Mad at Santorum over Specter? What Would Reagan Do?
By Chet Arthur
What would President Reagan do if he had had a good conservative challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in a primary in Pennsylvania? Former Sen. Rick Santorum is taking a lot of heat in his presidential campaign for backing the RINO Specter over true-blue conservative Pat Toomey in 2004. We need more conservatives like Ronald Reagan.
I agree. But let’s remember what Reagan actually did. In 1982, Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.) faced a possible challenge from Prescott Bush, Jr., elder brother of Reagan’s vice president. “God himself could not keep me from challenging Lowell Weicker,” the Bush brother said. But when the convention rolled around, Mr. Bush was obviously listening to someone else. He dropped his challenge.
President Reagan came to New Haven that year and spoke to 10,000 Knights of Columbus. Weicker was on stage with him. The president, Sen. Weicker, and I were perhaps the only three “Prots” in the hall. I was then working for a state pro-life group backed by the Catholic Church. When the host announced from the podium that Sen. Weicker would be flying back to Washington on Air Force One with the president, there were boos and catcalls. The announcer spoke over this disruption. “The president will be dropping Sen. Weicker off in the capital,” he said with authority.
That is an excellent piece on why Santorum supported Spector and how Reagan did an act of loyalty similarly but didn’t even get the reward of Supreme Court Justices. Stuff happens. In santorum’s case it was worth it.