Specter Making Frantic Appeal to Liberal Democrats to Switch Voter Registration Before Deadline

Naw. RINOs look good when there mounted on the wall!

Just registered. Thanks for the link.

If you had driven past my house during the past six weeks you would not find it necessary to inquire about my thoughts on this race ( ... kid). The blue and gold 'Toomey/US Senate' sign is impossible to miss :).

I’ve written a little here on the forum over the past month about my support of Toomey, but I’ll gladly write a little more (since you asked ... )

I’ve been doing as much as time will allow over the past month or so in behalf of his candidacy (I’ve spoken to two local women’s groups, and have one more civic group on the docket before the primary, and will hopefully gather a few more in the interim). Am also bending the ear of anyone within earshot, whether they feel like listening or not.

For the first time since I left the neighborhood thirty years ago, I sincerely wish I were back in the Pittsburgh area. I believe that that is where this crucial race will be decided. Philadelphia and environs is a perennially lost cause, but western PA, despite its large urban/union population has often managed to shake itself free from the democrat shackles when the need was strong enough (thus the reason that Rick Santorum has twice been elected to the senate from that previously democrat stronghold).

Speaking of whom … I have been a strong supporter of Santorum since he first ran for the senate back in ’94, but he sure has let me down on this one, having come out in support of Specter early on. I know his support of Specter is simply a political play to attempt to ensure Republican control of the Senate, but I thought him a man of deeper convictions.

It made me especially sick when he and Specter gloated last month about the fact that the bill, co-sponsored by the two of them, which will name the new federal building in Harrisburg after Ronald Reagan, had passed the Senate. This may be one of Specter’s most glaring hypocrisies. He was one of Reagan’s greatest legislative/judicial adversaries for eight long years, having almost single-handedly seen to it that Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court went down in flames, and having consistently campaigned and voted against so many of Reagan’s tax cut initiatives and defense programs. And now, so close to the election, he appears to have decided to venerate The Gipper. He invariably turns more conservative just before election time, but this particularly convenient 180-degree takes the cake.

Toomey is a conservative’s conservative. National Review featured his campaign as its cover story a couple of weeks ago (a terrific Ramesh Ponnuru aticle), and labeled this race the second most important in the country this year – second only to the presidency. It is seen as the (genuine) conservative’s opportunity to send a clear message to those so-called Republicans who have decided to abandon the party’s origins. (NR also ran a scathing cover piece on Specter last summer entitled, ‘The Worst Republican Senator: Why Pennsylvania Should Get Rid of Arlen Specter’. I wish I could somehow place a copy of both articles into every Pennsylvania mailbox over the next month. They are eye-openers for those who aren’t aware of Specter’s ruthlessness (bordering on cruelty) and his powerful influence on behalf of the liberal agenda in the senate.

But Specter was never a Republican to begin with. The only reason he originally ran as a Republican when he was elected District Attorney in Philadelphia (back in the mid-sixties) was that the majority of the registered voters there were Republicans and the party affiliation assured his victory.

Toomey’s stand on every issue of importance mirrors my own. He is in favor of at least partially privatizing Social Security, stronger immigration laws and border security and no amnesty for illegals, supports the Ballistic Missile Defense system, increased defense appropriations, is a lifetime member of the NRA and an unwavering defender of the Second Amendment, favors school choice, was the first member of both of the last two congresses to introduce medical malpractice reform legislation, strongly favors tort reform, and is a consistent advocate of tax reform (was the co-sponsor of a bill which would do away with the current income tax code and replace it with a simple flat tax or national sales tax).

Toomey is quite often the lone, or among a small handful of, dissenting vote(s) regarding issues on which true conservatives should stand fast -- such as the recent prescription drug bill. He never votes based on political expediency, but always on Constitutional dictates and conservative principle.

As for Specter, putting aside his big government/big spending philosophy, what he did to Robert Bork in his nomination to the Court, and what he didn’t do to Bill Clinton during the senate impeachment trial ... I abhor his brand of 'leadership' for several other glaring reasons: he is a determined advocate of the international criminal court, he strongly favors racial preferences and abortion rights, and he strongly opposes tort reform and school choice.

