When the fox that has been living in your henhouse makes off with some hens, you don’t curse the fox. You ask who let the fox in. Republicans today should be angry not at Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., but at former President George W. Bush and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
Santorum, the pro-life Catholic leader in Washington at the time, spared no effort in 2004 saving Specter from a primary challenge by then-Rep. Pat Toomey. President Bush, similarly, went above and beyond the call of duty protecting Specter.
Had either Santorum or Bush simply endorsed Specter and let him fend for himself, Toomey would have won the 2004 primary and been a slight favorite in that year’s general election.
But Santorum and Bush played their Rovian game of clever pragmatic politics and saved Specter. Had they not, we probably would have a Republican senator from Pennsylvania right now with Toomey.
Specter’s stint as a Republican began in 1965 when Philadelphia Democrats told the young lawyer they wouldn’t back him for district attorney. A Republican senator promised Specter campaign cash and a clear primary field, so Specter became a Republican. He said it “was almost like changing my religion,” or “even harder.”
Specter spent four decades bucking his party when it mattered most. He sunk Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court, which in turn saved Roe v. Wade. He tried to cast a bizarre “not proven” vote on Bill Clinton’s impeachment. He weakened George W. Bush’s tax cuts, and ensured the passage of the largest spending measure in world history, Barack Obama’s stimulus bill.
Specter’s disloyalty to party, his appetite for high taxes and higher spending, and his dedication to abortion and trial lawyers were all well known—but still he was a Republican senator as of Monday only because of the tireless efforts of Santorum and Bush.
When he left the party this week, it was on the same grounds he joined the party: electoral math. He couldn’t win a GOP primary next year, and Democrats promised to campaign for him.
I was in Pennsylvania five years ago on primary day, interviewing Republican voters. Pro-lifers Rick and Sherry Sariano of Newberry told me they were voting for Specter because Santorum, a hero to pro-lifers at the time, told them Republicans needed Specter. Many other voters gave me the same reason.
Santorum flew around the state with Specter in the final days of that primary and cut two television spots for him. President Bush also went to the mat to save Specter.
Why? First, Specter was more likely than Toomey to win the general election, and he would use fewer party funds: Specter was a near shoo-in, while Toomey was only a slight favorite. Unblinking dedication to incumbents at any cost was a Bush dogma, one whose uglier side was GOP protection of Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., up until the moment his perverted instant messages went public.
Also, Santorum and Bush saved Specter hoping he would help Bush win. But Bush lost Pennsylvania, and won the election anyway—a predictable outcome. And when Dick Cheney made a campaign stop in Pennsylvania just before the election, Specter didn’t show.
Today Santorum’s gone, and Specter’s a Democrat. Will this episode teach conservatives the perils of cynical politics?
Certainly, politicians are not compelled to always support the politician whose views most align with their own. Politics is inherently about pragmatism—it is the “art of the possible.” But conservatives are supposed to understand the law of unintended consequences.
Bucking your principles and core beliefs for the promise of greater long-term gains often backfires. It’s the height of hubris to believe you can see all the effects of your actions, but that’s a hubris endemic among politicians.
We saw that hubris this week, even after Specter’s defection. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who took up the pro-life Catholic mantel after Santorum’s defeat in 2006, voted to confirm Kathleen Sebelius as secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius is a staunch defender of abortion and embryo-destroying research, and also a top recipient of abortion-industry cash. Brownback apparently saw some long-term benefit in backing her, despite the message it sends.
Conservative Toomey backers five years ago—and five days ago, for that matter—were derided by the GOP establishment as impractical purists who don’t think strategically. This week, the best laid plans of Rove and Santorum went horribly awry.
Timothy P. Carney is The Washington Examiner’s lobbying editor. His K Street column appears on Wednesdays.
[Note: Due to the author’s typo, the original version of this article incorrectly identified Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., as a Democrat.]
