It has been confirmed that there are several conservative PACs who are threatening to find primary challengers to the Republican Senators who dare to vote for the stimulus package that is being pushed by President Barack Obama. Two of the three G.O.P. traitors, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (both from Maine), do not face an election in 2010. However, that does leave Arlen Specter (PA) as the one person that may feel any wrath from these groups in 2010.
Arlen Specter has been in the U.S. Senate since 1981. As a Republican moderate, he has survived challenges from the right for nearly thirty years. Specter opposed Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, blasted the Republican leadership during the Clinton impeachment trial, and was one of few Republican lawmakers who questioned the policy of the Bush Administration in the use of wiretapping American citizens without a court order.
In 2004, he faced Club for Growth President Congressman Pat Toomey (R, PA) and beat him in a close primary election. Arlen Specter always seems to find a way out of tough spots. In my opinion, 2010 will be no different. As a staffer of the Warren Commission, Arlen Specter gave the implausible argument that “one-inch-long copper-jacketed lead-core 6.5-millimeter rifle bullet fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository passed through President Kennedy’s neck and Governor Connally’s chest and wrist and embedded itself in the Governor’s thigh. This bullet traversed 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, and approximately 15 inches of tissue, struck a necktie knot, removed 4 inches of rib, and shattered a radius bone“… and he got away with this unbelievable explanation.
If Specter can make that up, and it still holds as the “true” cause of President Kennedy’s death, I think Senator Specter will find a way of holding on to his Senate seat.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.