Have you heard Santorum address the reason for his support of Arlan Spector? I’d like to know his answer. Thanks.
I followed it at the time. He had several reasons: 1. Bush, Rove, and all the party leaders leaned on him to do it. At that time, Rove was widely respected still. 2. He was told that the GOP needed Specter to confirm solid conservative justices to SCOTUS, after the earlier Bork disaster. Specter had already pretty much single-handedly pushed Clarence Thomas through, over extreme objections from the left and the media. And he did, indeed, push Roberts and Alito through after he was re-elected. The Democrats had enough votes to filibuster, but Specter played it so they didn't dare do it. 3. He was returning a favor. Specter had earlier endorsed Rick. And he needed that "moderate" endorsement, because someone with his strong conservative reputation had a tough time fighting NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and all the other forces who wanted to bring him down by claiming that he was an extremist. Regretably, after doing that absolutely critical nomination work, Specter went rogue again. And, incidentally, although Santorum endorsed him, he didn't return the favor when Rick ran, and was defeated, partly because the righteous right refused to vote for him over Specter, but mostly because 2006 was a landslide defeat for the GOP, mostly the fault of Bush and Rove, who had started to betray their base.