LOL Paybacks are hell. Arlen Spector went to bat for Bush on Roberts and Alito. Spector also torpedoing Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork and did a good job of undermining the Clarence Thomas nomination under Bush41. Giuliani has called both CJ Roberts and J Ginsberg two well qualified Supreme Court jurists. That leaves me with the impression that Rudy is talking out both sides of his mouth. Rudy`s lifelong record of supporting liberal issues and leftwing causes, makes me adamantly oppose his candidacy for POTUS. I'm more confident Rudy would nominate liberals like Lawrence Tribe, George Mitchell and Alan Dershowitz to the SCOTUS, then he would to nominate conservatives like J Scalia, J Thomas and CJ Rehnquist.
I still don't see an answer there - why did Spector support two pro-life (likely) constructionist SCOTUS picks? Because the white house had some leverage on him? no way. where was this "fear of payback" on all the other issues Spector has thwarted the white house on?
Spector is liberal on all the social issues, he should have been the first person to be against them, but wasn't.
RM -
You neglected to mention the real reason Specter supported Roberts and Alito.
He had to - otherwise he would not have been in that position.
After the poisonous Specter-Toomey primary in '04, and one day after Arlen dispatched of "Awful" Joe Hoeffel in the general, he did an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that was basically a shot across Bush's bow, in effect warning him not to send anyone to the committee that would support overturning RvW. He inferred that he would give any such candidate the Bork treatment.
Conservatives everywhere, but especially in PA feeling the sting of Toomey's loss, went bananas. Every member of the Senate judiciary committee was flooded with faxes, call and emails, urging them to deny Specter the chair (which he was in line for) and give it instead to Jon Kyl from Arizona, #2 in line and an ardent pro-lifer.
In the end, Specter cut a deal - a very quiet one - with Bill Frist. He would keep the SJC chair only on the condition of pushing through any BUSH SC nominations.
It's a good example of how the conservative grassroots can positively affect public policy through old-fashioned activism. The same thing happened after the Miers debacle - RINOs of FR swore up and down we could never get a true conservative like Alito on the court - you saw how good their advice was then.
The same thing is happening now, but the difference is there is a definite preemptive strike by the liberal RINO contingent, including here on FR, to throw the social cons to the curb and prevent them having the veto power they had over Bush.
Rudy is to be no more trusted than Arlen - just another Northeast liberal RINO who will do or say anything to acquire and maintain power. Believe nothing he says, and put no trust in "conservative" FReepers who claim we must sacrifice principle for victory.
They were wrong before, and they are even more wrong now.