Specter has been running a barrage of dishonest, negative television attack ads on Toomey (so what else is new?). But Club for Growth (of which I am proudly a member) is responding with some very effective Toomey ads of their own. The Club for Growth is a relatively new organization that throws its support behind candidates whose governing philosophy includes limited government and low taxes. This year its main congressional goal is the unseating of Specter.

The Club has ‘bundled’ Toomey donations (currently totaling more than three-quarters of a million dollars) from its members – a completely legal maneuver as a PAC committee and under Section 527 of the IRS code. Yet Specter has lodged a complaint with the FEC, claiming that the Club’s strategies violate Campaign Finance Reform. It’s a bogus complaint, but it goes to show that he is running scared.

We have one month remaining until the primary, and the gap (which was once considered too wide to bridge) is closing fast. Keep your fingers crossed for ‘may the best man win’ to become more than just wishful thinking here in PA on April 27th.

Be honest now, Dan. Aren’t you sorry you asked? :)

~ joanie

Glad to hear you joined, PA Enginneer.

Please have your buddies join as well by emailing everyone the Toomey Meetup link. We have ONE more meetup before election!

Chris

I know his [Santorum's] support of Specter is simply a political play to attempt to ensure Republican control of the Senate, but I thought him a man of deeper convictions.

Yes...It pains me to see Santorum go against everything he himself knows is good and just. I'm reminded of Socrates, who, at his trial in 399 B.C., argued that no man could be just at all times and survive in politics. Some things just never change.

Speaking of disappointment with Santorum, check this out. It's from www.toomeyblog.com:

A Toomey Blog Reader's Letter to Rick

Check this out. Ouch!

Dear Senator Santorum:

Let me begin by saying that I am not a resident of Pennsylvania, so I am not technically your constituent. But as a member of the Republican leadership in the Senate, you represent Republicans throughout the nation, and as such I feel at the liberty to drop you this friendly note.

I am an active participant in the conservative movement, and regularly mention your name not only as an example of the type of leadership, platform and voting record Republicans need to get elected in competitive states and districts, but also as my preferred candidate for President in 2008. I defended you when you were unfairly attacked for your foresighted criticism of the pro-sodomy arguments in the Lawrence case, and I am certainly proud to have someone like you in the Senate to speak out and act on issues near and dear to me, such as opposition to abortion and judicial activism and support for tax relief and national defense. But I am at a loss for words when someone asks me why you are actively supporting the reelection of Senator Arlen Specter, who disagrees with us in every single one of those important issues.

I know that tradition dictates that incumbent Senators not oppose the reelection of their colleagues from the same party, especially when they represent the same state. And as Republican Conference Chairman, it would be unbecoming for you to actively campaign for the defeat of a Republican colleague. But is it really necessary for you to run commercials supporting Arlen Specter's candidacy when he is running against Congressman Pat Toomey, a true conservative Republican from a blue-collar Democrat district (just like a certain Congressman Santorum from a decade ago) who can lead the party to a statewide victory?

I am especially disheartened by your claim that Arlen Specter votes with conservatives "on votes that matter." When the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, which you had been fighting for years to pass, got to the floor last year, it was nearly derailed by a sham substitute amendment by Dick Durbin that would not have prohibited a single abortion so long as the doctor stated that the mother's health (including mental health) may be in danger. You know better than I that passage of the substitute amendment would have signaled the defeat of the PBA ban, and would have been a major setback in the pro-life movement. I remember that you spoke eloquently on the Senate floor as to why the sham substitute had to be defeated, and that the only way to end that heinous practice was to vote against Durbin's substitute amendment. Wouldn't you call that a "vote that matters"? I sure do. And, in case you've forgotten, Arlen Specter voted in favor of Durbin's sham substitute, and the only reason it failed was because a few Democrat Senators, most of whom were up for reelection in 2004, voted against the amendment. Arlen Specter can only fool ignorant pro-lifers into believing that he supported the PBA ban, since he voted for its final passage, the results of which were a foregone conclusion. (Why, even Tom Daschle voted for the final bill! I hope that, in his Senate race against John Thune, Daschle doesn't run ads saying that he supported President Bush's agenda "on votes that matter.") But most pro-lifers are not that ignorant, and we will not support someone like Arlen Specter for reelection.

