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The Spectacle Blog
Jim writes that he doubts Specter was important for passing Sam Alito. As somebody who gained much of my first national notice (such as it was) for being engaged in the judicial wars, I can say fairly confidently that Specter’s support was crucial. (I also was the first person in print, or cyber-print, as far as I can tell, to have written that Alito should be Bush’s choice for the high court — about six months before Sandra Day O’Connor announced she would step down — so I was particularly and intensely engaged in the Alito battle.) The biggest battle wasn’t on the Senate floor, although the threat of a filibuster was real and was much closer to fruition than the raw vote would indicate. Instead, the biggest battle was in committee. Alito won 10-8. Significantly, it was the conduct of those committee hearings that rallied support for Alito to the extent that a filibuster became less likely. Specter conducted that hearing masterfully. He came down as eminently fair to both sides, but fought off Ted Kennedy and others very strongly when they tried to hijack the hearings. Significantly, as Alito was from the same circuit as Pennsylvania, Specter enjoyed particular deference as the NEAR-home-state senator, somebody more than usually familiar with Alito and his record — and more than familiar with the fact that Alito had ruled in the Casey case in a pro-life fashion at odds with Specter’s pro-choice position. All of this inured to Alito’s benefit when Specter announced his support, because Specter carried more than the usual amount of credibility with moderates of both parties. I remember thinking at the time (and I think writing, at the Confirm Them blog) that Specter was the absolutely essential player in the drama, without whom Alito would come come within a hair’s breadth (one or two votes either way on the Senate floor) of not being confirmed.
Santorum could not have known, of course, that Alito would be a S. Court nominee. But he was absolutely right to think that Specter would play a crucial role in confirming anybody who might be nominated, and Santorum was THE go-to guy in the GOP caucus for outside conservative groups to be heard on judges. He was intimately involved in the judicial battles and highly concerned about the subject, which is why his claim about the commitment from Specter rings true. As for Specter’s denials this morning, I find them rather curious. Santorum has been making this claim for years (I reported it 20 months ago right here at TAS), multiple times, and Specter has not disputed it until now, nor has anybody else suggested that the claim is anything but true or believable. Again, knowing of Santorum’s deep involvement in the judge wars, it rings true.
It is also true that Specter opposed not a single qualified Bush judicial nominee for appeals courts either. As the foremost media advocate for 11th Circuit nominee (now judge) Bill Pryor (Ted Kennedy denounced me specifically for my work on the nomination!), I cared more about Pryor’s nomination than about any other one since Clarence Thomas. Again, I know for a fact that Specter was essential to getting Pryor confirmed.
So, say anything you want about what an unlikeable character Arlen Specter is. But Jeff Lord is absolutely right to write that Santorum’s calculations about Specter and judges were wise and on target.
NOTE: I erred originally in IDing Alito as a Pennsylvanian. A big Phillies fan, he neverthelss is from New Jersey, not PA — although as an appellate judge, Pennsylvania was within his jurisdiction and he ruled on some huge cases out of PA. I have now made the correction above. My mistake.
View all comments (17) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/02/23/re-specter-roberts-and-alito
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David N. Taylor| 2.23.12 @ 3:26PM
Sam Alito is from New Jersey. Close enough.
Bill| 2.23.12 @ 4:08PM
UNION THUG RICKY SANTORUM HELPED ARLENE SPECTER GET ELECTED, AND SPECTER WAS THE 60TH VOTE FOR OBAMACARE, THE CONCLUSION IS THAT SANTORUM HELPED PASS OABAMCARE.
mzk1| 2.24.12 @ 6:25AM
Specter got Alito confirmed. That's more important than anything else. Specter almost once lost an election by trying to fight socialized medicine, so he switched.
Ryan| 2.24.12 @ 8:45AM
So...did you even read the blog post?
Bill| 2.23.12 @ 4:11PM
Guess Who?
Voted for
1. Raising debt ceiling 5 times
2.Planned Parenthood
3. Medicare Part D
4. NCLB
5. Sonia Sotomayer
Voted against
1. Right-to-Work law
Ans: "Keystone RINO" Rick Santorum
Dai Alanye | 2.23.12 @ 5:05PM
You can't be a RINO and get ratings like these:
American Conservative Union -- 88%
National Right to Life Committee -- 100%
Americans for Tax Reform -- 95%
National Tax Limitation Committee -- 92%
U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- 88%
League of Private Property Voters -- 94%
NRA-PVF (Political Victory Fund) -- A+
National Taxpayers Union — 3.66/4.0
AFL-CIO -- 13%
Particularly notice the last one. Although from a blue state, and therefore forced by political necessity to occasionally go the "pro-workingman" route, only 13% from the unions.
Of the blue state senators, Santorum was the most conservative. As a presidential candidate he's even more conservative.
