Specter continues to haunt Santorum
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum had to explain again his support for ex-colleague Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter Sunday.
Specter continues to haunt Santorum
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Rick Santorum, basing his Republican presidential campaign on the idea he is the purest conservative in the race, can’t seem to escape reminders of past entanglements with former Senate colleague (and moderate) Arlen Specter.
On Sunday, Santorum said that his support for Specter’s brief 1996 presidential campaign was a mistake that he wishes he could take back.
“I was his colleague in the United States Senate. He asked me to stand with him,” Santorum told host Jonathan Karl on ABC’s This Week. “That certainly wasn’t one of my prouder moments I look back on. But look, you know, you work together as a team for the state of Pennsylvania,” Santorum said. “I certainly knew that Arlen Specter was going nowhere. I certainly disagreed with a lot of things that he said.”
Santorum, a noted leader in the movement to restrict abortion access, was standing on the dais when Specter, then a moderate Republican who was pro-choice, announced his presidential bid in 1995.
“I want to take abortion out of politics … and leave moral issues such as abortion to the conscience of the individual,” Specter said in that speech. “That is a matter to be decided by women, not by big government.”
Santorum said he owed Specter because his senior colleague had supported him in his successful 1994 Senate election. Supporting Specter, who later became a Democrat before losing his 2010 reelection race, “was something I look back on and wish I hadn’t done,” Santorum said Sunday.
In 2004, Santorum endorsed – and aggressively campaigned for – Specter in the Pennsylvania Republican primary, when the latter was challenged by the conservative former congressman Pat Toomey. Specter narrowly defeated Toomey then, and Santorum continues to take fire from the right for his role, undertaken at the behest of President George W. Bush.
Specter was a political trader in the largest sense. The downfall of his career began with his defense of Ira Einhorn, who went to France and made Specter look like a fool defending him. His jumping parties and selling his soul to placate his need for popularity only indicated his true character. Santorum's association is definitely a dark spot, and one I'm sure he'd rather forget.— dogman5- Specter used people for decades. He clearly exhibited his self centered nature when he finally lost.— anti-tax
- Typical Republican, in other words. — ahab
- I wonder what the Republican campaign will look like once the primaries are over. The extremist right-wingers who seem to be in control of the selection of the candidate will not add up to enough voters to elect a President. I can't wait to see the back-tracking that any Republican candidate will have to do in order to appeal to more than the extremists who got him selected as the candidate. Has everyone forgotten the margin by which Santorum lost in his most recent senate bid?— BarbaraM
- Barb, you are either blind or just have no clue as to what the liberals are trying to do to this country. Have you ever read about the countries that tried socialism? It didn't work for them and it won't work for us. Get your head out of your rump and see what is going on! — erniebanks14
- Calm down, Ernest. Obama only plays a socialist on Fox News. Get a clue, pal. — ahab
- Barbara...the Repubs will be united behind Romney. If Huckebee is the VP candidate, those conservatives will be giddy.— kelprod2
- The "conservatives" are already giddy, kattleprod. Their koolaid is spiked. — ahab
- There is no such thing as a giddy republican. They are born mad, and are perpetually miserable people.
— ej610 - The Repubs are going to be stuck with Bishop Romneycare only because he's going to be what's left in the clown car. Can't watch for Pres. Obama to debate the flip flopper on all his BS. "I support a woman's right to choose." "Universal Healthcare would be GOOD for America."— Foxclove5
- I remember Specter during the Clinton impeachment telling us Clinton was in serious trouble.Then Arlen votes "not guilty by a preponderence of the evidence"That's when I wrote him off.And the finale was Arlen at the various town hall meetings defending Obamacare when 66% of voters told him to vote against it.Arlen,we don't miss you one small bit.— streak1
- Yes, Rick! Why did you support that creep who couldn't decide which party he was with? Specter was more of a fraud than Ted Kennedy and John Murtha!— erniebanks14
- Santorum supported Spector because Santorum is a hypocrite. Plain and simple. Then when he's called on it (or any of his other hypocrocies) he says he made a mistake. — CommonSense in Philly
- Ernie, Please crawl back into your cave.— Richard S
- "haunt"? wow that's an extreme word. can anyone find any articles on how the socialist anti-american people that Obama associated with in his past haunt him ??????— 420Phillie
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
