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“I would like to say “no way” but then again, there is a certain Arlen Specter hanging over Mr. Santorum when it comes to supporting lefty Republicans.”

That’s right, and Santorum went out of his way to support DIABLO Dede Scozzafava (who made Arlen Specter seem like Jesse Helms by comparison) in the NY-23 special election when virtually every conservative group in NY and the nation decried how she was handpicked by RINO political hacks to be the GOP nominee, and doubled-down to reiterate his support for her even after polls showed Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman running neck-and-neck with Democrat Bill Owens while “Republican” was barely in double digits. Oh, wait . . . .

Yes, Rick Santorum made a huge mistake when he endorsed Specter over Pat Toomey in the GOP Senate primary, and I was as upset about that as anyone. This is the text of a letter I e-mailed Senator Santorum back then:

“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,”

So, irrespective of how Rick Santorum was pressured by President Bush and by PA Republicans to be “congenial” and “support the incumbent” who “would keep the seat safe,” I will not defend Rick Santorum’s cowardly endorsement of RINO Arlen Specter in 2004. But that being said, Newt Gingrich’s full-throated endorsement of DIABLO Dede Scozzafava (compared to whom Specter voted like Jesse Helms) in the 2009 special election, and doubling-down after it became clear that Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman (i) was far, far more conservative than her and (ii) had an exponentially better chance of defeating Democrat Bill Owens, was a million times worse by any objective standard.

That being said, I would never accuse Newt Gingrich of being a RINO, much less of trying to tank a primary so that a liberal such as Mitt Romney could win. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are both conservatives, but they are also human and thus sinners (as we all are), and they’ve made mistakes in the past (as we all have). Gingrich and Santorum are both trying to achieve the same thing—become the GOP nominee for president—and they both want to earn the nomination for the same reasons: because they believe in their hearts that they would be the best possible conservative standardbearer to defeat Obama in the general election. They are not running to sell books or try to get VP or Cabinet appointments. It is disgraceful for a conservative to get so embroiled in the primary horserace that he or she throws around such accusations about people who have been fighting for conservative values for decades.