The Conservative Alert wingnut newsletter, which seems to be a for-profit venture run by a protege of Richard Viguerie, has been pretty quiet since the election, but it just sent out an email urging supporters to bash Arlen Specter.
I think the best Democratic media response would be to emphasize that the "groundswell" of opposition to Specter is really being driven by a tiny toad blowing itself up to appear to be bigger than it is.
Some people here have suggested that we ought to let Specter evaporate, but I think you can make a case that he's been a better friend to America, and hence to us, than someone like Roemer. Specter, for example, has voted for the partial birth bills, but he also voted for lifting the ban on abortions at overseas military bases.
This CONSERVATIVE ALERT is a special message from RightMarch.com for xx:
ALERT: Right NOW, conservatives have the chance to WIN our first battle in Washington -- before the new year even begins!
We won the Presidency. We won the House. We won the Senate.
But unless we take action NOW, we're going to lose ANY chance of getting conservative judges through the new Senate -- because an ultra-liberal REPUBLICAN is about to take CONTROL of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Unless WE stop him! Send YOUR faxes NOW to all of the GOP Senators' district offices while they are home for the holidays:
That Senator -- whom the National Review called the "Worst Republican Senator" -- is Arlen Specter (R-PA).
We warned the nation about Specter. We did everything in our power to defeat him in his GOP primary, and replace him with a strong conservative like Rep. Pat Toomey. Specter barely beat Toomey by 2%, and then won re-election to the Senate.
Then, right after the November election -- just ONE DAY after President Bush's mandate was secured -- Specter spoke out with a "warning" for Bush to send "moderate" nominees to the U.S. Senate. We sent out an Alert to our members, and over 155,000 FAXES were sent to the other Republicans in the Senate, demanding that they OPPOSE the treacherous Specter's bid to become Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
After closed-door meetings where Specter was brow-beaten into promising that he would support the President's nominees, the Senate GOP leadership emerged saying they would support Specter for Chairman.
But just like we warned you... Arlen Specter is ALREADY showing his true colors. And he didn't even wait until January, when the GOP Senators are going to vote on whether he can be the Chairman; this time, he delivered President Bush a Christmas Eve "present", by suggesting, as the New York Times put it, "that he was also troubled by Mr. Bush's announcement" that the President was re-submitting the names of several conservative nominees that liberal Democrats had been filibustering.
Specter is already voicing his "preferences" by "criticizing President Bush's renomination of 20 people, recently blocked by Democrats, for federal judgeships," as the Washington Times reported on December 24th.
Specter is STILL mouthing off against President Bush's conservative judicial nominees, and the new Congress isn't even in session!
Yes, we've sent out warning after warning, and we've worked hard with our members to stop the liberal Arlen Specter from gaining more power in the U.S. Senate. But NOW... Specter is in line to become the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
HE MUST BE STOPPED. Send YOUR faxes NOW to all of the GOP Senators' district offices while they are home for the holidays:
President Bush is probably going to get to nominate two or more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court during the next four years. Far-left groups are vowing to do everything in their power to block the President's conservative nominees in the Senate. They've already successfully blocked every single one of his best nominees to lower courts in the last term.
There hasn't been a vacancy on the Supreme Court for over 10 years, but that's likely to change. One of the most likely retirees is one of the most conservative judges, William Rehnquist, the Chief Justice. One reason he may retire soon: in recent weeks the press has reported that Justice Rehnquist is seriously ill.
When President Bush nominates someone to the Supreme Court, that nomination goes first to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which conducts hearings and votes on the nomination. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee is CRUCIAL in making sure the President's nominees receive the votes they need in the committee, as well as in the full Senate.
But, as NRLC.org recently asked, "what if the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was himself undercutting President Bush's nominee -- or even actively opposing confirmation of the nominee?"
Soon, the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee must decide on who they want as their chairman. Ordinarily, this job would go to the most-senior Republican committee member who does not chair some other major committee. However, in this case, that senior committee member is Senator Arlen Specter.
Specter would be a DISASTER as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Sen. Specter has a 43 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, which is only HALF the average for Republican senators.
This liberal Senator votes the WRONG way on everything from taxes, spending, and national security, to cloning, hate crimes, and labor law.
He's a supporter of abortion-on-demand no matter the circumstances, he advocates racial preferences, he's an opponent of much-needed tort reform, he's a firm friend of the United Nations' International Criminal Court... you name the left-wing pet project, and he's in favor of it.
Citizens Against Government Waste has even listed him in its "Pig Book" as one of the Senate's biggest pork-barrel spenders.
Specter is a bastion of old-line, tax-and-spend liberalism, who helped slash the Bush administration's tax cuts by $250 billion in 2001.
