[Conservativegreatgrandma]

IIRC, at the time this happened, Spector was chairman of the judiciary committee and he had a record of approving Bush's judicial appointments and had said he would continue to approve Bush's appointments.

Santorum knew that if the Republicans lost Spector in this seat, it could affect the outcome of Bush's judicial appointments, so that was why he did it. I agree with Santorum under that circumstance.

[Sal]

I don't agree and here's why. Specter had done a few good things (Clarence Thomas being a wonderful thing), but he was known to be a back stabbing rat and as likely as the New England twins to derail good legislation.

Toomey would have voted the right way as a regular habit. Someone else could have been appointed to the Judiciary Committee who would have done the same thing or better than Specter on appointments.

Jon Kyl was on that committee too and he could have stepped up into the Chairmanship and later Ranking Member. In fact, Jeff Sessions (who is also excellent) did move up into that position. Both of them would have been a thousand times better than Specter.

[Sal]

Oh, also IIRC the major reason being for Bush's wanting Specter was that “he could win”. Well, if Bush and Santorum et al had supported Toomey, HE could have won.

Sadly, after disappointing everyone on MANY issues after Bush and Santorum bailed him out in the primary, Specter publicly said that Bush needed to nominate people who would not try to overturn Roe v. Wade which was opposite of Bush's and Santorum's position and then changed to the Democrat Party.

It has left a bitter taste and it's too bad, but that's reality.