HYPOCRISY ALERT: Specter’s Sham Independence
Contact—Nachama Soloveichik • 484.809.7994 • 646.528.1029
Tim Kelly • 484.809.7994
For Immediate Release—March 23, 2010
Allentown, PA – Yesterday, in a visit to Reading, PA, Senator Arlen Specter “branded himself as an independent voice in Congress” (Reading Eagle, 03/23/10).
Excuse me? Does Arlen Specter know what the word “independent” means?
When Specter switched parties in 2009, he promised the American people that “I will not be changing my own personal independence or my own approach to individual issues. I will not be an automatic 60th vote.” (MSNBC, 04/28/09)
Only a couple of weeks later, Specter proceeded to do the opposite. He changed his position on a host of issues, from health care to card check to reconciliation to the Defense of Marriage Act, and quickly became an automatic 60th vote for Harry Reid’s extreme left-wing agenda. Over the past year, he voted for every one of Reid’s disastrous policies, including:
- The $2 billion Cash for Clunkers program (RC #269, 08/06/09)
- The $833 billion Cap-and-Trade program (EPW Committee, 11/05/09)
- The nearly $1 trillion government-run health care bill (RC #396, 12/24/09)
- The $447 billion FY 2010 Omnibus (RC #374, 12/12/09)
- A bill to raise the debt limit by $1.9 trillion (RC #14, 01/28/10)
On December 15, 2009, he admitted as much when he told Rachel Maddow: “That’s why I came over to add the 60th vote so that we could move ahead on the important problems facing America.” Specter’s own votes prove it. According to Congressional Quarterly, Specter voted with the Democratic Party a whopping 95% of the time (CQ Vote study 2009) and supported President Obama 96% of the time (CQ Vote study 2009).
“Senator Specter’s penchant for policy switches and about-faces would be shameful if they weren’t so laughable,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said. “Over the past year, Specter has mastered the art of political acrobatics. You have to wonder, does anyone actually believe anything that comes out of Arlen Specter’s mouth these days?”
