Specter Goes To The Left Against Sestak On Afghanistan Surge

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who switched from the Republicans to the Democrats earlier this year, is now trying to seize the left ground against his primary challenger, Rep. Joe Sestak. Specter's campaign is accusing Sestak of flip-flopping by supporting the Afghanistan surge, when he'd previously wanted a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq -- and Sestak is firing back that Specter supported George W. Bush on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Specter's campaign has posted this on their Web site:

Not only does Joe Sestak support expanding the war in Afghanistan, he also opposes a timetable for withdrawal, a clear flip flop from his 2006 Congressional campaign when he strongly urged the use of a timetable in Iraq.

Advocating "an exit strategy of measurements," on MSNBC last night, Sestak said of President Obama's commitment to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 18 months: "I wish he hadn't set a definitive timetable."

That plea comes in stark contrast to Sestak's 2006 support for a strict timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

In response, Sestak has given TPM this statement, pointing out that Specter supported the Bush administration on Afghanistan and Iraq for years, when he was a Republican:

"I understand that Arlen is going to play politics on this issue, like he does on most issues. The reason we're struggling in Afghanistan now is that Republicans like Arlen Specter and George Bush took their eyes off the ball and went to war in Iraq instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan against the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. But as someone who served in the Navy for 31 years and as someone who saw firsthand how the ill-conceived war in Iraq undermined what we need to do in Afghanistan to protect our national security, I'm simply unwilling to take the path of political convenience."