Hatching Chickens: A Senate Specialty

With yesterday's endorsement by outgoing Senate Judiciary Chairman Orren Hatch (R-UT), the tide appears to be turning for the bid of pro-abortion Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to succeed Hatch as chairman—that is, of course, if there were a tide to begin with beyond the rhetorical sop the GOP traditionally feeds its pro-life supporters.

Following a day of closed-door meetings with Republican leaders and members of the Judiciary Committee, Specter and Hatch emerged to say "they were hopeful that Specter would be awarded the chairmanship," Susan Milligan reports in today's Boston Globe.

"Senator Specter handled himself very well. Frankly, I'm for him," Hatch said, standing next to Specter after a nearly two-hour meeting to discuss the Pennsylvania senator's fate. "I believe he'll be a great chairman."...

The Senate will not officially name its chairmen until next year, when the new Congress convenes. But the endorsement of Hatch—a conservative, antiabortion lawmaker—was a key indicator that Specter will head the Judiciary Committee, the panel that considers judicial nominees. Hatch also said no one on the committee spoke against Specter during the session.

This isn't the first time that Hatch has betrayed the babies—the infamous states rights Hatch amendment on abortion comes to mind—but where are his "pro-life" colleagues?

For the most part it appears, right there with Orren behind anti-life Arlen's ascendancy. Hatch, Helen DeWar informs us in today's Washington Post, "was joined by former Senate GOP leader Trent Lott (Miss.) and deputy party whip Robert F. Bennett (Utah) in predicting victory for Specter."

Lott, who previously endorsed Specter for the job, said he would get it "because he's earned it, and he'll be a good chairman." Lott said he had told Specter to avoid being too defensive.

After, all what is there to defend? Didn't President Bush and Specter's junior colleague, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), help him defeat a strong primary challenge by pro-life Rep. Pat Toomey?

You might think that Sen. Santorum bears a particular responsibility to right this wrong, but there you go thinking again, something the Stupid Party frowns upon. Here's why:

"One of Mr. Specter's most ardent supporters has been Sen. Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican who leads the pro-life forces in the Senate and who has stuck his neck out for his seatmate on several occasions," Charles Hurt reports in today's Washington Times.

Mr. Santorum, who faces his own tough re-election in two years, helped Mr. Specter overcome a tough primary challenge earlier this year and has lobbied on Mr. Specter's behalf during this most recent firestorm.

"Sen. Santorum has been enormously helpful," Mr. Specter said yesterday after meeting with Republican leaders. "He has gone above and beyond the call of duty." "My number one priority in the next two years is to re-elect Senator Santorum," Mr. Specter added.

I'm sure Rick will be grateful, Arlen, since he will need extra help from your pro-abort friends in his next election race. One just hopes he is not so delusional as to aspire to national office after his repeated betrayals of principle.

Sen. Bennett, Hatch's junior colleague from Utah, described the grassroots campaign to deny Specter the chair "a tempest in a tea pot."

That remains to be seen. I am not referring to the Senate's future actions but to ours, the pro-life, pro-family Americans—Catholics, Protestants, and others—who re-elected President Bush and, please God, will make a critical difference in chosing his successor in 2008.

With uncharacteristic humility, Sen, Specter stopped short of claiming victory. "No chickens have been hatched, and I don't count chickens before they hatch," he declared.

Come to think of it, that's exactly how Specter sees the unborn child. Is there not one Republican Senator with the backbone and integrity to stand up to defend him in this critical battle?

Sen. Larry E. Craig (Idaho), a Judiciary Committee member and leading conservative, said he was "working closely" with Specter to resolve the dispute.

Conservatives like Hatch and Craig are great at working with their liberal friends like Specter, but won't anyone work with us to protect our preborn brothers and sisters?

If only my old boss, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), still served in a Senate where chickens are hatched, and Hatch is a chicken.