"The Worst Liberal Senator"

American Conservative Union | American Conservative Union

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"The Worst Liberal Senator"

There's a sitting U.S. Senator who has a 42 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, which is exactly HALF the average for Republican senators.

This liberal Senator votes the WRONG way on everything from taxes, spending, and national security, to cloning, hate crimes, and labor law.

He's a supporter of abortion-on-demand no matter the circumstances, he advocates racial preferences, he's an opponent of much-needed tort reform, he's a firm friend of the United Nations' International Criminal Court... you name the left-wing pet project, and he's in favor of it.

Citizens Against Government Waste has even listed him in its "Pig Book" as one of the Senate's biggest pork-barrel spenders.

Who is this bastion of old-line, tax-and-spend liberalism, who helped slash the Bush administration's tax cuts by $250 billion in 2001?

Is it Louisiana Democrat John Breaux? No, his ACU rating is HIGHER than the liberal Senator we have in mind.

Is it Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson? No, his ACU rating is even HIGHER still.

In fact...

... The LIBERAL Senator we're talking about isn't even a Democrat at all -- He's a REPUBLICAN. His name is Arlen Specter (R-PA).

That's right -- a 42% ACU rating, a staunch supporter of every liberal cause under the sun, and even an opponent of many conservative judicial nominees in the past (he even voted AGAINST impeaching Clinton)... Republican Sen. Arlen Specter is NO friend to conservative Americans.

In fact, the latest issue of National Review, the leading conservative magazine, calls Sen. Specter "The Worst Republican Senator" and "one of the GOP's most liberal members." In the cover article by John J. Miller, the author explains why "Pennsylvania should get rid of Arlen Specter"; namely, that he is "the man who has done more to frustrate conservative goals over the years than perhaps any other member of his caucus." Want a few examples of Sen. Specter's blatant liberalism?

Take a look:

• Specter helped the Democrats to "bork" Judge Robert Bork;

• He was the first Republican to cross the aisle to vote for Clinton's "largest tax increase in history";

• He sponsored the "Freedom of Choice Act" which would have forced religious hospitals to perform abortions;

• He sponsored as many Democrats for federal judgeships as Republicans; He voted to drastically reduce President Bush's tax cut;

• And, he was the only GOP Senator to vote against President Bush's educational voucher initiative in the Washington, D.C. school district.

Add it all up, and you can see why the RightMarch.com Political Action Committee has chosen the GOP primary race in Pennsylvania as the target for its first official "RINO Hunt". (As you probably know, a "RINO" is a "Republican In Name Only" -- someone elected on the GOP ticket, but who consistently votes a liberal line instead of voting conservative. And Specter sure does qualify!)

This is no ordinary primary coming up next April. Unlike past primaries in Pennsylvania, this one pits a REAL, true-blue conservative -- Congressman Pat Toomey, who holds a 97 PERCENT rating from the ACU -- against the aging, liberal Specter. And there's good reason to think Toomey can pull it off:

• It's a closed primary -- only Republicans can vote, which usually benefits the conservative candidate;

• No matter what the issue is, when it comes to Specter's record, there's always something that will offend most Republicans;

• In past elections, fully one-third of the primary voters voted to replace Specter, even when the only choice was challengers who were either single-issue candidates or no-campaign, no-name challengers;

• Finally, Toomey already has a double-digit lead over Specter in his home district, even though Specter's been in office more than five times as long.

It won't be easy, though; Specter has already raised more than 9 million dollars for his campaign. It's going to be an uphill fight.

We plan to send HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of e-mails (we've already gotten an opt-in list of registered Republicans in Pennsylvania), run targeted ads on every website, and make it easy for tens of thousands of online activists to forward our Alerts to everyone in their contact list, to let Pennsylvania GOP voters know the TRUTH about Arlen Specter.

We also will reach them with full page newspaper ads in every newspaper across the state... with hard-hitting radio ads that detail Specter's record... with mailings and phone calls providing much-needed information that the mainstream media won't tell them.

Even more importantly, we're going to remind them of Sen. Specter's record when it comes to supporting -- or NOT supporting -- conservative issues: as National Review noted, "Specter votes like a Democrat until late in his term, when he remembers that he will need at least some conservatives on his side if he's going to win another six years."

And, at his age (if Specter wins a fifth term this election, he'll be 80 years old in 2010), if he knows he's going to retire and doesn't have to face any more election campaigns, conservatives may not even get the one or two years of fair treatment from him they've come to expect. He could be another Jim Jeffords... jumping ship when we need him the most.

Or even worse: should Specter somehow leave office in the midst of his term, Pennsylvania's DEMOCRAT Governor would get to appoint a DEMOCRAT to replace him!

We MUST NOT let this happen.

It's doesn't do us any good to have a Republican majority there, if so many of those Republicans consist of liberals like Arlen Specter.

[tkathy]

More circular firing squad baloney? Why not spend this energy fighting dems like Byrd, Kennedy, and Daschle?

[Daveinyork]

This race is heating up, even before the off-year municipals elections this november, (in which I am a candidate for city controller). Toomey is already touring the state in a bus. (I met him last week). Specter is already running radio ads.

[kidd]

There's something wrong with their rating system. John McCain gets an 87 while Santorum rates an 84. Worst GOP Senators (IMO):

1. Chaffee (RI)
2. Snowe (ME)
2. Collins (ME)
4. McCain (AZ)
5. Specter (PA)