This kind of cracked me up. I got an e-mail from the campaign of U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who will likely be U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's opponent in the Democratic primary.
Sestak's campaign collected a bunch of excerpts from news stories highlighting Specter's grilling of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Here's a representative sample, from Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post:
"Specter apparently forgot he had switched to the Democratic party a few months ago. He was irritable and challenging of Sotomayor -- often spending five minutes asking his question before allowing the judge 30 seconds of response time before interrupting her."
My reaction was -- well, duh! Specter comes across as irritable and challenging with pretty much everyone. He's well known for this among his colleagues in the Senate, where he's picked up the nickname "Snarlin' Arlen."
I can tell you from experience that he's not the easiest guy in the world to interview. But I'll give credit where it's due. Whatever else you say about him, it's hard to accuse him of being a political glad-hander.
