Sunday, February 12, 2012

Rick Santorum Endorsed Pro Abortion Arlen Specter For President in 1995


From Daniel Larson:

“There are clearly more Republicans who are pro-choice.. up until now, I am the only person willing to take on the fringe.” - Arlen Specter, whose pro-abortion-rights position was a centerpiece of his campaign
Santorum’s 2004 endorsement of Arlen Specter during his primary fight against Pat Toomey is well-known, but what I didn’t realize was that Santorum had previously endorsed Specter during the 1996 cycle (via Trinko):
And as for the pro-abortion-rights presidential candidate Santorum endorsed, when Specter launched a long-shot bid for president in 1995, Santorum — his fellow Pennsylvanian — was one of his few high-profile endorsements.
The story treats the earlier endorsement as repayment to Specter for supporting Santorum’s Senate bid the year before, but that’s not much of an excuse. Santorum might try to defend the 2004 endorsement of the incumbent Specter in the Senate primary as an example of being an obedient partisan. Reliable partisans were expected to support incumbents faced by primary challengers, and Santorum fell in line. That’s not admirable, but it is not all that surprising. No one can say the same of his endorsement of a moderate Republican’s pro-choice protest candidacy whose main reason for being was to try to marginalize social conservatives.

Link:

From  Katrina Trinko at National Review:

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports:
And as for the pro-abortion-rights presidential candidate Santorum endorsed, when Specter launched a long-shot bid for president in 1995, Santorum — his fellow Pennsylvanian — was one of his few high-profile endorsements.
For Specter, who later became a Democrat, his pro-abortion-rights position was a centerpiece of his campaign. Specter believed that anti-abortion activists were a “fringe” group hijacking the Republican party.
“There are clearly more Republicans who are pro-choice,” Specter told Newsday’s Susan Page. “Up until now, I am the only person willing to take on the fringe.” After Specter dropped out of the race, he led an ill-fated movement to change the anti-abortion provision in the Republican party platform.
Santorum was effectively returning a favor by endorsing Specter despite his aggressive pro-abortion-rights views. Specter had supported Santorum’s 1994 Senate campaign.
Full piece, which includes the details on how Santorum was one of the Republican senators who voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (an appointment that figures like Rush Limbaugh warned would lead to her becoming a Supreme Court nominee), here...

Link:


Seven Minutes Of Rick Santorum Talking About How Great Mitt Romney Is

And from BuzzFeed, in 2008 Rick Santorum endorsed Mitt Romney and said that he is a "true conservative.":

"And what I know I have seen over the past 9, 10 months now, is a guy that  has gone through that pressure cooker.  Who has developed a passion.  Who understands why he is a conservative,  and understands the issues, how they weave together, and what.. America.. conservatives are about traditional values, traditional way of American life, and I think he understands that. It's not just in his head any more.  It's in his heart...
He's proved to me that this is someone, that in his heart, he told me last night that he's gonna fight to the end.  That this is for the soul of the Republican party.  And it is..."  - Rick Santorum on Mitt Romney

Links:

Rick Santorum Campaigns for Mitt Romney in 2008: "Mitt Romney is that voice, is the man, is the time.."


Related:

No comments: