A lot of you might be too young to remember this individual, but if there is a turncoat hall of fame, he would surely be in it. THE turncoat! The one that I’m discussing here was so influential that he literally handed the Democrats a supermajority at the dawn of the 21st Century.
First of all, let’s do a brief history lesson on this man. His name was Arlen Specter, and he was born to Russian Jewish immigrants on February 12, 1930, and he died on October 14, 2012. Before he would be reviled by conservatives as “the turncoat to end all turncoats” (quotations mine), he would graduate with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and he would eventually rise to the rank of First Lieutenant during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He later graduated from Yale Law School in 1956.
After that, Specter joined a prominent Philadelphia law firm from 1956 to 1966, serving as assistant counsel on the Warren Commission, the body responsible for investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Specter was originally a registered Democrat, but he failed to gain any traction from his party, so he was elected as the D.A. from Philadelphia on a Republican ticket. With that, he was registered with the GOP, but he failed to win a third term in 1973 and returned to practicing law.
Specter then joined a prominent Philadelphia law firm (1956–66) and in 1959 was appointed assistant district attorney. From 1963 to 1964 he served as assistant counsel on the Warren Commission, the body charged with investigating the assassination of U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy. Though a registered Democrat, Specter failed to gain support from his party and was elected district attorney of Philadelphia on a Republican ballot in 1965. He soon registered as a Republican. Following his failure to win a third term in 1973, he returned to practicing law.
Specter had several unsuccessful primary bids for Senator of Pennsylvania (1976) and Governor (1978) he claimed victory in the 1980 U.S. Senate race. He would break ranks with the Republican party on several occasions, including when he was voicing support for civil unions for gay couples. He also supported abortion rights and got his nickname of “Snarlin’ Arlen” as a result. However, at the same time, the man could be fiercely partisan, aggressively grilling Anita Hill, who had accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. This was widely seen by many as an attempt to ensure that Thomas was confirmed.
Specter also served as chairman of the Intelligence Committee from 1995-1997; chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee from 1197-2001 and 2005 to 2005; and he was chairman of the Judiciary committee in 2005.
All of this would be well and good if Specter had stuck to his guns and stayed with the GOP come heck or high water. However, this man is the epitome of a RINO and he switched to the Democrats yet again because he claimed that he was a supporter of Obama’s stimulus package. Specter was a man that went wherever the wind blew, and he set the stage for what it means to be a RINO. In the wind-up, even the Democrats at that time saw through Specter’s charade and he lost the Democratic primary U.S. Representative Joe Sestak in 2009.
Here’s something odd for you all to chew on: as early as 2004 when Specter was still a REPUBLICAN, Hunter Biden had donated to him! That’s definitely odd and suspicious, to say the least.
This is why we can confidently say that Specter wasn’t just a turncoat, but he was THE Turncoat, and it is a playbook for the spineless Democrat that we all know and love to hate today.
