An Open Letter To Arlen Specter
By Tom Barrett (05/05/04)
Mr. Specter, you have received a wake-up call. The fact that an unknown challenger almost beat you in the recent primary means that the Republicans in your state want a real Republican representing them. It is almost unheard of for a four-term senator to face a serious challenge from an unknown member of his own party. You have heard from the Republican wing of the Republican Party. I hope you are listening.
“Now, with less than a week to go before the state's April 27 Senate primary, Rep. Pat Toomey has come within striking distance of defeating Specter in what has become one of the nation's most closely watched GOP contests this year.”
On April 10, Robert Novak wrote an article about you titled, “Saving Arlen Specter.” In it he described President Bush’s “rescue mission” to save your seat. Many have criticized Bush for this, although it has always been his Administration’s policy to support incumbent senators for obvious reasons. Why have you become such an embarrassment that the President would be condemned for supporting a member of his party? Why, even though you spent three times as much on your campaign than your opponent, did he almost beat you?
Could it be that you are no longer a Republican? The popular term RINO applies to you very well. It means Republican In Name Only. When one compares your record with that of Congressman Pat Toomey, your challenger, it becomes very clear why so many Republicans were willing to take a chance on losing a precious Republican seat in the Senate. They would rather take a chance like that because it makes little difference whether a Republican who acts like a Democrat is in the seat, or a Democrat beats you.
Why do you think so many loyal Republicans preferred Toomey over you, Mr. Specter? It’s very simple. The Republican Party is moving back to its conservative roots. For too long some Republicans have followed the lead of the Democrats, letting popularity take precedence over principle. You have been a leader in this faction, trying to force liberal philosophy on a party of conservatives. This group has followed Bill Clinton in trying to govern by polls. True Republicans are finally saying, “Enough! Getting elected is important, but not at the price of sacrificing the principles that made this nation great!”
You squeaked by this time. The polls had you neck in neck with Mr. Toomey. But the president’s support, combined with Republican fears that Toomey was not well known and might lose to a Democrat, allowed you to win the Republican nomination. And as a four-term senator, you will probably beat your Democrat challenger. But I will make a prediction: You won’t be so fortunate next time.
Unless you make up your mind whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, you will not be a senator from Pennsylvania following the next election. There’s blood in the water now, and it will attract a better known conservative Republican to take the nomination away from you. The fact that a little known challenger almost unseated you will undoubtedly embolden a well known conservative Republican to go up against you.
What was the main difference between you and Pat Toomey in the recent primary? Simply that you are very liberal and he is very conservative. Many voters assume that because you have the word Republican associated with you that you are conservative, and they vote accordingly. Putting Mr. Toomey up next to you allowed Pennsylvania voters to see the very real differences between the beliefs and policies of the two of you. It is much like walking between two rooms, one painted white, and the other painted off-white. To the casual observer they are both white rooms. But if you paint one wall white in the off-white room, the contrast becomes very apparent.
What do you believe, Mr. Specter? I searched the Internet, and have included the links that I used below. Based on your voting record and your public speeches, these are the things that almost lost you your job. If you don’t change you ways, these are the things that will cause enough conservative Republicans to become energized enough to fire you next time around. I believe these positions are the cause of your alarmingly low approval rating of 40% among Pennsylvania Republicans.
First, they don’t like your outspoken support for abortion on demand. Most Republicans, and many moderate Democrats, believe that abortion should be used only in extreme situations. They do not believe abortion should be used as birth control for people too lazy or too stupid to use the many forms of birth control available to them. Conservative Republicans point to the amazingly successful surgery being performed in the womb on unborn children as proof that these babies are much more than the “lumps of tissue” you apparently believe they are. You, sir, are a dinosaur who is totally out of step with your base on this issue.
Second, your campaign against Toomey has focused mainly on bragging about the “pork” you have brought home to Pennsylvania. You have used your position as chairman of a senate appropriations committee to unfairly favor Pennsylvania for federal projects, most of which are not even needed. In old-time Washington politics lavish spending of taxpayer money in one’s state in order to buy votes was admired. Here’s a news flash for you, Mr. Specter. There is a new breed of Republicans who are alarmed by the spending habits of the Democrats and of Republicans like you.
Third, you seem to waffle on serious issues as badly as John Kerry. When the Pittsburg Tribune-Review endorsed your opponent, the Editors said, “A quarter-century of Arlen Specter, who has had as many positions as the JFK assassination "magic bullet" he invented had trajectories, is enough. Pennsylvanians deserve better. That's why we wholeheartedly endorse Patrick Toomey for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.”
Finally, the reason Republicans vote for you is that they expect you to vote for conservative issue. You vote with the Democrats far too much. If Pennsylvanians had wanted someone with your voting record, they would have elected a Democrat. When you were first elected people thought you knew what it meant when you ran as a Republican. Today people are more sophisticated, and they are starting to compare what you say with what you do. If you keep voting the way you have been, you had better start looking for your perfect retirement home.
In sharp contrast, your opponent Pat Toomey has his finger on the pulse of the real Republican Party. The Pittsburg Editors put it like this: “Mr. Toomey is a Reagan Republican, a rock-ribbed conservative unfairly smeared as an ‘extremist’ by his opponents. Specter is a Rockefeller Republican, a weaselly liberal implausibly promoted as a ‘moderate’ by his supporters.” Strong words indeed from one of the largest newspapers in your state.
Toomey co-sponsored the bill that banned partial-birth abortion. He supports school choice, something you have repeatedly opposed. Toomey supports allowing Boy Scouts to use public buildings, as other non-profits do. You have opposed this unless the Boy Scouts violate their founding principles by allowing homosexual Scoutmasters to influence their children. When you were in the Senate proposing expansion of so-called “Hate Crimes” legislation, Toomey was in the House opposing this unconstitutional concept. No wonder so many Republicans preferred him over you.
As I look back over what I have written to you, I realize that I have probably been unfair. I have asked you to do what you cannot do. I have suggested that you change your philosophy, to vote the way the people who put you in office want you to trade. That is like asking a dog not to chase cats, or asking a liberal to stop spending our tax money on worthless programs. You probably won’t change because you can’t change.
I started by saying that you have received a wakeup call. Perhaps it was not just for you. Perhaps some conservative politicians who have been trying to straddle the fence to gain popularity with as many people as possible will learn from what almost happened to you. Perhaps they will wake up and realize that the people want leaders who stand for something. As the old saying goes, Arlen, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Your Clintonesque career is ending in ridicule and disrespect because no one knows what you stand for. Hopefully some young politician will look at what has happened to you, locate his spine, and use it.
INTERNET LINKS:
Arlen Specter’s Campaign Website
http://specter2004.com/
Pat Toomey’s Campaign Website
http://www.pattoomey.org/
Robert Novak column about Resident Bush’s Rescue of Specter
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20040410.shtml
Revelations about Arlen Specter
http://www.arlenspecter2004.com/
Pittsburgh Tribune Review: The great Specter collapse
http://www.pattoomey.org/news_item.asp?pid=207
Associated Press: Toomey May Knock Out Specter
http://www.pattoomey.org/news_item.asp?pid=206
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Endorses Toomey
http://www.pattoomey.org/news_item.asp?pid=200
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