Extremism Watch: Specter and Sestak Far Outside the Mainstream on Foreign Policy
Allentown, PA – This year, Pennsylvania Democrats have a choice between two Senate candidates who are well outside the mainstream on foreign policy issues.
On Wednesday, Sen. Arlen Specter called on President Obama to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the White House for a meeting. Specter said that a simple “nudge” might be enough to bring the Syrian dictator back to the peace table. He then waxed nostalgic about his personal relationship with Assad and his late father, the previous Syrian dictator, who was known for his particularly barbaric massacres of Syrian citizens:
“I have gotten to know the Assads, both the father [former President Hafez] and the current president, and I think the right nudge could push them to the table.” (CNS News, 02/25/10)
Specter neglected to mention that Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism according to the U.S. State Department.
Meanwhile, today’s Washington Post reports that Iran and Syria are ridiculing U.S. policy in the Middle East and pledged to create a Middle East “without Zionists” – obvious code language for the destruction of Israel. In a joint news conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the United States wants “to dominate the region, but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that. We tell them that instead of interfering in the region’s affairs, to pack their things and leave.”
Not to be outdone, Rep. Joe Sestak told the Wall Street Journal yesterday he would happily welcome 9/11-mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial in Pennsylvania: “I would accept them anywhere in America, to be brought here, to be brought to justice, to have the keys thrown away or to have them given the death sentence by a jury of our peers.”
While Sestak is laying out the welcome mat for Mohammed, nearly every other Pennsylvania Democrat in the state is adamantly opposed to the move, with Governor Ed Rendell declaring: “Let him plead guilty before a military tribunal in Gitmo. I just don’t think you’re going to find a jurisdiction that’s going to feel any differently than Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York.” (Politico, 02/01/10)
“Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak live in an alternate universe where they think that a brutal dictator who openly castigates America and Israel only needs a ‘nudge’ to make peace and that Pennsylvanians should welcome a 9/11 mastermind into a Pennsylvania civilian court,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said. “The vast majority of Pennsylvanians prefer a commonsense approach that does not treat brutal dictators like Good Humor salesmen and terrorist masterminds like common criminals.”
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