These distortions of his record are tiresome.
Doug Kellogg | 2.24.12 @ 12:34PM
Those are not National Taxpayers Union ratings. NTU's actual ratings for Santorum are 75.2 (out of 100) lifetime, 77.7 (Senate only).
Clint| 2.23.12 @ 6:16PM
" -Santorum’s Liberal Voting Record
Rick Santorum voted with Barbara Boxer with this: S Amdt 3230 – Gun Lock Requirement Amendment
Rick Santorum voted for H J Res 47 – Debt Limit Increase Resolution – Key Vote
Rick Santorum voted for taxes in the Internet Access Tax Bill
Rick Santorum voted for HR 1 – No Child Left Behind Act
Rick Santorum voted to confirm President William J. Clinton’s nomination of Alan Greenspan to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a fourth four-year term.
Rick Santorum voted for HR 3448 – Minimum Wage Increase bill which allows punitive damages for injury or illness to be taxed.
- Allows damages for emotional distress to be taxed.
- Repeals the diesel fuel tax rebate to purchasers of diesel-powered automobiles and light trucks.
Rick Santorum Voted to confirm President William J. Clinton’s nomination of Alan Greenspan to be the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the third four year term.
Rick Santorum voted for the protection of Abortion Clinics
I would add that this list just scratches the surface of Santorum’s career-long liberal voting record. As Sen. Rand Paul said of Santorum to CNN on Monday:
“He voted to double the size of the Department of Education… He voted to expand Medicare and add free drugs for senior citizens and he has voted for foreign aid. Those are not conservative principles. Seventy-seven percent of the American people are opposed to foreign aid and Rick Santorum has voted for it every time it’s come down.”
mzk1| 2.24.12 @ 6:28AM
Ron Paul, that pseudo-Constitutionalist fraud, is going to hand the election to Obama out of simple vanity.
Conserdude| 2.24.12 @ 7:30AM
Earth to clint. Romney is way more liberal Thames santorum
Drek| 2.23.12 @ 10:23PM
Snarlin' Arlen Specter gave an interview that turncout Smerconish this afternoon, and made news:
There was NO DEAL on judges, which means Santorum has been desperately spinning {lying!} the reasons for his support for Specter.
WL| 2.23.12 @ 10:34PM
Just curious Drek...but is there a law against that sort of thing?
The "Deal" that is...
I was just getting a little worried, because if there is or isn't...I am starting to think that the MSM has ALREADY started getting geared up to blow the top off of that one...
I didn't think about it until today...BUT, Santorum could have gotten us ALL in a real tight with that one....
Ryan| 2.24.12 @ 8:46AM
I'd believe Santorum over Spector here.
WL| 2.23.12 @ 10:29PM
Hey there Clintster...
I hope you are doing well today...I got off the phone with Bibi, and he said to let you know that he doesn't really appreciate your Nazi sympathies but it's a free country just like Isreal, so he hopes you are well and change your mind on the hatred you vomit every day here at American Spectator comment sections.
However, I am respectfully writing you on a subject of much greater importance tonight. Have you seen the news? We were right all along...more and more is coming out about how Ron Paul is serving as Mitt's butt boy. (or Bunds Boy, as you might say)...I even heard that he might be selling you zealot malcontents out...to get his son in the VP slot...
It's not every day that you wake up to realize that you have been sold a bill of goods by a snake oil salesman...so I hope you enjoy it...it's only gonna get worse when the proof piles up in the next few weeks...
"RINO-CINO- SMEAR-BUND-Isreal Firster ROMNEY" (
WL| 2.23.12 @ 10:31PM
(Continued from above)
Romney ...is gonna be your Daddy's Daddy...
That makes Romney your GRAND PAPPY!!!!!
Clint| 2.24.12 @ 4:12AM
Hey There BibiBoy, Ya Forgot To Mention :
" Republican presidential hopefuls have had a field day attacking President Obama for the federal government's trillion-dollar deficits and promising things will be different when the GOP is in charge.
But while the candidates talk a good game about stemming the tide of red ink, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says their proposals don't necessarily add up.
"So far what we have is four candidates who are all serious about cutting spending, but are also very serious about cutting taxes," says Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan organization. "And in most cases they would cut taxes by more than their spending cuts, which would make the overall deficit situation worse."
The lone exception is Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose plans would actually shrink the debt by more than $2 trillion over the next decade.
"He tops the group in terms of the kinds of spending cuts he's talking about — at over $7 trillion in cuts, which is by far the greatest amount of any specific cuts that anybody has offered," MacGuineas says."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
Conserdude| 2.24.12 @ 7:27AM
Romneys attack on santorum for backing Spector is hypocritical and absurd! Santorum blundered by not being ready to point out that Romney was just as liberal then as spector was, and that Romney backed Democrat Paul Tao gas for senate.