Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Wednesday tried to defend the newest member of his caucus, Sen. Arlen Specter, who jumped from the GOP last week when it became apparent he would lose the Pennsylvania primary bid for a sixth term. Specter has so far failed to ingratiate himself with the Democrats, who voted yesterday to strip him of his seniority on his five committees.
Specter did not help his own cause when days earlier he told the New York Times he believes Republican Norm Coleman should win the Minnesota Senate recount.
“It created a few questions with my caucus,” Reid acknowledged on MSNBC. ” And I went to Arlen last night, after I heard this and said, Arlen, what’s this all about? And he said, ‘Well, that isn’t really what I meant,’ words to that effect. So I accept that.”
Reid downplayed the decision to make Specter a junior member on his committees, a move that will make it impossible for Specter to tout his seniority to voters.
“Arlen knows that we’re not going to change any of the subcommittee chairs or the full committee chairs,” Reid said. “And we’ll take a look at this next Congress as we always do. This is a decision the caucus has to make.”
Reid had a tougher time explaining a line about Specter in his own autobiography, which recently came out in paperback. Reid said Specter, who at the time was a moderate Republican, “is always with us when we don’t need him.”
“Now what do you say about Senator Arlen Specter, the new Democrat?” host Andrea Mitchell queried.
“Well, I hope he’s going to be with us when we need him,” Reid said. “I’m comfortable that’s the case. I’m happy he’s with us.”
