[Red Steel]

You’re correct. Any Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman would have supported Alito or Roberts for SCOTUS. The notion that Specter would have had a conniption against the Republican party because Santorum did not support him if he still won his senate seat is nuts. Welcome to the spin room.

[throwback]

Assuming your premise that Santorum is lying about his motivation for supporting Specter is true, what was Santorum’s motivation as a fairly strong conservative for supporting one of the most liberal members of his own party over a more conservative alternative? How did it benefit him? It invoked quite a bit of controversy at the time, and it was a big hit to Santorum’s authenticity. So why did he do that? Maybe there was a payoff in it for him, but I haven't heard it yet. If he was smart, he should have been neutral at best. That would have been the safe play to further his career.