Monday, May 4, 2009

'Loyal Democrat' Quote Flap; Specter Meets with An Editorial Board

Greg Sargent's WhoRunsGov blog reported today that two different journalists are "sticking by the claim that Arlen Specter privately promised Obama that he’d be a 'loyal Democrat,' which Specter loudly denied yesterday."

Sargent also said: "If Specter privately fibbed to Obama about his loyalty to Dems, and is now publicly fibbing about having said it, perhaps it tells Democrats a thing or two about their new Senator."

David Shuster, guest-hosting MSNBC's Countdown tonight (typically they seem to post video around 10/11 PM Eastern or later), and his guest (Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, I think) made the point that the video clip of "I did not say I would be a loyal Democrat" could be damaging and stick in voters' minds in the Dem primary. They also discussed how strange it is that Specter and his office would leave the "loyal Democrat" quote out there uncorrected for 96 hours if it really is incorrect.

They also said it may depend what the definition of "loyal" is (I'm paraphrasing).

Specter met with the Harrisburg newspaper's editorial board today -- his first such meeting since the switch. Short writeup is online now - maybe there will be a longer version tomorrow morning.

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