Christian Conservatives Will Cheer Specter Defection, but Toomey Is a Long Shot
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
It's little wonder that religious conservatives are cheering Arlen Specter's departure from the Republican Party; the Pennsylvania senator's liberal views on abortion rights and gay rights made him a Republican In Name Only, in their eyes. But will the Pennsylvania senator's defection be a pyrrhic victory for the Christian right?
Fueling Specter's jump to the Democratic column was his primary-race challenge from Pat Toomey, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who won wide support from conservative evangelical leaders during his 2004 primary race against Specter. That backing, including an endorsement from Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, helped get Toomey within 2 percentage points of beating Specter. This despite the fact that President Bush, who was then popular, repeatedly traveled to Pennsylvania to stump for the longtime GOP incumbent.
The day after he was re-elected to his seat in November 2004, Specter—in line to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee—put his thumb in the Christian right's eye by warning the White House against nominating judges who oppose abortion rights to the Supreme Court. "When you talk about judges who would change the right of a women to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely" that they would be confirmed by the Senate, Specter announced.
Conservative Christian activists like Dobson went ballistic. The GOP had regained control of the Senate just in time for a string of expected Supreme Court victories, and the Republican point man on judges was already standing in the way of anti-Roe judges? The reason that Dobson and his ilk hit the campaign trail for Republicans like never before in 2004 was to lay the groundwork for an anti-Roe Supreme Court majority.
Over the next couple of weeks, the Christian right succeeded in forcing Specter to sign a pledge vowing to forgo applying a "litmus test" to the president's Supreme Court picks. But the movement still didn't trust him. And today, with his defection, they're glad to be rid of him.
"[A]s leader of the 'Moderate' caucus of the Senate Republican Conference he has done the Party a disservice and is a detriment to the Conservative cause," Manuel Miranda, a conservative activist who focuses on judges, said in an E-mail message today. ". . . [T]he first goal for Republicans must be to be rid of leaders who have done the Party more harm than good."
But it may be that Specter's switch today will do the party more harm than good. A darling among conservative Pennsylvanians, Pat Toomey will be hard-pressed to carry a state that gave Obama an 11-point advantage last year.
When conservatives have run favored candidates in purple states like Pennsylvania in recent years, Democrats have won handily. Kenneth Blackwell, who helped lead the Ohio effort to ban gay marriage, persevered in the 2006 Ohio Republican gubernatorial primary, thrilling conservative Christians. But Blackwell lost by a humiliating 60-to-37 percent margin in the general election.
If Pat Toomey meets a similar fate in Pennsylvania next year, will Christian conservatives reassess their strategy and sign on to Michael Steele's vision for a big-tent GOP? I doubt it. But it may mean a long time in the political wilderness.
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Tags: politics | Republicans | Arlen Specter | religion | Christianity | conservatives
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Reader Comments
I'm not that big a fan of Specter
But he has suggested (by his actions) what a lot of other Republican voters ought to do. Switch. And some will. That's the bottom line.
Spector is a modern Benedict Arnold, may God have mercy on him
I am a Christian, a Republican, a Patriot and a concerned citizen as well.
1st of all I am not even suprised that Spector flopped over to the Democratic party, i'm suprised he never did so years ago considering his idealogy is more in line with the Democrats than it is with the Republicans, no lie there.
I've often wondered why some Democrats who agreed with Republicans more like Zell Miller didn't switch to Republican or why Republicans who agreed with Democrats more like Spector, didn't switch to Democrat.
I use to classify myself as a Democrat and I did use to have a lot of Liberal ideals I will not lie about this at all, but eventually I went from Liberal to Moderate and then got more Conservative while I classified myself as a Democrat (especially in the process of converstion to the Christian faith).
I eventually quit classifying myself as a Democrat, especially after Bill Clinton finally confessed to his affair with Monica Lewinsky after committing perjury by denying it.
But I admit I was not yet ready to join the GOP itself so I started favoring the Reform party, in fact I rememember the speeches given by members of the Reform party made me say yeah! cause the Reform party made a whole lot of sense in the changes that America needed.
I classified myself as Reform party till sometime after 9/11 and I knew Republican was the right party for me for sure and I hope it will stay that way, even though I do fear the GOP may split.
Then again I do remember when the Democrats and Whigs were the main parties of USA till loads of Democrats and Whigs bolted from those parties to form the Republican party as an Anti-Slavery party as no other Anti-Slavery party existed and I still call the GOP the party of Lincoln and hope it will continue to be.
And for those who say USA was never founded as a Christian nation, 1st of all the U.S. Constitution never said Church and State were separate, all it said was that Congress could not establish or ban a Church, but it never meant keeping religion out of the Government, rather it meant keeping Government out of the affairs of religion.
America was founded well not as a Christian nation but rather as a Judeo-Christian nation (meaning not strictly Christian but rather as a Jewish/Christian nation).
1st time separation of Church and State was ever actually mentioned was when Thomas Jefferson wrote an opinion letter favoring a wall of separation between Church and State but his meaning did not mean keep religion out of public schools, what he meant was not having Bishops and Cardinals be part of both Church and State like what happened in the Middle Ages and I certainly do not wish to impose Christian Ayatollahs in USA either but I do believe one has a right to pray to whoever they wish wherever they wish, if one doesn't wanna pray fine with me but don't take away my right to pray in any public place.
An O[pen Letter to Arlen Specter
Dear Senator Specter,
I originally planned to criticize you for being a vile, dishonorable man with no sense of personal dignity or loyalty. I wanted you to understand that most Republicans and Conservatives consider you to be a liar and a power-hungry fraud with a damaged sense of morality.
I intended to remind you that during a March 17th interview with The Hill, you promised that you would absolutely would not switch parties - you said:
"[Democrats] are trying very hard for the 60th vote. Got to give them credit for trying. But the answer is no.I’m not going to discuss private talks I had with other people who may or may not be considered influential. But since those three people are in the public domain, I think it is appropriative to respond to those questions.
I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That’s the basis of politics in America."
Senator, I also wanted to assure you that voters have long memories and will not forget your treachery. The Democratic constituency you now court will trust you even less than Republicans. You have already committed an ignominious act of traitorous proportions - they will ready recognize you for what you are - a man of no substance.
After much thought, however, I decided not to bother with what might be interpreted by many on the Left as an ad hominem attack. After all, you have already branded yourself with a label of Biblical proportion - you are the ultimate political Judas. Any criticism I could possibly make of your perfidy would pale in comparison.
Indignantly yours,
J. Wellington Farnsworth III
Moorestown, NJ
One Voice in Conservative America
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