I am so disgusted with Bob Casey Jr. and with Chuck Schumer and Governor Ed Rendell for recruiting him and clearing the field for him, that I just want to throttle someone.
Let me be clear: Bob Casey does not support the constitutional right to privacy that the Supreme Court has found protects every woman from laws regulating their reproductive choices. He has some kind of religious bug up his ass over stem-cell research. He opposes the right of gay couples to adopt children (.pdf). Let me repeat that. He opposes the right of gay couples to adopt children. He has endorsed Judge Alito. Among Democratic senators only Ben Nelson has so far endorsed Alito. Ben Nelson is up for reelection and Ben Nelson represents the very conservative state of Nebraska. Ben Nelson has an excuse. Pennsylvania has voted for Clinton twice, for Gore once, for Kerry once, it has a Democratic Governor, its population is pro-choice.
Casey is not the only Democrat vying for the chance to unseat Rick ‘Man on Dog’ Santorum. Chuck Pennacchio and Alan Sandals are challenging Bob Casey in the primary. Both of them are pro-choice, support the right of gay couples to adopt children, and support stem cell research. And as Chuck pointed out to me:
For more than a decade, the only top level statewide races Republicans have won in Pennsylvania are those where their position on choice was identical to that of the Democratic challenger. In 2000, anti-choice Democrat Ron Klink lost to anti-choice Rick Santorum in the Philadelphia suburbs by more than 150,000 votes. Pro-choice Democrat Al Gore carried those same counties by more than 54,000 votes.
Bob Casey Jr. is a lousy candidate. He sucks. His personality has been described as “warm ziploc bag full of vasoline”.
No one I know wants to vote for Bob Casey Jr. No one I know wants to work for Bob Casey Jr. I can’t tell you how many people are so pissed off about Bob Casey Jr. that they don’t feel like voting or working for any Democrats this year. That is how fucking much Bob Casey, Ed Rendell, and Chuck Schumer suck.
Rick Santorum is one of the most loathsome politicians in America. He is also the least popular Senator in America in his home state. He is vile terrible person. Defeating Santorum should not only be one of our greatest priorities this year, but working toward that goal should be a joy…it should be fun and exciting.
Bob Casey as an opponent ruins that chance. Pennacchio and Sandals are all that is standing in the way of a showdown between Casey and Santorum. Casey won’t even debate them.
Casey should drop out of the fucking race. All he is accomplishing with his anti-gay rights, anti-science, anti-choice candidacy is to piss off Democrats and Democratic activists.
We need to send a message to Chuck Schumer that we don’t want to ever see a candidate like Bob Casey recruited again. Schumer clears the field for Casey and then has the unmitigated gall to get indignant about abortion rights in the Alito hearings. Watching that display of gross hypocrisy literally turned my stomach. I had to eat a saltine cracker to absorb some of the bile that aroused in me. If I could of slapped Schumer through the television set, I would have.
Goddamn Casey endorsed Alito. Did you notice that, Schumer? Your fucking boy stepped all over your message. What a goddamn clown you are to think Bob Casey was the right choice for Pennsylvania.
The brazen hypocrisy of the Democrats at the top of the party’s power structure is sickening.
There is no legitimate excuse for their behavior. they are now, without a doubt, our worst adversaries; more destructive even than the Repubs are because they are wearing a mask of democratic idealism.
By betraying the very principles they purport to stand for they are the lowest form of political hacks, deserving to be pilloried for their disingenuousness and self-serving ambition.
I repudiate them all!
I want the Democrats in power… but I want us to take the party away from them, these jerks like Casey and Rendell who are as patronizing to the real base of the party as anyone.
It makes me so, so furious that Casey is being thrust upon us, in contravention to every good democratic ideal, in contravention to the whole purpose of a primary.
We’ve been losing because we cannot become a “we” like the Republicans… but one of the biggest reasons for that is that the top tier of the party don’t listen to us. They listen only to the politicos and the strategists.
