Specter Previews Primary, Hits Toomey on Social Security, Wall Street, Card Check
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Sen. Arlen Specter was on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning and gave a preview of his lines of attack against Pat Toomey in next year's Republican primary showdown.
Asked about the primary, Specter described Toomey as "a Wall Street trader" who was in the U.S. House for six years, where he "fought regulation" and wanted to create private Social Security accounts. "Social Security is supposed to have security, but if you follow Mr. Toomey's idea," Specter said, Social Security would be as devalued as 401(k)'s, which have half their old value. Then came (what Joe Scarborough identified as) the bumper-sticker line: Having pushed Social Security privatization in the House, Specter said of Toomey, "now he wants a promotion, he wants a bonus like those AIG guys."
Toomey as the political version of AIG. Zing!
Specter went on to paint himself as the last bulwark against Democrats run amok, specifically noting his recent avowal to vote against the "card check" bill that would allow unions to organize without the use of a secret ballot. Toomey would lose if nominated, Specter said (not an unreasonable position), so there would be 60 Democratic votes in the Senate. "I was able to stem the tide against card check," Specter said, holding out the prospect for Pennsylvania conservatives that a Toomey nomination would lead to passage of such bills (a dubious assertion, given that Blanche Lincoln weighed in against the bill recently).
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Reader Comments
heh..
nice, really nice!
More of the same with no solutions in sight
This is a clear example of why these career politicians need to go. The early campaigning has started. Where are legitimate ideas/solutions to the problems we are currently facing? Is this what we should continue to expect from the so called wisdom on Capitol Hill? There need be term limits so these representatives can go back to trying to survive in the real world with jobs that they must compete for with they rest of us after they've pushed all this crap through. This way we do not have the same faces decade after decade shoveling the same old crap while accomplishing absolutely nothing.
Senator Toomey is scared and altering the truth
Senator Specter and his staff are running early attacks at Pat Toomey and have had it all wrong. Specter and his campaign staff made the a "gaffe" in their first attack ad that says
"Pat Toomey, as a Wall Street trader, sold risky derivatives called credit default swaps, the same swaps that have now plunged us into this financial mess."
The only problem was that FactCheck.org reported that when Toomey was an empolyee on Wall Street from 1984 through 1991 the dangerous credit default swaps didn't exist. So Specter and his campaign staff are wrong trying to paint Toomey as as cause of the financial collapse. In truth, Arlen Specter has taken more money from AIG, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Chase and other financial services companies than any other Pennsylvania member of congress in the last twenty years. Why doesn't he talk about those contributions to his campaigns from these firms that have received billions in TARP money.. a TARP bill that Specter VOTED FOR!
No number of ads will distract any Pennsyvlania Repbulican voter from remembering that Specter and and two other RINOS (Republicans In Name Only) voted with the Democrats allowing the "Stimulus Bill" to be passed. He allowed the bill to pass even though 2 out of every 3 Repulicans in Pennsylvania OPPOSED it.
Voting against the card check? Specter was the only Republican Senator to support it. He recently pulled his support when he knew Toomey would run against him in the primary... but Democrats take heart! Specter said he would "reconsider" his vote when the economy changes (probably after the election).
Specter mentions that Toomey "fought regulation" while in Congress. He is referring to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This bill rolled back Depression-era restrictions that prevented commercial banks, insurance companies, and investment banks from merging. He is right, Toomey voted FOR this bill. What Specter forgets is that Specter VOTED FOR THE BILL too.
I can now see why Toomey spokesman Mark Harris responded to these attacks by saying this: "Arlen Specter's bad poll numbers must be causing him hallucinations. Everything he attacks Pat Toomey with is either proven false by neutral analysts, or is something Specter himself has done. There isn't enough mud left in Pennsylvania for Specter to cover up the fact that he voted to spend billions of tax dollars to bail out Wall Street. He has pocketed millions from Wall Street firms, while Pat Toomey strongly opposes these bailouts."
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