Did he ever try to justify his position in supporting somebody who wasn’t conservative?
He supported Specter because the general thought was that control of the Senate, and control of the Judiciary Committee, was at stake—along with the ability to get confirmation of President Bush’s judicial nominees. Santorum believed that Specter could win in the general election and that Toomey could not. In that particular year, he was probably correct. After the pendulum swung a few years later, Toomey was able to get elected. But it was a different story when he first ran.
You may not agree with Santorum’s reasoning concerning his support for Specter, but he did it in an effort to advance the conservative agenda.
Similiar to the Maryland Election and the gop establishments push against the Tea Party Candidate...Toomey was very conservative but the establishment gop wanted the more moderate Spector and Santorum went along with the establishment. Kind of a sell out