Amazingly, they still don’t get that doing so is and has been a long-term losing trend. They may be able to beat Santorum this time, but they are hurting the party.
Not to mention hurting women, hurting gays.
Hell, even hurting me, a straight white male.
Again, let me say it: I am furious at them!
You’re definitely right about the “we” thing. Casey, Rendell, Schumer and the DLC weenies, they are “them”, not “us”; hijackers whose continued presence in the party only further diminishes it’s strength, like cancer spreading through a once-healthy organism.
As long as they’re not excised we’re in trouble. We have no real functional advocate within the framework of the two party democratic structure that we’recurrently stuck with.
Here’s your bash from HT:
“They don’t hardly make ’em like him any more – but just to be on the safe side, he should be castrated anyway.” Hunter S. Thompson
To crash the candidacy, send the message to the PA Dem committee, Shumer, and the DSCC that your wallet, phone, and keyboard just closed. Or if you think you’ve got enough people pissed off, raise enough bux to take out a full page ad in the PA major dailies with your rant (minus the bad words).
Anyway you choose, but as of now it’s obvious they haven’t gotten the message.
I’m so sorry for you and all Pennsylvanians, BooMan. For you — in Philadelphia, of all places — to have to put up with this shit is unbelievable!
Give us a plan. Do we all e-mail bomb Chuck Schumer?
E-Mail Web Form
Washington, DC
313 Hart Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6542
Fax: 202-228-3027
TDD: 202-224-0420
New York City
757 Third Avenue
Suite 17-02
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-486-4430
Fax: 212-486-7693
TDD: 212-486-7803
There are other cities too.
I chose the topic “Abortion” and typed this:
I’m an out-of-stater, so figured it’d be best to keep it short and nasty.
We need a new version of the “12 days of justice”, targeting Casey, Schumer, Rendell (and wasn’t Hilary part of the annointing deal too?) with emails and faxes about all the reasons Casey is the wrong choice for PA.
Thank you Susan for the link. Here’s the letter I just sent to Schumer.
Senator Schumer … You recruited and strongly endorsed Bob Casey, Jr. to be the Democratic candidate for the senate seat in Pennsylvania opposing Rick Santorum. Your decision to support Casey seems to be based on one criteria, ‘electability.’ You made your choice early in the race for 2006. And what does your candidate do? He comes out today in support of Alito, eleven months out from the Nov. 2006 election. He slaps you in the face while you are, seemingly, strongly against the confirmation of Alito.
You are responsible for Casey being the Democratic candidate for the senate. He is strongly anti-choice. Casey is against stem-cell research, he is against gays being able to adopt and yet, you tell Democrats he deserves to be a senator.
What of his ‘electability’ status in Pennsylvania ? Why would anyone vote for Casey when he walks in lockstep with Santorum on so many issues? How does he distinquish himself as being a different kind of politician and/or candidate as Santorum?
It’s become clear to many women in the Democratic Party that our leaders are more than willing to sell us out when leaders like you, Senator, walk all over our rights of choice. I can’t help but believe this party will pay a high price if you don’t do what it takes to regain our faith and loyalty.
If you demand that Casey remove himself from the race, you would be making a serious statement to the women, like myself, who are thinking seriously of not voting Senator. I’ve been a Democrat for 40 years. I’ve voted since 1972. I’ve never voted for anyone that wasn’t a Democrat. I’ll stay home instead of voting for a candidate or a party that no longer respects women’s rights.
You will lose my vote Senator, your colleagues will lose my vote until you prove to me you are as loyal to me as I have been to you for decades.
Do what’s right Senator. Tell Bob Casey, Jr. he is the wrong candidate for the senate. Do what’s right Senator, for women and for the Democratic leadership.
Casey is a fuckwad. There I said it. And thank you Boo for enabling me in this thread.
Those of us in PA can get on the ground and volunteer. Those out of state can write letters to editors of their local papers, national papers and the PA papers as well. They can also donate much needed funds to a grassroots campaign that refuses to take any PAC monies. Casey and Sen. $antorum share many sources of money, it’s all tainted.
Fuck you Schumer, my former Senator. Fuck you Reid, my pro-life [albeit fairly passively] party leader. Fuck you Rendell, my douchebag Governor.
The Dem leadership needs to know, and needs to know NOW, that this bullshit just won’t fly anymore. The left is at war against the creep of fascism and theocracy in the US and it’s about time the Democrats who are elected representatives clued into how goddamn serious this business really is.
Otherwise they are really just in our way and should move out of the passing lane as soon as possible… hey… I see an opening right there, Schumer, Clinton, Biden, Lieberman – feel free to scoot right in.
Hell, the Republicans declared war on the left a couple of decades ago, how long do they need to take to figure it out already? Wankers.
I just want to know who the hell thought it was a good idea for Mr. Warm Ziploc Bag to be the keynote speaker for the Human Rights Campaign dinner in February.
Given his feelings on gay adoption and all.
The HRC claims that he supports gay adoption, but Casey told the Catholic Church otherwise. I’m getting the docs to prove that in a moment.
The only source that says he flip-floped is the HRC website that gives no footnote or evidence.
If he flip-flops I’ll be happy, but he better do it on the record.
Got your back Boo…
Question #8 of the PA Catholic Conference questionnaire for 2004.
8. What is your position on legislation allowing homosexual couples to adopt children?
Wagner (Aud Gen – D): No response.
Peters (Aud Gen – R): Oppose
Casey (Treas – D): Oppose
Maybe it’s on the issues page on his website?
</snark>
yeah, his “issues page” was so bad the Pennacchio team [myself included] had to come up with something on our own that captured his, ummm, essence, with his own words. peep it here.
I’d like to hear that Dems are bombarding Casey himself with this question. Why are you a member of the Democratic Party instead of the Republican Party. And to keep asking this until he replies, at which time we can critique his answer.
I wished I could give you 500 “4”‘s here for that one! I absolutely agree with you.
I am just soooo pissed that everytime I go to a certain website or am around certain Democrats, everyone who posts or talks about Roe v. Wade is scorned for being a “single issue voter” and told that it is “the abortion issue that is going to ruin the Democratic Party” and that women who can’t get over the “abortion issue” can’t “understand strategy” and that it is more important to get someome with a D infront of their name elected than to protect our rights.
and
Then when Casey supports Alito, the very same people who told us to shut up and get over it are mad that this Democrat is voting against issues of “privacy rights.”
So let me get this straight. It is a “special interest group”, only about abortion, and bad for the party when WOMEN express concern, but when male Democratic Josh Lyman wannabees don’t get their way, it is suddenly a matter of privacy rights and disgust when Casey supports Alito.
Sorry. I am so pissed. And NOW DO THEY GET IT? That it is not about special interests and controversial medical proceedures and whiney girls, but about our FREEDOM? Doubt it. I really doubt it. No, they are just going to get mad at Casey. The monster they created. And they are gonna turn right around and tell me that Pennaccio is worse because he is less viable. Because they know about these things, thank you.
Fuck them. I am sorry to say that but Fuck them. Casey isn’t what’s wrong with this party. They are.
this would be this issue…
… right?
I can see how siding with two thirds of the electorate would kill a party’s chances of winning elections.
It’s as plain as day.
Screw those Casey trolls…and you know what else pisses me off, they won’t get mad at Casey if he loses, they’ll turn right around and blame the loss on the women, not on their lousy annointment of Republican calling himself a Democrat.
and you know what else pisses me off, they won’t get mad at Casey if he loses, they’ll turn right around and blame the loss on the women, not on their lousy annointment of Republican calling himself a Democrat.
That’s how the ‘centrist’ wing manages to stay in power, loss after loss after loss. Oh, it’s the fault of the ‘sanctimonious women’s set’, the ‘single issue voters’, people who voted for Ralph Nader, the polls. Oh it’s the South, the ‘liberal elites’.
15 minutes after Grey Davis lost we had them on DK blaming ‘liberal voters’ and resenting cats who refused to be corralled and herded. I kid you not.
Reality based, my ass.
They never question their strategies and basic assumptions, almost all of which are based in the politics of 20 years ago and increasingly irrelevant.
security !!
just kidding. these worthless parasties have been blaming everyone but themselves cuz … who is living large in DC & going on junkets to aspen and london and etc etc to strategerize the next loss, and who is out in the rain doorbelling to get a few more bucks for the parasites?
and they’ve been blaming everyone else since ?? mondale? mcgovern?
BTW – as mr. white points out above stream – appx 65% support abortion rights
ISN’T THAT CENTRIST ??
Inability to LEAD 65% = FUCKING LOSERS to me
IMHO.
rmm.
Okay – I’m in for nasty emails…and will email the DSCC and others on money spigot closed.
One minor item:
It’s lunch time here on the left coast and that caused me to spew soup…in addition to the topic being a stomach turner.
Okay – back to ranting and raging against these idiots!
ya gotta learn to not hold it back. I can tell that yer not happy with this casey fella but yer tryin ta be nice and ya really need to let us know how ya really feel. Stuff like that will give ya fits in the middle of the night if you keep holding in like this.
Lackluster candidates that are barely different from their Republican opponents will not win elections. My guess is that a lot of Pennsylvanians will sit out the election, figuring that Casey was no alternative to Santorum. As I’ve said before, it’s candidates like Casey that make it impossible for me to donate time or money to the Democrat party. The mere thought, for example, that even some of my contribution could go to propping up some anti-choice bigot would be a slap in the face of my wife and my daughters. I could not look them in the eye if I were to do so.
Congrats on the link from Atrios.
Believe me, i’m disgusted by his pointless alito support.
However, let’s get something straight. Casey IS THE ONLY DEMOCRAT that will beat Santorum. I have nothing against Pennaccio and Sandals, but they are nobodys. If one of those 2 gets nominated, the GOP will then see Ricky boy has a chance, and they’d throw EVERYTHING into the race. Currently, they are not.
Booman says:”Bob Casey Jr. is a lousy candidate. He sucks. His personality has been described as “warm ziploc bag full of vasoline”.
No one I know wants to vote for Bob Casey Jr. No one I know wants to work for Bob Casey Jr. I can’t tell you how many people are so pissed off about Bob Casey Jr. that they don’t feel like voting or working for any Democrats this year. That is how fucking much Bob Casey, Ed Rendell, and Chuck Schumer suck.”
-Casey Jr. recently got more votes in PA than ANYONE EVER. He’s not a lousy candidate. Santorum sucks bad, but only a quasi-heavyweight can be beating him so bad (at this juncture). Pennacchio/Sandals would not.
Vent your frustration, then get back to reality.
FPN, I’m sure you believe what you’re saying, but you could change the name and produce exactly the “wisdom” that gave us Kerry losing against the worst president America has ever endured. Like the geniuses that produced that miracle, you are taking the usual DNC “run and hide” approach: maybe if we run a DINO, the GOP won’t notice and bring out their heavy guns. If we just keep quiet and keep the sheets over our heads, maybe the monsters won’t find us.
It’s time to get over that crap. Most of America agrees with what liberal Dems believe. I know nothing about Casey’s opponents’ personalities or campaign abilities, but I do know that a good unabashed liberal populist would beat the shit out of Santorum. If the current crop isn’t good enough, find somebody in that big state who is. Whatever you do, get over the pathetic belief that Dems can win by pretending to be something they are not. That one’s been tried many times too often, and it fails every time.
I’d argue that he’s a shitty candidate, worse than lousy. Does he stand for anything you stand for? Will he vote with his fellow Democrats to stop people like Alito from obtaining a LIFETIME appointment?
He got a lot of votes, in 2004, when nobody cared who the hell he was. He ran on Rendell’s coattails and was, in turn, rewarded. The people of PA are learning what this guy’s values are and where he stands on the issues and are not liking what they see. His poll numbers have dropped month to month in every poll I’ve seen along the way.
We have to educate the voters [a monumental task in this apathetic society we live in], but we must take on the task nonetheless. Teach them the issues, tell them where the candidates stand.
Pennacchio will beat Santorum.
You’ve vented your frustration, now roll up your sleeves.
If you argue that, then you have no freakin’ clue. “shitty candidate” “worse than lousy”??? Listen to yourself. Nobody knew who he was in 2004? What about when he was ELECTED in 2000? I guess he ran on Gore. Stop it. He’s not going to have a chance to vote for Alito, and he’s on the record saying he (Casey) wouldn’t vote against Roe, if he knew his vote would be the deciding factor. I agree about educating voters. However, a very sizeable portion of the State would agree with Casey more than an arch-liberal type.
You didn’t really think his numbers would stay THAT high the whole time? Of course they will narrow a bit.
/For the record, i worked on Casey’s Bro’s Congressional race in 2000(6 months in a GOP county), so I know a thing or 2 about that family.
The fact that booman compard Casey to Klink shows he has no clue. Now, Klink was a TERRIBLE candidate. I think we’d agree there.
I have no idea how this schlep got elected in 2000, I wasn’t here.
If he had the chance, he just stated that he would vote to approve him. Furthermore:
It would seem obvious: Democratic Senate candidate Robert P. Casey Jr., who opposes abortion, believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
“You can’t say you have the position I have and not believe that,” Casey said in a recent interview about the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made legal abortions available nationwide.
What part of that do you not understand? He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. How much clearer do you need it? Does he have to come to your house and say so? You just lied. Please retract your comment that he is on record as saying that he (Casey) would not vote to overturn Roe; it is part of his agenda.
Jackass, don’t EVER call me a liar. He DID say previously, that if elected, he would NOT place the vote to ban abortion. That’s different than someone’s opinion in that article.
That’s at the heart of this. Chuck & Alan seem like swell guys, but neither one would beat Santorum.
But Alito is a bad selection for a lot more reasons than his anti-abortion platform. He stands squarely against protection of individual workers. Is Casey’s name recognition so good that it beats his endorsement of a nominee for Supreme Court Justice that is decidedly anti-labor? And he’s running in PA?! Wasn’t Pittsburgh the city where union labor was born in this country? I guess I don’t understand what makes Casey a Democrat.
duh! he’s got a D after his name! that’s what qualifies him as a Democrat!
blech
(I’m getting a head start on cutting back on my cussing for Lent…)
What good is having Casey-D in the Senate lineup if he’s going to cross the aisle and vote with the Republicans on issues regarding a woman’s right to choose? Or rubber-stamp Bush’s judicial choices? Or decide whether poor people get access to health care or food stamps?
Hell (it ain’t Lent yet)…maybe Casey is a Rovian “stealth candidate”, to get rid of Santorum who’s becoming an anchor on the Republican party.
Putting Casey in the Senate is sounding more and more like substituting Olestra for full-fat; you feel like you’ve done something constructive, but sooner or later you end up shitting your pants… (Sally, I hope you finished eating before reading this analogy…)
your statement is false. bob casey is not a democrat. if casey wins the primary, there is zero chance of a democrat winning the election.
P.S. YOU DON’T NEED THE ALL CAPS! I CAN HEAR YOU!!!
that sort of argument rings hollow for those here who’ve heard the same thing year-in and year-out for years or decades. Spending time, effort, and dinero on a candidate who likely will ONLY distinguish himself from Santorum in terms of party affiliation?! Maybe that works with the DLC crowd, but not for me. If the Dems wish to keep fielding candidates like Casey, they will continue to be a minority party. Where’s the motivation for the party’s base? It doesn’t exist.
then get back to reality.
You know, I was going to ignore your post untill you started in with the ‘reality’ czar stuff, that’s not ‘reality’, that’s faith based politics. Casey will not win, the GOP hasn’t put much effort into any race yet because it’s early in the election cycle.
What Casey will do is depress voter turnout amoungst Dem voters.
a, depressing voter turnout, a classic REPUBLICAN tactic. what the fuck.
don’t let them. vote/support Chuck Pennacchio
a classic REPUBLICAN tactic
Precisely. Mr. Yee you have my unrestrained admiration.
🙂
The GOP hasn’t chimed in b/c the Polls are so bad for Santorum. Their money is going elsewhere. Donors were already directed to donate to Forrester’s NJ Gov campaign, instead of Santorum. Rendell will be on the ballot, no voter turnourt depression. And according to Mr. Yee, Rendell being on the ballot is what caused Casey to win last time.
Rendell will be on the ballot, no voter turnourt depression. And according to Mr. Yee, Rendell being on the ballot is what caused Casey to win last time.
Governor Rendell has his own problems and a deeply dissatisfied electorate to deal with. And, like I said, Casey’s lead is heading south in a hurry.
I want to say something that may or may not upset some here; however, it is worth saying, I believe. Once the blatant DC big mouths for the democratic party stop interfering into our desires of what we want or not want is the beginning of that which is the real democrat party out here in the heartland of America. It is the strategists that keep upsetting everyone with what they say we ought to believe/want. This is horse manure in my opinion. They have never asked ME what I believe in or what I want in my government. I think that is where their downfall is. I think the likes of the DCCC and the DLC keep spouting off this horse manure, the less we will win, and by we, I mean the democrats with the help of the independents and others, that want a change. I hope I have said this correctly, but I truly believe this with all my heart. Therefore, when I am called to give my little amount of money for the cause, I hesitate, for fear it will go directly to the above named groups. See where I am coming from? Which recently happened to me. When asked from me to the caller if the money I give will go to the dlc, the caller did not even know what the dlc was and she was calling on behalf of the democratic party..go figure…..I had to explain it to her…so sad IMHO..what is this?
the exact quote from my friend was:
If I were to write that a certain politician was a sandwich bag filled with lukewarm Vaseline and crushed Valium, would you know who I was referring to?
The Democratic establishment has been pulling this crap all over the country.
I believe it is a deliberate attempt to tell the grassroots not to mess with the paternalistic big boys. They know best. They have the power. They want us subserviant to them rather than remembering that they are, in fact, public servants.
And another thing. Who would have believed even a year ago that “Little Ricky Santorum’s” biggest ally in his re-election bid would turn out to be none other than the senior (Democratic) senator from New York, Chucky Schumer?
Even the Ancient Greeks would have had a hard time writing such a “tragedy”.
You can drop a note into the DSCC’s blog. I did:
http://www.fromtheroots.org/
I got home an hour ago and wondered what was happening out in blog world …
am I the ONLY psuedo Dem who doesn’t want to spend a second of time or 1 hard earned dime on these fucking losers?
I was a $4.25 / hr. cook in 1980 when I was 20 in 12% unemployment MA., I knew RayGun was a goddam fascist, I knew he was a fucking liar, I knew the Dems didn’t have any messages worth a shit to the apathetic and / or flag waving 5 buck / hour food service slaves, and by 1984 I knew the Dems strategy for winning campaigns sucked.
HOWEVER
I have become more convinced over the decades that the problem is NOT the aristocrats –
know what, they have existed since before the pharoahs and they will exist till the sun fries the planet, and they will ALWAYS want to have everyone under their thumb.
The Problem is the people on “my side” who are more committed to staying in charge and living large than being leaders. My “leaders” are almost just fucking parasites, except parasites aren’t typically telling the host how to keep the parasite living in Georgetown and lunching at the Four Seasons.
thnxs for the great post.
we have only begun to fight.
rmm.