the gay card. Yesterday, tempers flared as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The AP described the "shouting match" that occurred:

“I don’t need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., shouted after Sen. Russ Feingold declared his opposition to the amendment, his affinity for the Constitution and his intention to leave the meeting.

“If you want to leave, good riddance,” Specter finished.

“I’ve enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman,” replied Feingold, D-Wis., who is considering a run for president in 2008. “See ya.”

... Among Feingold’s objections was Specter’s decision to hold the vote in the President’s Room, where access by the general public is restricted, instead of in the panel’s usual home in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

... Specter said he is “totally opposed” to [the gay marriage amendment], but felt it deserved a debate in the Senate.

Question: how many other proposals has Specter been "totally opposed" to, yet voted for in committee?

What a pair they have in Pennsylvania. Rick Santorum, the fervent homophobe. Arlen Specter, the gutless wonder. I'm not sure which is worse.

With any luck, one of them will be voted out of office in November.