*SPECTER OF DOOM: As HUMAN EVENTS was the first to report last month (see the cover box of the March 3rd issue), conservative Rep. Pat Toomey (R.-Pa.) is challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) in next year's primary. Now Specter is moving right-at least temporarily. Last month, he spoke to the group of socially conservative House members who call themselves the Values Action Team. They gave him a chilly reception. "He's trying to win over people who won't be won over," said one participant. Then Specter voted with Republicans on tax-related amendments to the budget resolution, and against a provision to make it harder to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (see rollcall, page 22). At this rate, he may end up demanding Bush name a pro-life conservative to the Supreme Court.
*DEAD MAN WALKING: That's what some pols have been calling Democratic Rep. James Moran (Va.) ever since his much-publicized claim that Jewish influence drove the U.S. to war in Iraq. Moran was widely condemned by leaders of both parties and ousted as a regional Democratic Whip. Now he is certain to face a serious primary opponent. Two heavyweight Democrats-State Sen. Leslie Byrne and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Kate Hanley-are gearing up to make the run.
*ENLISTMENTS UP: Although Rep. Charles Rangel (D.-N.Y.) and other liberal lawmakers are calling for reinstating the draft, the volunteer armed forces seem to be doing just fine-meeting and exceeding recruitment goals. According to newly released Pentagon figures, the U.S. Army surpassed its recruitment goal in the past fiscal year, signing up 27,586 for active duty and 10,838 for the Army Reserve. The Air Force enlisted 37,200 recruits last year and is on pace to meet this year's goal of 32,000. Figures for the Navy and Marine Corps are yet unavailable.
*UNIONS DOWN: Big Labor got some bad news last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the percentage of workers who are members of unions fell to 13.2% in 2002, down from 13.4% in 2001, and 35% in the 1950's. Layoffs in the steel, airline, and hotel industries helped drive union membership down by 280,000 last year. That means there are now only 16.1 million Americans on union rolls. President John Wilhelm of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union said: "If we don't devote the largest possible amount of money to organizing, we will go out of business."
*GEPHARDT AND HARD HATS: Rep. Richard Gephardt (D.-Mo.) presents himself as the candidate of the working man. The hard hats, however, might want to take a close look at Gephardt's comments about Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court case that will decide whether sodomy has become a constitutional "right." Said Gephardt: "The Supreme Court should strike down this Texas statute as an unconstitutional violation of the rights of gays and lesbians. Laws that unjustly target gays and lesbians and criminalize the private behavior of consenting adults deny them the rights and protections afforded to other citizens of our country." Needless to say, the text of the Constitution itself contains no right to engage in homosexual activity.
*AL'S THIRD PARTY? Rev. Al Sharpton told supporters last week he may run as an independent candidate in the 2004 presidential race if he fails to win the Democratic primary. Visiting the University of South Carolina, Sharpton berated fellow Democrats for selling out on issues like the war with Iraq, asserting that the party has lost sight of its core values. "We already have too many donkeys running around here who are really elephants with donkey clothes on," he said.
*'FAILED MISERABLY' TO APOLOGIZE: Last week, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) said President Bush would lose American lives because he had "failed so miserably at diplomacy that now we're forced to war." Other Democrats ran for cover. This week, Daschle issued a pathetic pseudo-apology. "My timing wasn't the best," he told the Black Hills Pioneer. He did not know that military action was about to begin, he claimed. This is curious. Daschle's very words concluded that war was about to happen. They were delivered on March 17, when everyone in Washington knew the President was giving a speech that very night to deliver an ultimatum to Saddam. The next day, on March 18-after Bush had issued the ultimatum-Daschle told reporters, "I stand by my statement." After making his non-apology, Daschle told the Pioneer, "It's time to move past this." So he hopes.
*HOMELESSNESS? Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) used to be pro-life before he started thinking about running for President. Now he appears to be on an expedition to find the leftward-most frontiers of the Democratic Party. "This administration is saying we're going to establish an American imperium, and nobody is going to stop any of our efforts to advance economic interests or military interests," he was quoted as saying in In These Times. "This Bush administration is trying to achieve the militarization of thought in our culture. They've achieved a level of fear with Orwellian overtones." And then he let loose with what he must hope will be a big applause line at Democratic cattle calls: "Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction."
*FORGETTING FRANCE ALREADY: Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D.-Conn.) has been generally supportive of President Bush's Iraq policy. But last week, according to the New York Post, he just couldn't stop himself, decrying what he called the President's "unilateralist, divisive diplomacy, which has pushed a lot of the world away from us." Apparently, Lieberman has already forgotton how the French sabotaged U.S. policy at the United Nations. On the other hand, Lieberman said that the U.S. has no obligation to let the UN get involved in Iraq after we remove Saddam. At a stop in Tucson, Lieberman said, "The U.N. truly lost its will in refusing to implement or enforce the resolution that it adopted. They can help us achieve what we want and share the costs, but I wouldn't feel obligated to bring them in."
