Romney Campaign Press Release - Rick Santorum on Arlen Specter: We Work Together as a Team

"Rick Santorum once again has reminded us how he played on the team with liberal Arlen Specter. Rick Santorum is just another Washington politician. Someone who was part of the problem cannot be trusted to be part of the solution." — Ryan Williams, Romney for President Spokesperson

Santorum Said He Supported Specter's 1996 Presidential Bid Because They "Work Together as A Team":

Today, Rick Santorum Said He Supported Arlen Specter's 1996 Presidential Run Because They "Work  Together as A Team For the State Of Pennsylvania." Karl: "And take a look. I think we have a screen grab from that. You were there on the stage with him. You were probably his most -- maybe his most prominent supporter, why did you support Arlen Specter for president?" SANTORUM: "Well, you know, when your colleague is running for office, and, you know, I was his colleague in the United States Senate, he asked me to stand with him. That certainly wasn't one of my prouder moments I look back on. But look, you know, you work together as a team for the state of Pennsylvania and I felt that Senator Specter stood up and supported me when I was running in 1994 and I did likewise." (ABC News' "This Week," 3/18/12)

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Specter's Presidential Announcement Was Filled With Attacks On Conservatives, As Santorum Looked On:

Specter Ran for President Because He Felt Conservatives Had Taken Over the Republican Party. "Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced his candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination today and, saving his severest criticism for the right wing of his own party, said the nominee should not be 'captive to the demands of the intolerant right.' ... Mr. Specter, 65, said he had been drawn into the race because no one else in his party was speaking out in favor of abortion rights or challenging the party's increasingly influential religious conservatives." (Richard L. Berke, "Joining Race, Specter Attacks the Right," The New York Times, 3/31/95)

"Highlights" of Sen. Arlen Specter's Presidential Announcement Speech:

• Specter Included "A Woman's Right to Choose" In His "10 Commitments to America." Sen. Specter: "In 1994, Republican representatives won the House with a 10-point contract, the Contract with America. In 1996, I intend to win the other house off to our left, the White House with 10 commitments to America: ... to champion tolerance and freedom, especially a woman's right to choose." (Sen. Arlen Specter, Presidential Candidacy Announcement, Washington, DC, 3/30/95)

• Specter Attacked Conservative Republicans Who He Said Would Pursue "A Radical Social Agenda Which Would End A Woman's Right to Choose and Mandate School Prayer." Sen. Specter: "Today I have outlined goals and priorities I see for America. Now, even though we have this historic opportunity for these achievements, regrettably there are those in our party who would lead us down a different path, a different path which would squander this unique moment in our nation's history by using our political capital to pursue a radical social agenda, a radical social agenda which would end a woman's right to choose and mandate school prayer." (Sen. Arlen Specter, Presidential Candidacy Announcement, Washington, DC, 3/30/95)

• Specter Said Republicans Need to Keep Religion and Moral Issues Out of Political Discourse. Sen. Specter: "I, and millions of other pro-choice Republicans, will not be disenfranchised and made second class citizens. ... But, ladies and gentlemen, it is not Christian or religious or Judeo-Christian to bring God into politics or to advocate intolerance or to promote exclusion. ... I want to take abortion out of politics. I want to keep the Republican Party focused on the critical social, economic, military, foreign policy and crime control issues and leave moral issues -- (applause) -- and leave moral issues, such as abortion, to the conscience of the individual. That is a matter to be decided by women, not by big government." (Sen. Arlen Specter, Presidential Candidacy Announcement, Washington, DC, 3/30/95)

• Specter Pledged to Remove the GOP's Pro-Life Platform Language. Sen. Specter: "And I pledge -- I pledge to lead the fight to strip the strident anti-choice language from the Republican National Platform and replace it with language which respects human life and also respects the diversity of opinion within our own party on this issue." (Sen. Arlen Specter, Presidential Candidacy Announcement, Washington, DC, 3/30/95)

• Specter Attacked Conservatives as "The Intolerant Right." Sen. Specter: "Let me say it -- let me say it as plainly as I can: Neither this nation or this party can afford a Republican candidate so captive to the demands of the intolerant right that we end up by reelecting a president of the incompetent left." (Sen. Arlen Specter, Presidential Candidacy Announcement, Washington, DC, 3/30/95)

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