Noted GOP "moderate" (a term which, of course, should always be put in scare quotes) Arlen Specter plays his role in the carefully scripted Mighty Wurlitzer sitcom yet again this morning.

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should speak publicly about their involvement in the CIA leak case so people can understand what happened, a leading Republican senator said Sunday.

"We ought to get to the bottom of it so it can be evaluated by the American people," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

{snip}

I think it is necessary for the president and vice president to tell the American people exactly what happened," Specter told "Fox News Sunday."

"There's been enough of a showing that the president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people ... about exactly what he did," Specter said.

Now doubtless Specter will be excoriated by certain portions of the wingnutosphere, but it will be understood that he's doing exactly what is required of him: providing the appearance of an inquiry into a situation that cannot be ignored outright in order, of course, to provide an outlet for a congressionally sponsored whitewash.

Anybody who expects anything different hasn't been paying very much attention to anything the past five years.

-- Stu

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

VIDEO LINK

In approximately 5 hours I'll be appearing on Fox News's The Big Story with John Gibson to "debate" Bob Beckel (Democratic "strategist" and the Walter Mondale's campaign manager in 1984, the man who famously appropriated the Wendy's slogan, "Where's the Beef") on the topic of impeachment.

I am for it, Beckel is against it.

In the interest of clarifying the arguments for impeachment, I'd like to encourage a discussion here about the NSA warrantless wiretappings and the NIE leaks, focusing on three themes: