Oh, where will the Republican lying and cheating end? 

The Senate Judiciary committee met this morning to discuss the legalities of the latest Bush Wire Tapping activities.  Remember when the Oil Executives testfied and the Republicans refused to put them under oath?  Well they repeated their selective governing and extended that privledge to Attorney General, Alberto "torture is OK" Gonzales.

When the Democrats forced a vote on the issue, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), declared his yes vote not to put Gonzales under oath, then took it upon himself to appoint himself proxy for Senator Brownback then declare a yes vote for him also.

As expected, the Dems all voted no, thereby voting to put Gonzales under oath.  When the vote got to Fiengold, he requested Specter show him the poxy he received from Brownback (according to Senate rules, it must be written).  Specter backed down just short of admitting he lied, then as the Chairman declared the yes vote prevailed. 

There are 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats in the committee.  In the result of a tie, the Chairman decides. Specter was trying to spare his party embarrassment of having to overule the Dems again, but Feingold forced his hand.

 By allowing Gonzolas to testify not under oath, he can lie to his hearts content and not be procecuted for it.  Nice.

The transcript follows:

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER, CHAIRMAN (R-PA): So the question is, should the ruling of the chair be upheld that Attorney General Gonzales not be sworn?

HATCH (R): Aye.

GRASSLEY (R): Aye.

DEWINE (R): Aye.

GRAHAM (R): Aye.

KYL (R): Aye.

CORNYN (R): Aye.

SPECTER: By proxy, for Sen. Brownback, aye. Sen. Coburn – We’ve got enough votes already. Sen. Leahy?

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, RANKING DEMOCRAT: Emphatically, no.

KENNEDY (D): No.

BIDEN (D): No.

KOHL (D): No.

FEINSTEIN (D): No.

FEINGOLD (D): No.

SPECTER (R): Aye. The ayes have it.

FEINGOLD: Mr. Chairman, I request to see the proxies given by the Republican senators.

SPECTER: Could you repeat that Sen. Feingold?

FEINGOLD: I request to see the proxies given by the Republican senators.

SPECTER: The practice is to rely upon the staffers. But without counting that vote – Well, we can rephrase the question if there’s any serious challenge of the proxies. This is really not a very good way to begin this hearing.

Specter tries to blame staffers for his last minuite effort, but weilds his Chairman power to squash the honerable efforts of the Dems.  At least he didn’t turn off his mike and stomp away this time.