'Specter For The Cure' Cancer Website, Really Political Fundraising Tool
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA)--two time survivor of Hodgkins disease--is no stranger to cancer, cancer awareness, and cancer research funding. But he's using his hard earned credibility as a national spokesperson on the issue to fight the disease in a roundabout way.
He's touting--and raising money from--a website called specterforthecure.com, which he describes as "a bold new initiative to reform our government's medical research efforts, cut red tape and unstrangle the hope for accelerated cures."
But the money he's raising isn't funding research grants, or advocacy, or treatment for patients who can't afford it. It's funding the Senate re-election campaign of one Arlen Specter.
He will be running for in Pennsylvania as a Democrat in 2010 in what could be a fraught and dramatic campaign, and if he's primaried, he may need buckets full of money to prevail. This is one...creative...method of raising that money.
The idea is pretty simple. Specter is an advocate in the Senate for setting a $40 billion annual funding baseline for the National Institutes of Health--and if he's defeated at the polls, that bill will lose one of its most storied and influential sponsors. But if he wins, then the money raised by Specter for the Cure will, de facto, also support Specter's various other, eclectic legislative priorities.
But that's not how he sells it. According to the website, "Arlen Specter will seek re-election to the United States Senate. Without Arlen Specter back in the Senate to see it through, Specter for the Cure could be lost to the ordinary politics of Washington that kills real change." Some of the money he uses in that re-election bid will surely come from people who think they're giving to a cancer charity.
Maybe if he loses he'll give an amount equal to what he raises via specterforthecure.com to a reputable cancer charity. More likely, though, the money will just be lost.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Snarlin will use the "old bait and switch" on cancer cure supporters...Spector knows no shame for his self-inflated political ego! Can't wait til the 2010 election and Spector retires due to his defeat!
May 8, 2009 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
No doubt. Shameless indeed!
May 8, 2009 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Stay classy, Arlen.
May 8, 2009 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
This guy is slime. Any redeeming social value to him at all?
May 8, 2009 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't this just like the Seinfeld episode when Jerry got the woman's phone number off the AIDS walk list?
May 8, 2009 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is pretty tasteless.
May 8, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is wrong.
Specter seems to have lost his sense of decency, if he had one (see his questioning of Anita Hill).
May 8, 2009 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's some further commentary: http://writedit.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/cures-acceleration-network-nih-reauthorization-act-of-2009/
Specter said on his 'specter for the cure' site that he was gong to introduce a bill "next week" so naturally I wanted to see if he actually did. Well he did.
Still it doesn't excuse him for using cancer as a way to raise money to be re-elected. Yes, when politicians do a charity event, they also often are inadvertently promoting themselves too. Just the way it goes.
But Specter is being blatant. Using cancer and the fear of it to further his re-election prospects. This is going from worse to worst.
May 8, 2009 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds very Republicany!!!!!!!!!!!
May 8, 2009 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
It is sneaky and misleading but good luck questioning a cancer survivor's sincerity on cancer funding.
May 8, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
As someone who has Stage 4 cancer, let me take this opportunity to say, fuck you Arlen Specter, you dirty snake oil salesman. Pardon my language, but this guy finally crossed the line. He better announce his retirement soon, in fact he shouldn't even finish out his term.
May 8, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I just emailed the following to the website:
Senator-
As a 36 year old woman with Stage 4 breast cancer, I find this website to be completely inappropriate and offensive. You are using your status as a cancer survivor to raise money for your political campaign, not cancer research. You really should be ashamed of yourself, and should return all money received to the donors or immediately donate it to the American Cancer Soceity, who actually use the money for legitimate purposes, like encouraging research and providing volunteers to drive people with cancer to all their doctor's appointments when they cannot drive themselves.
Throughout your career, you have prided yourself on your independence and integrity. I am asking you to show a little of that now and take down your misleading website. You can, and should, be better than this.
Thank you,
May 8, 2009 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well said, Jen. Thank you.
May 8, 2009 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with all the above... to a degree.
The truth as I see it hoever, is that the above statements cand describ e almost ALL the politicians in Washington... from BOTH parties.
Once again, though, we seem to be hell bent on supporting OUR mobsters and vilifying THEIRS.
(this goes for members of BOTH parties, folks)
Oh well, the important thing to note is that BOTH parties have decided to make sure NEITHER side will have to ever pay consequences for their actions again.
All the accountability will be born upon the commoners...
And the world will lose another democracy... totally from within... IMHO
May 8, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Once again, though, we seem to be hell bent on supporting OUR mobsters and vilifying THEIRS".
How about we villify all mobsters Johnny?
May 8, 2009 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Specter is a cancer - and Pennsylvania Democratic voters will be the cure.
May 8, 2009 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's a pretty disgusting remark.
You sound like Rush Limbaugh.
May 8, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
More like John Dean.
May 8, 2009 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
John Dean did the crime, served the time (and let us know what happened from the inside). Rush did the crime, served the...ahem, I guess not. Don't think it is wise to compare those two if you like the rush. Makes you look shallow.