I could go on for paragraphs about Specter's voting record, the dangers posed by someone as unreliable as him serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (had Specter not opposed Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade would have been overturned in Planned Parenthood v. Casey back in 1992, which would have saved millions of lives), the fact that Governor Rendell would name Specter's replacement in case he can't serve out his entire six-year term, and how Specter's proven inability to attract votes from blue-collar Democrats in the Pittsburgh area and in the "T," not to mention the fact that he cannot rally the conservative base, will make him more vulnerable to a challenge from Congressman Hoeffel (who will not allow Specter to win by his usual margins in the Philly metro area) than would Pat Toomey (who would defeat Hoeffel by winning votes from pro-life, pro-gun, pro-defense Democrats, the group that gave you two House victories and two Senate victories), but I know that you already know all of that. My plea to you is that you think about these things, and reconsider your participation in an active campaign to defeat Pat Toomey in the GOP primary. If, God forbid, Specter defeats Toomey, then it would certainly be acceptable for you to campaign actively for Specter's reelection. But now is not the time to go wobbly.

I hope that you receive this note in the spirit with which it was intended, and that, after meditation and prayer, you do the right thing.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

XXXXX XXXXXXXX

# posted by Chris @ 4:04 PM

We can only hope and pray that Snarlin Arlen is gonna get whupped!

Go PA conservatives -- maybe conservative Democrats (if there are any in PA) will rise to the bait and switch parties?

It will be a lot easier for the Dems to demonize a conservative in the general election, possibly enough to give them the seat.

In New Jersey, conservatives rose up in the last governor primary and tossed the glad-handing "moderate" GOP Party hack in favor of true conservative Bret Schundler. Schundler then got totally shellacked in the general because he was too conservative for the population of New Jersey.

And you know what? I wouldn't do a thing differently. It was great smacking back the GOP hacks in this state. The bastards actually worked against Schundler in favor of McGreevey, because McGreevey is "a friend of theirs" (in "The Sopranos" sense.)

Hopefully, the PA GOP won't do the same thing if Toomey wins, mainly because the national GOP won't let them, but be sure you watch them like a hawk.

"In order for Toomey to win the general election, he must find a way to woo blue collar folks in the Pittsburgh Metro Area. These people have voted for Republicans with working class backgrounds like Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep Melissa Hart (Pa-04). They have also voted for RATS like Ed Rendell, Clinton, and Al Gore."

In order for *any* Republican to win statewide in PA against a Montgomery County Democrat like Joe Hoeffel, he must win votes from blue-collar Democrats not only in the Pittsburgh area, but in the "T" as well. Arlen Specter is incapable of winning those votes, since he is pro-abortion and anti-gun and thus have nothing to offer those voters (and if they wanted to vote for someone who will raise taxes and toe the union line, they'd surely vote for the Democrat). Pat Toomey, on the other hand, has been elected and reelected in the blue-collar Lehigh Valley, centered in Allentown and Bethlehem, with similar demographics to the Pittsburgh-area districts held by Melissa Hart and Tim Murphy and to the one held by Rick Santorum before moving to the Senate (in fact, Toomey's district is less Republican than Hart's or Murphy's, although less Democrat than Santorum's old districts). Pat Toomey knows how to get blue-collar Democrat votes, and will beat Hoeffel just about everywhere outside of Philly and its close-in suburbs (well, Hoeffel will carry a few inner-city areas, but he is so brazenly anti-gun that he will get blown away in most of the "T"). Pat Toomey will win the general election, and given the fact that he's both more conservative and more electable than Specter, the choice is clear. GO, PAT, GO!

Toomey has my vote already. Nice to know scottish law is scramblin..

Hopin' Specter gets kilt, arrrre ya laddie?

"If you had driven past my house during the past six weeks you would not find it necessary to inquire about my thoughts on this race ( ... kid). The blue and gold 'Toomey/US Senate' sign is impossible to miss :). I’ve written a little here on the forum over the past month about my support of Toomey, but I’ll gladly write a little more (since you asked ... )"

HA!!
Well I did ask, and, knew I was asking the right person when I did.
(~& the signs are all there, telling me I'm spot-on. {g})

"I’ve been doing as much as time will allow over the past month or so in behalf of his candidacy (I’ve spoken to two local women’s groups, and have one more civic group on the docket before the primary, and will hopefully gather a few more in the interim). Am also bending the ear of anyone within earshot, whether they feel like listening or not."

Wished I could hear one of your speeches.
Could learn a lot about getting my ducks in a row before an audience when it comes to the conservative message.
Something I desperately need.

