Former PA Senator Arlen Specter threw a bit of a temper tantrum during a live interview on Genesis Communications Radio Network’s Conservative talker The Jason Lewis Show. The Republican-turned-Democrat was appearing to promote his new book when he said, “I have one final comment, I gave you 10 minutes. You’ve been over every subject except for my book. I’ve listened to two rounds of your commercials. I think it’s insulting. I’ve been in a lot of interviews in the course of the past 30 years and you are absolutely insulting!”
Lewis replied, “Good God. This is not public radio. I don’t have a government grant. We’ve got to pay the bills; they’re called commercials. Capitalism.”
The exchange continued with Specter saying, “I’m talking about someone who’s civilized. I told you the last time around I wasn’t going to sit around and listen to your commercials, and I didn’t want to hang up on you. This is no way for anybody to run an interview. I’m as experienced as you are, if not more so.”
The call concluded with Specter saying, “That’s all I have to tell you, so goodbye.” Lewis countered, “Good Lord, senator, no wonder you got beat.”
Jason Lewis joined Fox News’ America’s Newsroom 4/2 to discuss the exchange, joking that he thinks the “love” has gone out of his relationship with Specter. He said that most of the topics he addressed in the interview were referenced in Specter’s book. Lewis said, “He didn’t want to talk about issues, he wanted to call his opponents extremists, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
Lewis said, “He really did come off as spending obviously too much time in Washington, and the reaction I’ve gotten is, ‘Boy, oh boy, is this guy out of touch.”
He concluded, “The arrogance of his attitude was, I think, self-explanatory as to why he switched parties in order to run again, and then of course, got beat.”
