Specter and Grassley double team Holder

It looks like Arlen Specter is emerging as the point man for Republican efforts to take President-elect Obama "down a peg," by stymying the confirmation of Eric Holder as Attorney General.

Speaking from the Senate floor on Tuesday, Specter, who had previously said he had "not taken any position" on the nominee, blasted Holder, comparing him to Alberto Gonzales. In less than two months, Specter went from saying that Holder's role in the pardon of Marc Rich would be ''a factor to consider,'' to comparing him to the worst Attorney General in recent memory. Patrick Leahy responded to Specter's ridiculous assertion, saying:

Any effort to question his character is unfounded. Every Republican voted for Alberto Gonzales, and felt his character merited confirmation. Certainly Eric Holder greatly exceeds that test.

That's putting it mildly. Specter has the gall to compare Holder to the man whose resume includes: politicizing the Department of Justice; who claimed, under oath, to Arlen Specter, that there was no guarantee of habeus corpus in the Constitution; who was intimately involved in carrying out and covering up George Bush's warrantless, domestic wiretap program; and who helped craft the administration's torture policy, before finally, with the threat of impeachment hanging over his head, resigning in disgrace.

Specter went from having no position to full-blown, hyperbolic outrage in a matter of weeks. What happened? Is he worried about a GOP-financed primary opponent in 2010? Afraid his Republican pals will threaten is committee assignments again?  Or is he just following orders from Karl Rove?

And while Specter may be the point man on this Republican-led smear, Chuck Grassley is doing his part, making good on his promise from last month, to tie Holder to the scandal-plagued Rod Blagojevich:

It signals that it’s not going to be a smooth confirmation ... we need to know what the relationship is with Governor Blagojevich. And I don’t say that in denigrating in any way except Governor Blagojevich’s recent troubles raises questions with anybody that’s had a relationship with him.

And by the way, It seems that consistency isn't a concern for Grassley, given that moments before he was insisting that Roland Burris should be immediately seated in the U.S. Senate.

The apparent plan here is to force Barack Obama to spend political capital on getting Eric Holder confirmed. And what's also apparent is that, as has been true for the past eight years, when Karl Rove says jump, Republicans ask, how high...or low.