This is the best news I've heard from the United States Senate in a LONG time (desertnews.com):Arlen Specter is a senior U.S. senator who expects to be allowed his say on the Senate floor. So he bristled when Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, brusquely cut him off at the end of the Iraq debate.Gridlock is good...and there has been entirely too much happiness going on in the Senate anyway.
"The leadership is setting a dictatorial tone," Specter, R-Pa., said Thursday, still furious over his treatment the day before. "Senators didn't get here to be pushed around."
It may seem small-minded to bicker over a few words at the end of a 24-hour debate. But the clash between the two veteran senators is evidence of a larger breakdown in relations in the Senate, a deterioration in cooperation that is hobbling the Senate's ability to get things done. The situation is not likely to improve with a presidential election on the horizon.
As the cots were rolled away and lawmakers left for a decent night's rest after the around-the-clock debate that ended — like others this year — in stalemate, lawmakers of both parties said they had rarely seen the tone so poisonous and the willingness to work together on the floor at such a low ebb.
UPDATE: More from CQPolitics here.
