Feeling about Casey

[erpowers]

It seems that the Pennsylvania Democratic Party is going to support Casey in the election for Senate. What is the feeling of the people at DU concerning the issue of pushing pro-choice Democrats out of the race in favor of Casey.

I think this is a bad idea for many reasons. First, it is possible that Casey will not in that the anti-abortion Republicans will not vote for casey that he is not as far to the right as Santorum. In addition, pro-choice Democrats may not vote for Casey because he is anti-abortion. Second, if Casey gets to the Senate he could vote for Bush's nominees to the Supreme Court or vote against the filibuster. Third, I do not think we should be moving to the right. I contend are not voting for the Democratic Party because we have already moved too far to the right. The Democratic Party needs to move to the left and become an opposition to the Republican Party. I just do not think the Democratic Party should be giving up its ideas in order to win. It is crazy that we are trying to move to the right to win. I think there are people are not voting that we should go after. I think people will be willing to vote for the Democratic Party if we stand up and talk about jobs, health care, and corporate welfare.

[mrgorth]

1. Casey is not "to the right"

Casey is quite to the left except on this one issue. You can vote for Chuck Pennachio in the primaries if you want. After that it's Casey or Sanitarium. I've already signed up to volunteer.

[GOPBasher]

8. Thank you. :-)

I'm with you.

[Zynx]

2. Casey is an economic liberal at least.

He is socially conservative, but he is not a sellout on economic issues like Joe Lieberman.

[Wabbajack]

3. Santorum

has proven he can beat conservative Democrats like Klink and Casey. A LIBERAL is the best bet!

[Zynx]

4. Klink didn't have any backing or name recognition and still got 46%.

Casey is a far superior candidate to Klink.

[LynneSin]

12. Don't compare Klink to Casey

because they are 2 very separate people.

In 2004, Bob Casey Jr. received more votes then any other statewide candidate - even more than Arlen Specter (Casey I believe was running for treasurer). Casey has statewide recognizion that Ron Klink never had. Casey has money and organization behind him which Klink never had. And Casey has a powerful & popular candidate running with him in 2006 that will help get him elected - which is Gov Ed Rendell (rendell is up for re-election). Klink had none of those advantages in 2000 - he was destined to lose.

And like another poster mentioned, Casey is pro-life (meaning he actually cares about the kid once they are born and he's for education reform to help reduce the number of pregnancies). However, outside of that issue Casey is pretty good democrat. Hell, you saying that Harry Reid is conservative? I mean Reid is also pro-life but he's been doing a hell of a job sticking it to repukes as the minority leader

[Bluzmann57]

5. What are Mr. Casey's stance on other issues?

We had a Democrat who ran for first district representative here in Iowa who was anti-abortion but was a progressive on all other issues, save for gun control. Here in Iowa, it is not a good idea to be anti-gun anyway. But I digress. Gluba lost but it wasn't because of his stand on abortion, it was because Nussle was well funded by the rnc and possibly DeLay as well. And apparently people bought his (Nussle's) message too. Now if Mr. Casey is anti abortion for religious or other reasons but has many other views similar to your own, there is no reason to oppose him, in my opinion. Find out where he stands on other issues which are important to you and make a choice based on that, unless you are a one issue voter.

[mrgorth]

6. Here's the link

http://ga4.org/senate2006/homepage

[RB TexLa]

7. Santorum or Casey?

And how many of Bush's appointments will Santorum vote to confirm? Is it possible that Casey might vote for less of them, while voting for more than say John Kerry? I would much rather have a anti choice Democrat than Rick Santorum. I think we should be doing the same thing here in Texas. We have to run people that can get elected. I would bet that the Penn Democratic party has an idea about who can and can't win.

As far as people who are not voting, if they are not voting it's hard to make them vote. Any time you hear a candidate talk about bringing new votes to the polls to win you know they are in trouble. Political campaigns and issue groups make it pretty easy for people to vote.




PS I really don't know much about Casey and his positions other than the abortion issue because it has been in the news. Far all I know he could be on the left of the party and not pro choice, I have met such people.

[GOPBasher]

9. One conservative issue does not put him "to the right."

Casey, from all I've heard, is liberal on everything else. I always criticize Republicans who are single-issue voters -- like the gun nuts and pro-lifers -- so why would I do the same thing? I'm not a single-issue voter, and I never will be. There are about 100 issues I care about; 99 out of 100 is not bad.

[LynneSin]

10. My thoughts from someone who was never a Casey fan

I cringed at first when I heard this, then I looked at the big picture and realized that it might not be a bad idea afterall. We ran someone without name recognition against Santorum in 2000 and we lost big time. Casey may be the best chance of getting Rick Santorum out of office. Sure he's pro-life, but I'd rather have him a Senator in DC than a governor in Pennsylvania. Let me explain.

If Casey Jr. was running against Specter, hell I'd even consider voting for Specter since he's a moderate republican who is pro-choice. But he's not, he's running against Rick Santorum who is probably in the top #3 for worst US Senators in DC right now. Santorum is a neo-conservative "Do as I say not as I do" fundie who once compared Homosexuality to Beastialty. Santorum is the voice of George W. Bush NOT Pennsylvania and with Bill Frist retiring, Santorum may be in line for Senate Majority Leader (he's 3rd in the leadership line). Outside of being pro-life (which I would call Casey since he supports children after they are born and also supports better education to reduce the number of abortions) is still a much better choice that Santorum AND he has the name recognition to get Santorum out of office. Plus running alongside very popular Gov Ed Rendell will make that pair a powerful duo to beat. Rendell will help deliver the Philadelphia vote for Casey and Casey will help deliver Pittsburgh area especially if repukes try running former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann for governor.

Finally, another reason why I want Casey as a senator is simple - he's safer as a Senator than a governor. If RoeVWade is overturned, it'll be up to the states to decide if women have a choice or not. Ed Rendell will protect that choice - Bob Casey won't. Since Casey has run for every other statewide office in PA (and overwhelmingly won each time) you know he's gunning for governor. Hell his dad ran 4 times until he finally got the PA statehouse. Hopefully a turn as Senator will keep him in DC for about 12 years and we can get a president in the White House who will protect women's choice. Plus by then hopefully PA will have groomed another democrat who is pro-choice and can replace Ed Rendell as governor. What PA really needs in 2006 is a Lt. Governor who isn't already 80 years old (or really close to it). Catherin Baker Knoll is the current Lt. Governor and will probably be too old to run for governor once Rendell has retired.

[theboss]

13. Excellent point

We can afford diversity of opinions on some issues in the House and Senate. A pro-life Democrat isn't going to be able to do much there because he/she probably won't be on judiciary and that's the only place they can cause change to the law at this point.

However, a pro-life Democrat in the executive branch at any level is a bit trickier.

To me, this is a no-brainer. Santorum needs to go. We need to beat Republicans to win back the majority. And Casey can do it.

[theboss]

11. The Casey name is huge in PA

I have a bad reaction to any type of dynasty in politics, but I'm willing to put aside those feelings to get rid of Santorum. And Casey can do it.

[LynneSin]

14. People have to consider who Casey is running against

My cat killed a bug yesterday that would have been a better choice for US Senate over Rick Santorum.

[theboss]

15. Precisely, I can think of dozens of Republicans I would approve of...

...if it meant getting rid of Santorum.