Specter strikes back, calls Sestak a ‘flagrant hypocrite’

After taking several jabs from primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) for a few weeks, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) fired back on Thursday by calling Sestak a “flagrant hypocrite.”

Specter said that Sestak switched his party affiliation to Democrat in 2006 to run for Congress and therefore shouldn’t criticize his decision to cross the aisle.

“Congressman Sestak is a flagrant hypocrite in challenging my being a real Democrat when he did not register as a Democrat until 2006 just in time to run for Congress,” Specter said in a statement. “His lame excuse for avoiding party affiliation, because he was in the service, is undercut by his documented disinterest in the political process.”

Sestak said in an interview last Sunday with the Express-Times that he is the only “true Democrat” in the primary.

According to Specter’s campaign research, Sestak registered as an independent in 1971 and re-registered as a Democrat in February 2006. The campaign also said that according to voting records, Sestak did not vote in any primary elections from 1971 to 2005.

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com