U.S. Senator Arlen Specter came to Honesdale, Wednesday afternoon, meeting not with Republican leaders as he would have in years past. In April, he switched to the Democratic Party, and at the meeting this week at Cordaro’s Restaurant, appealed to local Democrats that he was on their side.
Defending the need for health care reform and optimistic of its passage, Specter touched on a number of issues. He opened with a eulogy to long time colleague Senator Ted Kennedy, who died on Tuesday at the age of 77.
Returned to his Democratic roots
The 79-year old Kansas native said that he was  a “JFK Democrat” when John F. Kennedy was president; Specter was an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia at the time. When he sought run for District Attorney in 1965, he states that the Democratic Party at that time “did not want a tough D.A.” Instead, he ran on the Republican ticket as a Democrat. “I wanted moderation on the Republican ticket,” he said.
First elected as senator in 1980, Specter made the fateful choice to switch back to the Democratic side in April 2009 in support of President Obama. Conscious of the hardship his family felt during the Great Depression,  Specter sided with Obama on his $787 billion economic stimulus plan. By doing so he was breaking with GOP ranks. “My opponents said I was being opportunistic,” Specter said of his party switch. “I thought we needed to back Obama who had the mandate of the people.”
Specter noted he had been voting mostly with the Democrats for years. He recalled his successful fight, along with Senator Kennedy, to stop the controversial nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court in 1987. “It would’ve been a different world,” he said if Bork had been appointed. “Bork would have overturned Roe vs. Wade.”
He also mentioned that he did not go along with president Bush on banning stem cell research, and broke with the Republicans on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
“The Republicans have gone so far right, they’re off the board,” Specter stated.
Health care reform
Regarding the health care reform issue, he said the prospects were good for passage of a bill. Specter stated, “I support a robust public option” and said that there should be no preexisting condition clause, no discrimination on infirmity or age, and no limit on coverage. Non-smokers should be recognized. Annual examinations should be provided, adding that he was thankful that his 2005 diagnosis with Hodgkins Disease was caught early.
 Adding he was “out to fight a lot of rumors,” he stressed there will be no “death panel” as former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin asserts. “Sarah Palin does not run America,” he added, receiving a burst of applause. “...The government is not socializing medicine.”
Aside from the health care issue, he responded to several other issues raised by the audience. Among them, Specter:
•  said the war in Afghanistan must not become “another Iraq” or be known as “Obama’s war.”  Eradicating cocaine production and developing Afghan communities to be self reliant are essential.
• supports Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction and ending roadblocks to its development. He said that there should be no exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act.
• favors allocating funds to raise milk price supports to aid the dairy industry.
• feels that the “shrillness in public discourse” at recent town hall meetings across the country goes beyond health care. Public anger is also directed at unemployment and the rising national debt.
Tough election foreseen
Specter concluded with a request for support as he faces a tough Primary election in 2010, facing Democratic challengers, Congressman Joe Sestak and Philadelphia civic leader Joe Torsella. Pat Toomey, a former U.S. Representative, is running on the Republican ticket. Specter had been accused of switching parties to avoid facing Toomey in the upcoming Primary.
He commented, “ I long believed that you can run for office two ways. You can run scared or you can run unopposed. I’m running scared.” He stated that Obama wants him on his team.