A victory for Chuck Pennacchio, a pro choice Democrat, would give us two pro choice senators representing a predominantly pro choice state. Now before everyone assails me by saying that Sen. Specter isn’t really pro choice with his defending of now Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, by voting by party lines, that’s part of the point I’m building on here.
While candidate Casey had no reason to come out in support of the nominations of Roberts and Alito, he did and now it’s out there for all to see and judge and point at and sound the fucking alarms with. If he were a Senator as of last month, knowing everything that we knew about pro corporation and anti choice Alito, Casey would’ve broken party lines to vote in favor of his confirmation. Senator Pennacchio would’ve raised hell in the chamber, and would have voted with his party and with his heart against the nomination. This is, of course, assuming that the nominations would have already made it through the Judiciary Committee.
And what happens on Alito’s first day at the office? The NY Times Editorial page called it: “Starting off with a splash” as the SCOTUS agreed to hear a case concerning late term abortion with two newly confirmed conservative justices. But that case won’t be heard by the court for some time. And on the heels of that announcement, came the news that South Dakota lawmakers wanted to pass legislation that would outlaw almost all instances of abortion.
If the bill passes a narrowly divided Senate in a vote expected on Wednesday, and is signed by Gov. Michael Rounds, a Republican who opposes abortion, advocates of abortion rights have pledged to challenge it in court immediately — and that is precisely what the bill’s supporters have in mind.
Optimistic about the recent changes on the United States Supreme Court, some abortion opponents say they have new hope that a court fight over a ban here could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal around the country.
“I’m convinced that the timing is right for this,” said State Representative Roger Hunt, a Republican who has sponsored the bill, noting the appointments of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the court.
And looking even further down the line, the issue of an 85-year-old Justice John Stevens. Could W possibly have the opportunity to place a third über conservative justice on the highest court in the land?
Update [2006-2-22 19:45:10 by albert]: The bill passed 23 to 12. Via Argus Leader of Sioux City:
House Bill 1215 would ban most abortions in South Dakota.
It now goes back to the House, which passed an earlier version and must now decide whether to accept changes made by the Senate.
The bill would then go to Gov. Mike Rounds.
I was also taking a look at the numbers in the 2004 election. In the Senate, the Dems lost four seats, but they had a popular vote margin of nearly five million votes. But in the House, the Dems only lost three seats and also lost the popular vote by three million [the numbers]. The Dems are going to need every single vote they can get to defeat candidates on the other side of the aisle so why not fire up the base? Chris Bowers just noted some alarming numbers, that according to a recent Gallup poll, the Dems have lost some 10.5% of their registered voters in the last two mid-term elections. That’s the 10.5% of the base that sit at home because the leadership decides to put up a bunch of fuckwads as candidates thinking everyone will pull the big D lever [or push that button or smack that chad]; obviously we are not.
Which brings me back to the point[s].
How does anointing a candidate who stands on the other side of the aisle on the hot button get out the vote issues help in getting out the vote? It is this angry voter’s opinion that by anointing candidate Casey, the Dems are actively engaging in the tactic of voter fucking suppression, there, I said it. How refreshing would it be to have a Democratic candidate who would fire up the base. Would go town to town to speak with the people in small gatherings, standing next to them and discussing the issues side by side instead of down to them from a podium? How refreshing would it be to have a pro choice, pro universal healthcare, pro higher education, pro embryonic stem cell research, pro privacy anti war / pro troop withdrawal and anti Patriot Act [in it’s current verbiage] candidate representing a long list of real Progressive Democratic ideals. Ideals that the Democratic party seems to laugh at while trying to find niches of non-existent swing voters and a fraction of a percentage of conservative voters. Ideals that the Progressive and Moderate bases of the Democratic party stalwartly stand behind.
Democrats did not agree with the confirmation of Alito, but Casey did. Pennacchio stood with his fellow democrats in condemning the confirmation [and the nomination] of such an extremist judge. Casey couldn’t even find it in himself to stand along party lines. The pro choice Specter stood along his party lines when he voted to confirm. With his support of Alito’s nomination, Casey has demonstrated that as Senator, he cannot be counted on to vote along party lines when it comes down the two most important things a Senator does: vote to go to war and vote to confirm judges.
Supporting Chuck Pennacchio first in the PA Democratic primary and then in the general election against Sen. Man on Dog is more than a step in the right direction, it is a leap to the roots of the Democratic party; the people on the ground, in the streets.
Conviction wins.
