Arlen Specter recently slammed Harry Reid for being "rude" and "dictatorial."
Reid's offense? He made Specter wait thirty minutes before giving a floor speech. What happened during those thirty minutes? The Senate voted on an education bill.
The funny thing is that some people have called George W. Bush rude and dictorial.
The reality is, both sides are lying a little.
It's like the two kids in grade school math class studying the multiplication tables. The teacher asks each of them what 6*4 is. One of them answers 26. The other answers 298,341,334,287.
They're both lying a little.
Here's more info on Specter's beef:
"When the majority leader cut me off, and then made reference to what the people of Pennsylvania want ... I at least ought to have an opportunity to reply because I think I know more about Pennsylvania than Senator Reid does," Specter said.
To be interrupted like that, Specter said, was "rude, to say the minimum."
"And if the United States Senate doesn't run on comity, on courtesy, on basic decency, the United States Senate cannot run at all," Specter said.
Specter said former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., told him that Reid did the same thing to him a couple of days ago.
"Senator Lott said the majority leader wanted to publicly apologize. Senator Lott said, 'Not necessary.' Public apologies don't mean much."
Specter said Reid approached him after the interruption and said he would make sure Specter would be recognized to speak first after the vote on the education bill.
"I said, 'No thanks, I can get myself recognized,' " Specter said. "Those practices (by Reid), I think, are not only rude, but dictatorial."
Specter then turned to the overnight session.
"We had a meaningless, insulting all-night session for absolutely no purpose. It was an indignity to the senators who were kept here all night to vote," Specter said.
That made the Senate "the laughing stock of the world."
© Jed Lewison