Life Among the Cannibals
A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It
Sen. Arlen Specter ; Charles Robbins
- A
- revealing
- memoir
- of
- how
- Washington
- is
- changing---and
- not
- for
- the
- betterDuring
- a
- storied
- thirty-year
- career
- in
- the
- U.S.
- Senate,
- Arlen
- Specter
- rose
- to
- Judiciary
- Committee
- chairman,
- saved
- and
- defeated
- Supreme
- Court
- nominees,
- championed
- NIH
- funding,
- wrote
- watershed
- crime
- laws,
- always
- staying
- defiantly
- independent,
- "The
- Contrarian,"
- as
- Time
- magazine
- billed
- him
- in
- a
- package
- of
- the
- nation's
- ten-best
- Senators.
- It
- all
- ended
- with
- one
- vote,
- for
- President
- Obama's
- stimulus,
- when
- Specter
- broke
- with
- Republicans
- to
- provide
- the
- margin
- of
- victory
- to
- prevent
- another
- Depression.Shunned
- by
- the
- GOP
- faithful,
- Specter
- changed
- parties,
- giving
- Democrats
- a
- sixty-vote
- supermajority
- and
- throwing
- Washington
- into
- a
- tailspin.
- He
- kept
- charging,
- taking
- the
- first
- bursts
- of
- Tea
- Party
- fire
- at
- public
- meetings
- on
- Obama's
- health
- care--reform
- plan.
- Undaunted,
- Specter
- cast
- the
- key
- vote
- for
- the
- health
- plan.In
- Life
- Among
- the
- Cannibals,
- Specter
- candidly
- describes
- the
- battles
- that
- led
- to
- his
- party
- switch,
- his
- tough
- transition,
- the
- unexpected
- struggles
- and
- duplicity
- that
- he
- faced,
- and
- his
- tumultuous
- campaign
- and
- eventual
- defeat
- in
- the
- 2010
- Pennsylvania
- Democratic
- primary.Taking
- us
- behind
- the
- scenes
- in
- the
- Capitol,
- the
- White
- House,
- and
- on
- the
- campaign
- trail,
- he
- shows
- how
- the
- rise
- of
- extremists---in
- both
- parties---has
- displaced
- tolerance
- with
- purity
- tests,
- purging
- centrists,
- and
- precluding
- moderate,
- bipartisan consensus.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