May 8, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
My reference was to Dean's "cancer on the presidency" quote.
Stop being such a jerk, please.
May 8, 2009 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry to be so pedestrian about this . . .
Arlen Specter sucks. That's it.
He is a user & an old man who doesn't want his time in the sun to end. We're all gonna die Arlen, go play shuffle board. Or better yet, try to find your self-respect, because you dropped somewhere along the way, you D-bag.
May 8, 2009 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is beyond tasteless.
May 8, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wanted to check out his new website and find that it wasn't as sleazy as it seemed from the article and the comments here. I really did. Alas, I couldn't.
While he may have complied with the letter of the law, he clubs the spirit and the ethics like an infantile pinniped. Beyond recognition. Maybe that will be his next fundraising issue-tool - www.specteragainstbabysealclubbing.com.
He DOES indicate - for those who read it closely enough - that the contribution is for his campaign. But, he DOES NOT make it clear EVERY TIME that he asks for contributions. And, he should have to do that.
But, let's not overlook the warning that he delivers in his stilted, poorly-produced video on the site (btw, fading Michael J. Fox out like that was creepy, and also left me wondering whether Fox approved of this slimy use of his image): he is warning his 2010 opponents (of either party) that he is going to make research funding a keystone of his re-election campaign.
I truly hope he pulls this down. Or, at least, makes it extra, super clear that the contributions are for his campaign and nothing else. And, I hope - even more fervently - that this is not the start of a new stage in ever-blurrier, ever-sleazier political fundraising.
May 8, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
He was a shitstack back in the Warren Report days, he is now, too. Funny how that works.
May 8, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of the sleaziest political stunts I've ever seen.
Asking for donations to a group called "Specter For The Cure" sounds like they're actually soliciting funds to fight cancer. Only in the fine print do you see that the money all goes to Specter's re-election campaign.
Absolutely despicable. He needs to either take it down completely or make it very, very clear that these donations are going to a political campaign, not to fight cancer.
May 8, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favorite part of the website:
Wow! for only $100 you get super-secret press releases!
May 8, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why am I not surprised? After all, he said his only reason for switching to the Democratic party was because the polls said he couldn't win as a Republican........typical old-style politician. He'll do anything to win and avoid giving up all those perks.
May 8, 2009 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a shithead. There. I said it.
Separately, I'm becoming a fan of Sestak. I really was impressed by his thoughtful (not canned) answers to the issue of DADT on the Rachel Maddow show. (http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=2491382) He takes a stand and treats his audience with respect by giving meaningful answers. Reminds me a lot of Obama, actually. Too bad I'm from California, otherwise he'd already have my vote locked and loaded.
May 8, 2009 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looks like the "cure" Specter is looking for is a transfusion of fresh cash into his campaign coffers. I would expect nothing less from such an honorable man.
May 8, 2009 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shameless!,.....as shameless as pretending to be a democrat to get re-elected? Not quite, but just when you think it can't get worse.
May 8, 2009 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
In other words, elect me or you'll die of cancer.
May 8, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would find other reasons to oppose Spector than this site, as misleading as it is.
The optics of the left going after a cancer survivor who has a plausible excuse that he intends to support cancer research is terrible.
May 8, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
It depends on who on the left is going after him. Arlen Specter is not the only person ever to have had cancer, not even the only Democrat. If you think this website would not come up in the general in 2010 (if Specter doesn't pull the plug now) to discredit him, you are crazy. The Republicans will be all over this, believe me.
If it is fellow cancer survivors or cancer patients calling on him to return the money, it just looks bad for Specter, not the people calling him to account. I think Elizabeth Edwards could easily call him on this. I doubt someone like me (undergoing chemo and bald as heck) would make a terrible optic for Dems.
May 8, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just think he has an easy excuse for the site -- there is text on the page explaining what it is. It is only stylistically misleading but that's a harder case. Just because you think it improper doesn't make it a slam dunk. It could easily backfire.
May 8, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I now have two forms of cancer. One is rare and is not supported by the American Cancer Society since the number of people who have it in the US is only about 150,000 to 200,000. Thankfully a small foundation and dedicated doctors here and in Europe have made some real progress in managing this cancer, and I have hope something else will kill me. I also recently was diagnosed with a second cancer, but we've caught it early and we are hopeful that one of the standard treatments will work. I'm four years younger than Specter and I'm amazed he would use the term "Specter for the Cure" to raise campaign funds for his re-election. What he should be doing is dedicating himself to "truth in campaign advertising." That would really set him apart from so many others in Congress. As soon as Sestak announces, he is getting a donation from me. What all of the shenanigans by Specter show is the lowest of how candidates try to raise money. Bait and switch, and prey on the sick and elderly.
May 11, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude for real, he should go stick his head in the sand. For shame.
New Jersey drunk driving defense
May 11, 2009 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink