Getting To Know You – Bob Casey, Jr.
Thank you, Bob Casey. You took down possibly the most wretched, wingnutty politician since McCarthy. Rick Santorum was the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, and in a staggering upset, Casey took him down and took him down BIG.
Bob Casey, Jr. has some great lineage in Pennsylvania. His father was the 42nd Governor of Pennsylvania, a two-termer who left politics due to health issues and passed in 2000. After practicing law in Scranton for five years, he ran for State Auditor General and served from 1997 to 2005. He was drafted in 2005 by Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid to take on the big dog, Santorum. He faced down the more liberal Chuck Pennacchio and Alan Sandals in the primary and smoked them. Then, of course, he smoked Santorum. (Exit polls were apparently so bad for Santorum that they called the race before the polls were closed. Haha!)
Now Casey is by no means a Democratic dream. (He must be the “conservative” Democrat Republican talking heads keep spouting about.) True, he’s very conservative on social issues. He steadfastly refuses to respect a woman’s right to choose (but Bill Donaghue has called this stance a “fraud”), he’s waffled on gay marriage (but approves of civil unions), and he approves of the death penalty.
However, his economic stances are what make him a Democrat. He’s demonstrated concern since 2002 about campaign finance and its debilitating effect on democracy. He’s taken particular offense with Medicare Part D (“fundamentally flawed”), and he wants to roll back the tax cuts on the upper one percent. He’s talked about expanding health care (Oh, no! Socialist!!!), and funding for education is a pet project. (Read more about his positions here.)
Casey has been appointed to several committees in the new Senate. They are the Foreign Relations Committee, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Agriculture Committee, US Congress Joint Economic Committee, and the Special Committee on Aging.
Welcome to the Senate, Mr. Casey. You need to work on that whole Iraq/war on terror junk, and we’re hoping Mr. Donaghue is right about the “fraud” thing. But we’re glad to have you and gladder still that Santorum is on the trash heap.
November 28, 2006 at 10:01 pm
hey, i hope you do a post on this
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Bush_Webb_in_testy_exchange_over_1128.html
oh i’m glad you are still doing these. they are always very informative.
November 28, 2006 at 10:20 pm
I found out about that like 10 seconds after I published this one. If I had found out sooner, I surely would have, but I like to let my posts breathe for a while before doing another. But Webb shoulda decked the fucker.
November 29, 2006 at 1:16 am
Giant kudos to Bob Casey, for unseating Satan personafied aka. Santorum. As a Pennsylvanian my joy knows no bounds!-lol
November 30, 2006 at 7:48 pm
I can’t tell you how happy I was on election night. I think if you dig deep enough you will find a connection between Rick and the devil! Let’s all hope Bob Casey will do PA justice.
November 30, 2006 at 10:56 pm
Rick is a giant turd in evangel’s clothing. How’s that for incisive analysis?
December 5, 2006 at 11:07 pm
On most issues, Casey agrees with Santorum. I was so frustrated that the Democratic establishment pushed Casey at the expense of real Democrats. It reminded me of why I am a swing voter between the Democrats and progressive third parties.
December 6, 2006 at 12:42 am
I don’t buy that at all that Casey agrees with Santorum on most issues. Social issues, maybe, and even here they differ greatly in degrees. The sad fact is no real liberal is going to get elected in a state race in Pennsylvania, especially against an incumbent.