Specter In Hot Water Again Over Anti-Christian Fundraising Letter

By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
November 10, 2004

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), whose comments last week have been interpreted as a warning to President George W. Bush not to nominate any conservative judges to be considered by the U.S. Senate, is in hot water again with pro-life, pro-family Christian Republicans over a presidential exploratory fundraising letter he sent in 1995 calling religious leaders like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, and Pat Buchanan "radical extremists."

In the May 15, 1995 letter, Specter used his senatorial letterhead to say at the time that he was "disturbed" with Reed, who headed Robertson's Christian Coalition during the 1990s, because he openly warned the Republican Party not to nominate a candidate for president in 1996 who is not pro-life.

"I don't think the Republican Party should be blackmailed by any special interest group," Specter wrote in the 1995 letter.

Specter added, "In fact, I want the Republican Party to stand up for ... the right to choose."

Specter continued, "I resent people like Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, and Pat Buchanan trying to give litmus tests to determine who can be a Republican candidate."

Vowing to "stand up to these extremists," Specter asserted that the core values of the Republican Party should be "limited government, lower taxes, less spending, reduced regulation of business, free trade, strong crime control, civil rights and a strong national defense."

"I want to see our Party stay focused" on these issues rather than the social issues such as abortion, Specter said.

Noting that moral issues have no business being in the Republican Party platform, Specter said he would "lead the fight to ... strip the strident anti-choice language" contained therein.

Specter bragged in the letter that he was the "only Republican" presidential candidate who would support the pro-abortion position.

"I will stand up and fight those who want to criminalize abortion, those who would prosecute a woman and her doctor when they exercise the woman's right to choose," Specter exclaimed.

Convinced that most Republicans are "fiscal and economic conservatives, but are also pro-choice," Specter said "poll after poll proves this." However, he did not offer any evidence to back up his claim.

Despite this assertion, Specter said abortion supporters in the Republican Party "have little voice in the direction our Party is headed."

"I want to give pro-choice Republicans a voice," Specter revealed in his letter announcing he would be running for the Republican nomination for president in 1996 which was eventually won by former Sen. Bob Dole. "I will not give up our party to radical extremists without a fight."

Asking pro-abortion Republicans to "stand up to the far-right fringe that demands that legal abortion be banned," Specter said support for his candidacy would "help move the Party towards tolerance and inclusion."

"I don't think the Republican Party should be blackmailed by any special interest group," Specter contended. "There must be room for pro-choice Republicans in our Party."

He continued, "We must demonstrate that the Republican Party is made up of more than Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Pat Buchanan and Ralph Reed."

Touting other pro-abortion Republicans such as Bill Weld, Christie Todd Whitman, Pete Wilson, and Olympia Snowe, Specter said the religious right cannot prevent these Republicans from running for office because they support abortion.

In light of last week's reelection of Bush, who was supported overwhelmingly by evangelical Christians who believe abortion is wrong, Specter's letter has stirred up even more controversy at a time when Republicans in the U.S. Senate are considering whether he should be nominated to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Religious conservative groups such as the National Right To Life, Family Research Council, RightMarch.com, the Christian Defense Coalition, the Center For Reclaiming America, and others are reporting very high call volume from their supporters to the Capitol Hill switchboard to oppose the Specter nomination, which is expected to be discussed in the coming weeks.

"If the Republican majority voted in Senator Specter as Judiciary chair, it would be a slap in the face and betrayal to the millions of pro-life/pro-family Americans who worked so hard to elect President Bush and Republican members of Congress," remarked Christian Defense Coalition Director Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney in a statement. "We did not spend countless hours during this last campaign to have someone, who considers us radical extremists and far-right fringe, elected chair of the Senate's most important committee."