"For the first time since I left the neighborhood thirty years ago, I sincerely wish I were back in the Pittsburgh area. I believe that that is where this crucial race will be decided. Philadelphia and environs is a perennially lost cause, but western PA, despite its large urban/union population has often managed to shake itself free from the democrat shackles when the need was strong enough (thus the reason that Rick Santorum has twice been elected to the senate from that previously democrat stronghold)."

The quinessential Reagan Democrat, huh.
No wonder the Spectre flake's pandering doubletime to the union constituency.

"Speaking of whom … I have been a strong supporter of Santorum since he first ran for the senate back in ’94, but he sure has let me down on this one, having come out in support of Specter early on. I know his support of Specter is simply a political play to attempt to ensure Republican control of the Senate, but I thought him a man of deeper convictions."

DC seems to do that to some of our guys.
The place must be unbelievably corrupting.

"It made me especially sick when he and Specter gloated last month about the fact that the bill, co-sponsored by the two of them, which will name the new federal building in Harrisburg after Ronald Reagan, had passed the Senate. This may be one of Specter’s most glaring hypocrisies. He was one of Reagan’s greatest legislative/judicial adversaries for eight long years, having almost single-handedly seen to it that Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court went down in flames, and having consistently campaigned and voted against so many of Reagan’s tax cut initiatives and defense programs. And now, so close to the election, he appears to have decided to venerate The Gipper. He invariably turns more conservative just before election time, but this particularly convenient 180-degree takes the cake."

Well joanie, the guy's after all a "professional liar."
For crying out loud he belongs in Hollyweird & not a member of our (august) senate.

"Toomey is a conservative’s conservative. National Review featured his campaign as its cover story a couple of weeks ago (a terrific Ramesh Ponnuru aticle), and labeled this race the second most important in the country this year – second only to the presidency. It is seen as the (genuine) conservative’s opportunity to send a clear message to those so-called Republicans who have decided to abandon the party’s origins. (NR also ran a scathing cover piece on Specter last summer entitled, ‘The Worst Republican Senator: Why Pennsylvania Should Get Rid of Arlen Specter’. I wish I could somehow place a copy of both articles into every Pennsylvania mailbox over the next month. They are eye-openers for those who aren’t aware of Specter’s ruthlessness (bordering on cruelty) and his powerful influence on behalf of the liberal agenda in the senate."

How are people in your neck of the woods recieving this kind of message about their beloved incumbant senator?
That's what I'd like to know; because, it'd be representative of what others attempting to unseat their RINOs are going to be facing.

"But Specter was never a Republican to begin with. The only reason he originally ran as a Republican when he was elected District Attorney in Philadelphia (back in the mid-sixties) was that the majority of the registered voters there were Republicans and the party affiliation assured his victory."

A "Bloomberg" by any other name.
What's with that switcheroo crap, anyway.
Is the GOP so desperate they'll accept these freaks without question as easily as they have.
I still think most of the GOP's troubles following the '94 "Revolution" began when we accepted 'Rat cross-overs.
How could anyone actually believe these 'Rat quislings c/would be loyal to our side when they couldn't their own?
The powers-that-be in the GOP somehow wanted so hard to believe these traitors had "seen the light" when in fact, they were a direct pipeline to the 'Rats with the very core of the GOP's strategies.

"Toomey’s stand on every issue of importance mirrors my own. He is in favor of at least partially privatizing Social Security, stronger immigration laws and border security and no amnesty for illegals, supports the Ballistic Missile Defense system, increased defense appropriations, is a lifetime member of the NRA and an unwavering defender of the Second Amendment, favors school choice, was the first member of both of the last two congresses to introduce medical malpractice reform legislation, strongly favors tort reform, and is a consistent advocate of tax reform (was the co-sponsor of a bill which would do away with the current income tax code and replace it with a simple flat tax or national sales tax)."

Wow.
This was the kind of guy many of us wanted to see in the White House.
Fact.

"Toomey is quite often the lone, or among a small handful of, dissenting vote(s) regarding issues on which true conservatives should stand fast -- such as the recent prescription drug bill. He never votes based on political expediency, but always on Constitutional dictates and conservative principle."

Sounds like a genuine stranger in a strange land, joanie.

