Posted on 02/25/2012 9:26:38 AM PST by advance_copy
I would just say in response to that: Roberts and Alito. You look at Arlen Specter and what he did to fight and claw, particularly for Alito—and everything that was brought up—he knocked it down, he carried the water—and I might add—brilliantly.
[SNIP]
Arlen Specter says—you know—I'm too far to the Right. Mitt Romney, who appointed 36—I think 36 democrats, including horrible liberal activist judges in the state of Massachusetts, and he's criticizing me for not being conservative enough, as we got Justices Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court because of the work we did. I'm happy that Arlen Specter is opposing me. I think that shows you how strong of a conservative I am.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Rick’s argument for Specter is weak and false. Whoever the Republican on the Judiciary committee would have been instead of Specter would have supported Roberts and Alito in committee and certainly Toomey would have voted in the full senate. This is bull.
This "team sport" thinking is BS.
Term limits needs to become a reality if there is any hope of turning things around without a great deal of pain.
Toomey doesn’t bring moderates along to get you to 60 votes when there was a 51-49 situation in the Senate.
If Specter was so bad then... how does any Republican get behind a man that promised to run to the left of Ted Kennedy on social issues. What kind of judges is Romney going to nominate?
It is not bull, it's the truth. When conservatives were insisting that Specter not be given the Chair of the Judiciary Committee the argument that was used BY HIM and others to support his position was that he had promised to support Bush's judicial nominees as a condition for the support of teh president and Santorum in his primary battle against Toomey.
Look it up!
Weak and false? If you consider that the senate was up for grabs in that election year. Toomey was no lock to win the general. The possibility existed that there would be no Republican chair of that committee. That was the calculation Rick made and the president supported. This argument has been brought up as many times as his house in Penn Hills. Weak and false.
Why does every Santorum clone think any opposition to Santorum is a pro Mitt opinion. Get out of the shallow end my friend. There is more to life than just Rick v Mitt.
Really, there is.
You guys make some decent points - but I am not certain your conclusions are correct. But I respect the thinking.
So for the sake of this argument, I will somewhat buy in, NOW:
this brings up the entire foundation of the Santorum campaign up til now - which is he is the wind driven snow who stands up for principles and does not play these kinds of games.
He refused to give Rick Perry leeway for the political realities of immigration in Texas and pretended that living in Pennsylvania gives someone a notion of the Mexican reality. (why Rick didn’t burn him on this is another topic altogether, and speaks to Perry’s weakness off the cuff).
He refuses to give Mitt leeway (OK< we all do, but I’m making a point about Santorum logic here) on the realities of Massachusetts. And he refuses to give Newt leeway for the realities of dealing with a bad senate (which he was a part of ) and a liberal President when Newt was speaker.
I am actually ok with political reality at times versus hard line principle. It’s just funny that suddenly Rick has that religion now that he’s a major candidate.
I don’t like the Santorum/Specter thing either. However, Rick has my support 100%.
Keep Conservatism alive. Vote Santorum 2012.
The Republicans increased their Senate majority to 55 - 45 after the 2004 election. The claim that Santorum's endorsement of Specter was absolutely necessary and it was the hinge for holding the Senate seat and the Republicans to hold the Senate is very bizarre. Maybe Santo had a crystal ball that foretold future events if he didn't take one for the GOP-e team.
You’re correct. Any Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman would have supported Alito or Roberts for SCOTUS. The notion that Specter would have had a conniption against the Republican party because Santorum did not support him if he still won his senate seat is nuts. Welcome to the spin room.
That’s not a reason to not support Rick Santorum.
Let’s not forget that Specter also managed to get Clarence Thomas confirmed earlier, over one of the worst liberal smear jobs ever. I won’t say that Specter did it for the right reasons—but he did it, and few others could have done it as well.
The same was true of Roberts and Alito. Few other politicians at that time had the guts or the political savvy to have brought that off. The Democrats could have filibustered either one of them, if they had chosen to. But Specter did a terrific job managing the hearings in a way that made the Democrats fearful of filibustering. Don’t tell me that George Bush could have done that. He had a long record in office of never attacking or arguing with his enemies, no matter what.
Later on, Specter went back to his usual ways, and then switched parties and, thankfully, backed himself into a corner and lost his career.
But he was already famous for confirming Clarence Thomas. And he kept his promise of confirming Alito and Roberts, before he defected. Bush chose those three great, pro-life Justices, but, ironically, he never would have gotten them confirmed if not for Arlen Specter.
As for Toomey, he probably would have lost that year. But he came back later at a better time, and won.
We will likely never really know what he was entirely thinking, but when his political survival is threatened, he ran to the center and to the Dems as we see here.
Have you seen this Santorum 2006 political ad?
FR article: Rick Santorum, Mr. Bipartisan Compromise – and Mr. Pro Wrestling? {Praised Hillary/Boxer/Lieberman)
[An excerpt]
"In one vivid ad, Santorum stood in a pro wrestling ring to describe what politics should not be.
“Too often, this is what it seems like in Washington,” narrates then-Senator Santorum over images of muscular costumed fellows beating each other. “But to get things done, you’ve got to work together.”
He continued: “I teamed up with Joe Lieberman to make college more affordable for low income families. And Barbara Boxer and I wrote a law protecting open space [Google: Open space generally refers to undeveloped land or water area].”
“I’m even working with Hillary Clinton to limit inappropriate material for children’s video games,” Santorum said as the wrestlers all stop for a moment, seemingly stunned, “because it makes more sense to wrestle with America’s problems than with each other. I’m Rick Santorum and I approved this message.” "
I admit Specter did some good along the way - but I do know many of us who appreciated his defense of Thomas had already turned on him by the time RS was supporting him against Toomey.
I am also not convinced that keeping Specter was necessary for Alito and Roberts. We’ll never know now of course.
Ramcat - if I can distill the core of your argument, are you saying that:
Sometime we make compromises to get the most conservative individuals and policies possible into office?
If so, and while you may not agree, is not reasonable to share in Rick’s practical tactics and support Romney and still be a good conservative?
I’m not waiting for anyone’s blessing on the point but the line of logic cuts both ways. What’s good for the goose ...
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