Senator Brain Damage strikes again.

Doesn't he remember whining about "unilateralism" when the question was Iraq?

KYW: Specter Backs Bilateral Talks with North Korea

US senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) says he believes the United States should begin direct talks with North Korea. Speaking with reporters in Harrisburg, Specter said six-way talks haven’t done any good, so he believes bilateral talks should be the next step.


Rick Santorum could do without friends like this...

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Divide: Specter and Santorum differ over what "amnesty" is.

When Sen. Arlen Specter vowed to do anything to help Sen. Rick Santorum win reelection this year, he probably did not imagine serving as a political piñata.

But that in effect is what is happening as the two Pennsylvania Republicans find themselves on opposite sides of the sharp national debate over illegal immigration.

The divide was illustrated yesterday in dueling forums at opposite ends of the state.

Hours after Specter appeared in Philadelphia to conduct a hearing on a Senate immigration bill he helped author, Santorum staged a town-hall event near Pittsburgh to tout his opposition to the bill as weak-kneed "amnesty" for undocumented workers.

"People suggest the Senate bill does not grant amnesty and that I am mischaracterizing it," said Santorum, who entered Monroeville Volunteer Fire Company No. 4 to chants of "Six more years" from an invitation-only crowd of 150. "If I am, then so are 38 or 36 other senators, as well as 230 House members, numerous editorial pages, and a lot of other folks who read that bill and see it for what it is."

Santorum has been using tough talk on undocumented workers to go on the offensive in his campaign against Democratic State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., choosing the issue for the first radio and TV ads of the race. In the radio spot, Santorum says Casey has "sided with Ted Kennedy and other liberals" on the legislation.

Kennedy joined Specter at the Senate Judiciary Committee's field hearing yesterday.

"Sen. Santorum is entitled to his views," Specter, the judiciary chairman, said before the hearing. " 'Amnesty' is a buzz word that is used in derogation... . I think we're moving past that."

Besides, the Senate bill required undocumented workers to pay fines, hold jobs and pay back taxes before moving toward legal status, Specter said.
"Amnesty is when you when you forgive someone for something that they have done," he said. "There is no forgiveness here."