"As for Specter, putting aside his big government/big spending philosophy, what he did to Robert Bork in his nomination to the Court, and what he didn’t do to Bill Clinton during the senate impeachment trial...I abhor his brand of 'leadership' for several other glaring reasons: he is a determined advocate of the international criminal court, he strongly favors racial preferences and abortion rights, and he strongly opposes tort reform and school choice."

For any *one* of those positions this one should've been tarred, feathered & run outa town on a rail.

"Specter has been running a barrage of dishonest, negative television attack ads on Toomey (so what else is new?). But Club for Growth (of which I am proudly a member) is responding with some very effective Toomey ads of their own. The Club for Growth is a relatively new organization that throws its support behind candidates whose governing philosophy includes limited government and low taxes. This year its main congressional goal is the unseating of Specter."

*Excellent*.
That the lying weasel's down in the mud with 'Rats sounds about par to me, too.
Probably taking all manner of advice from Carvile & McAufull right outa the Liberal-Socialist's playbook.
After all, this slug gets tossed outa office it'll be the Liberal-Socialist 'Rats who'll lose one of their most important supporters.

"The Club has ‘bundled’ Toomey donations (currently totaling more than three-quarters of a million dollars) from its members – a completely legal maneuver as a PAC committee and under Section 527 of the IRS code. Yet Specter has lodged a complaint with the FEC, claiming that the Club’s strategies violate Campaign Finance Reform. It’s a bogus complaint, but it goes to show that he is running scared."

I see.
The disgraceful whore turned his back on the worst traitor to ever inhabit 1600 PA Ave as he directed the largest criminal enterprise in history by citing obscure Scottish Law as the foundation of his reasoning, & yet he attacks a fellow conservative in such a shabby way, eh?
Obviously Spectre wasn't a big supporter of RR's "11th Commandment."

"We have one month remaining until the primary, and the gap (which was once considered too wide to bridge) is closing fast. Keep your fingers crossed for ‘may the best man win’ to become more than just wishful thinking here in PA on April 27th."

You bet I'll keep the fingers crossed, *kid*. :o)
Throwing this leech out on his sorry ass will send a loud & clear message to others who're attempting to clean house of these RINO parasites.

"Be honest now, Dan. Aren’t you sorry you asked?"

HA!!
To be perfectly honest, no.

...absolutely not. ;^)

Well maybe Arlen will get a chance to see what it's like working in the private sector? I don't know any registered republican that is going to vote for Specter. I just hope that if Pat wins the primary, he can pull off a victory in the fall.

I am hoping that Toomey wins the primary, and encourages enough conservatives to go to the polls.

My concern is that the left will be able to use him to encourage the dumbocrats to get out to vote.

Either way, I'd love to see Specter defeated. I hope it won't open the door to a dem Senator.

Thanks for posting this.

I've sent money to Toomey but never got around to changing my registration from "no affiliation" to republican so I can vote for him. This article finally got me to do it. I printed the form online and will mail it today.

BTW, the deadline to register or change registration and vote in this year's primary is March 29.

Republicans for Fat Eddy to the rescue.

Great commentary, Joanie and Dru! My Pennsylvania brothers, sister, and Dad are voting for Toomey!

{Pat Toomey, on the other hand, has been elected and reelected in the blue-collar Lehigh Valley, centered in Allentown and Bethlehem, with similar demographics to the Pittsburgh-area districts held by Melissa Hart and Tim Murphy and to the one held by Rick Santorum before moving to the Senate}

I sometimes wonder if the success of Santorum and Hart in the Pittsburgh Area is due to the fact that they're from the area. It could be a case of Reagan Democrats voting for the hometown candidates. They may not support Toomey since he is from the other side of the state.

RINO's will be feeling a strange wrath on April 27th, especially the senator from Scotland.......

I'm between a rock and a hard place here. Specter is the only one that has a chance to keep the Carlisle Barricks (US Army War College) and Indiantown Gap (Grantham) open with the reductiions of bases in 05. Our economy in our area will take a hit with Toomey.

"Specter is the only one that has a chance to keep the Carlisle Barricks (US Army War College) and Indiantown Gap (Grantham) open with the reductiions of bases in 05."

I'm certain that's what he WANTS you to think. Warner has successfully used that ploy for years in Virginia. I hate to say it but you will likely lose one of the two in the next round; Specter or no. We will probably lose a couple too.