June 17, 2008 / by emptywheel

 

But … But … What about Oversight?

"Scottish Haggis" Specter, letting his better judgment get the better of him, has decided he has better things to do with his time.

Sen. Arlen Specter said he won’t call for congressional hearings on the NFL’s investigation of the Spygate scandal after previously threatening to do so.

Specter’s office confirmed Tuesday his comments a day earlier to the Philadelphia Daily News editorial board, in which he said "I’ve gone as far as I can" with his office’s investigation of the matter. Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, had written in a Senate floor statement earlier this month that "I believe the NFL should step forward and embrace an independent inquiry."

[snip]

"I haven’t pulled back. There’s not much more I can do at this point," the senator said Monday, according to his office. "We’ve exposed a lot. … But the public attention span is so limited. I’m not going to call for hearings because the mood is not right and we’ve got too many other bigger problems to deal with."

No mention of whether those "bigger problems" have to do with the government’s spying on Americans, rather than Bill Belichick’s spying on the Eagles or not.

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Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/2008/06/17/but-but-what-about-oversight/