Want a few examples of Sen. Specter's blatant liberalism? Take a look:
* Specter helped the Democrats to "bork" Judge Robert Bork;
* He helped kill President Reagan's nomination of Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship; * He was the first Republican to cross the aisle to vote for Clinton's "largest tax increase in history";
* He sponsored the "Freedom of Choice Act" which would have forced religious hospitals to perform abortions;
* He sponsored as many Democrats for federal judgeships as Republicans; * He voted to drastically reduce President Bush's tax cut; * And, he was the only GOP Senator to vote against President Bush's educational voucher initiative in the Washington, D.C. school district.
In 1987, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, Specter played a key role in defeating President Reagan's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Robert Bork, who would have been an EXCELLENT Justice. In 1995, Specter briefly sought the Republican presidential nomination; his platform practically read like a page from the Democratic National Committee handbook. In January 2001, Specter complained on a TV program that some nominees for the Supreme Court were reluctant to take clear positions on Roe v. Wade, and he said that he might have to start withholding his support in such cases.
Can anyone say "LITMUS TEST"?
One of the main reasons why conservatives worked so hard to re-elect George W. Bush and to increase the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate was to give the President the opportunity to nominate -- and get approved -- judicial nominees who uphold the Constitution.
Arlen Specter won re-election from Pennsylvania by promising NOT to continue the Democrats' obstruction as the new chairman of the Judicial Committee. Yet the day after the election, Specter brazenly and bluntly warned the President not to bring any conservative or pro-life nominees before HIS committee.
On November 3, 2004 -- ONE DAY after the election -- Specter told reporters, when asked if he would support President Bush's judicial nominees, "That obviously depends upon the president's judicial nominees."
On November 4, those remarks were widely reported in the news media as a "warning" to the White House. The Associated Press reported, "The Republican expected to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee next year bluntly warned newly re-elected President Bush on Wednesday against putting forth Supreme Court nominees who would seek to overturn abortion rights or are otherwise too conservative to win confirmation."
TOO CONSERVATIVE??? This, coming from a "Republican" with only a 43% lifetime conservative rating?
And now, he has the audacity to declare that he's "troubled" by President Bush's renomination of unconstitutionally- filibustered conservative judicial nominees?
Specter is making these comments as he prepares to chair the Judiciary Committee when Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is term-limited from keeping the post next year. With at least three Supreme Court justices rumored to be eyeing retirement, Specter would have broad authority to reshape the nation's highest court. He would have wide latitude to schedule hearings, call for votes and make the process as easy or as hard as he wants.
Senator Specter assumes he has a lock on the job -- but actually, he does NOT have an entitlement to the Judiciary Committee chairmanship.
If another Republican member of the committee decides to challenge Specter and gains the support of a majority of Republican members of the committee, then the decision would go before the entire Republican conference, which is the caucus of all of the Republican senators who will serve in the new Congress that convenes in January. In that case, the 55 Republican senators would decide who will be chairman by a secret ballot.
Thus, ultimately, every Republican senator can have a voice on who holds the powerful gavel at the Judiciary Committee.
EVERY REPUBLICAN SENATOR NEEDS TO HEAR FROM US! And the time to raise our voices is NOW, by hitting them at HOME -- in their District Offices, during the current holiday break!
Patriotic, conservative Americans around the country MUST make our voices heard on this matter -- and we've set up a QUICK and EASY way to do just that.
TAKE ACTION: We've set up our site so that you can send "Blast Faxes" to ALL 54 Republican Senators (besides Specter) AT ONCE, urging that they OPPOSE Senator Specter for Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. These faxes will go directly to each GOP Senator's district office, ensuring that they will receive EXTRA attention! Send your faxes now by clicking here:
The cost is ONLY $19 -- less than what it would cost you in long distance charges and the time to look up all 54 fax numbers!
Already, GOP Senators have heard from conservatives across America about this. But we need to make sure that when they walk into their home District Offices, they find that they have been FLOODED with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS more faxes opposing Sen. Specter as Judiciary Chairman.
We've done it before. Our members have already OVERWHELMED the fax and phone lines on Capitol Hill AND in District Offices in the past... and WE CAN DO IT AGAIN.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Send YOUR Blast Faxes to the District Offices of ALL 54 Republican Senators (besides Specter) AT ONCE, urging that they OPPOSE Senator Specter for Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
NOTE: Remember, the Senate GOP's rules say that the elected chairman "need not be the member with the longest consecutive service on the committee." The entire GOP conference gets to approve or reject the committee's choice.
Don't let anyone tell you that it's "too late" to stop Specter. The FACT is, the Republican Conference won't be voting by secret ballot until JANUARY on a Committee Chairman. Arlen Specter MUST NOT become Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Conservatives MUST see to it that this does not occur. Please click through to send your Blast Faxes NOW.
Of course, as always, you can also send a FREE message to your two U.S. Senators, telling them to oppose Specter as Judiciary Committee Chairman. Just go to http://www.rightmarch.com/xxx.htm to send your message now.
Be sure to send this Alert to EVERYONE you know, all across America, who wants to help make sure that we don't win the election, only to LOSE any chance of getting President Bush's conservative nominees onto the Supreme Court. Thank you!
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