Former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA), whose conservative primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter triggered Specter’s switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party, has a new op-ed piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, arguing that the GOP is in fact a big tent for people who believe in freedom. But, he says, it’s Arlen Specter who doesn’t fit in with this overarching theme of freedom:
Arlen Specter never believed in limiting the power of government and defending the freedom of the individual. As long as he is wielding the levers of power, he wants that power to grow. His active cooperation with the current regime’s massive expansion of government power was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Pennsylvania Republicans. Or perhaps the last tearing of the fabric of freedom of the Republican tent.
That’s the reason Mr. Specter fit so uncomfortably in the Republican tent. But for all of those out there who share the desire for more personal freedom and a less intrusive and growing government in Washington, the Republican Party’s tent has the welcome mat out for you.
