Thank You Rick Santorum: If It Wasn't for Your Support of Specter We (most likely) Wouldn't Have Either Alito or Roberts on Supreme Court

Senator Arlen Specter was the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee when Rick Santorum was in the senate.  Being the sneaky opportunistic little devil that Specter was he pretty much blackmailed Santorum, saying if you support my reelection bid I will support whichever Supreme Court nominees that Pres. Bush picks.  The fact that Specter was the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee meant that he had a lot of power over who was going to make it out of the committee.  So, yes, Santorum supported Specter over Toomey.  Santorum knew that his decision to do so would be a greater benefit in the long run to both conservatism and the pro-life movement. Now, we have Justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts, two conservative strict constructionists that will be on the Supreme Court for a very long time which will benefit us for years to come.  What if Santorum had said no to Specter and there were two moderate wishy-washy types sitting on the bench today where would that leave us with Obamacare and other important controversial issues brought before the Supreme Court?  So, I send a big thank you to Rick Santorum for supporting the greater good.  Pennsylvania conservatives should be thanking Santorum for this, not chastising him and railing against him because of what you perceive as a mistake, a blemish on his conservative, pro-life credentials.  His conservative, pro-life credentials are very much in tact.  He supported Specter in exchange for two pro-life justices who are now sitting on the Supreme Court.  He made a good deal.  Santorum made the best decision he could have at that time.  He turned a lemon into lemonade IMO because now we have two lifetime appointed, pro-life, strict constructionist justices on the Supreme Court.

Senator Pat Toomey On The Debt Debate

I am proud to say that my senator, Senator Pat Toomey, has been outspoken and at the forefront of these debt talks. He is one of the co-sponsors of "Cut, Cap, and Balance" and has strongly criticized both the Democrats and the President on how they have handled the debt talks. Here is a speech which Sen. Pat Toomey gave on the Senate floor a few days ago. In the second video he talks with Sean Hannity on the whole debt debate drama.

Senator Pat Toomey's Balanced Budget Proposal

My senator from the great state of Pennsylvania has put together a budget proposal.  I have to say that I am proud to have Pat Toomey as my senator.  Senator Pat Toomey's budget simplifies the tax code, balances the budget in nine years, and reduces the publicly held debt from close to 70 percent of GDP today to 52 percent by 2021.  He does this by reducing the spending to 18.5 percent of GDP.  He decided to focus on one thing at a time, first proposing a balanced budget but he does know and understand that social security needs to be reformed.  Overall, I have to say that I am pleased with his budget proposal.

Here are the cosponsors of the Budget Proposal:

Cosponsored by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), David Vitter (R-La.), Tom Coburn
(R-Okla.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ron
Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah)

Pat Toomey states:


Let me just mention one other thing. It's my view that a permanent solution to the
fiscal challenges that we face will require broader reforms than what we have in
this budget. For instance, ultimately, we need to reform the Social Security
program; we need to reform Medicare. But this budget represents what we think of as
a necessary first step. It reaches balance. It does so within the foreseeable
future, within 10 years in fact, and in the process, I hope that it will demonstrate
and earn for us a restored trust in our ability to grapple with the big problems
that we face. This in turn, will buy us the time we need for the long-term reforms
for our federal budget.

I'm not aware of any country that has ever dramatically grown its government,
generated massive spending beyond its means, run up huge deficits, accumulated
massive debt, monetized part of it and then lived happily ever after. We won't be
the first. We're either going to stay on this current path and suffer the
consequences that will come from this very irresponsible spending - the consequences
of diminished opportunity at best - or we're going to depart from this path and
adopt the fiscal discipline that our constituents expect of us and adopt the
pro-growth reforms that will allow our economy to recover and allow us to enjoy
another great American century.

The time to choose is now. And the time is running out.
 

Here is an overview of Sen. Toomey's balanced budget proposal.

1 Pager- Balanced Budget Resolution FINAL

Here is a more detailed overview of Senator Toomey's balanced budget proposal.

Restoring Balance Final