MoveOn, Liberty City work together to crush a liberal reformer in ‘06
The DNC toadies MoveOn and self-bashing Philadelphia gay group Liberty City Democratic Club have launched an Anybody But Santorum ship which should fare every bit as well as the S.S. Anybody But Bush did in 2004 and the H.M.S. Titanic did on her maiden voyage.
When these folks say Anybody But…, which suggests maximum choice, what they actually mean is the totalitarian Nobody But…, the blanks filled in with the names "John Kerry" and "Bob Casey, Jr."
Senator Kerry is still actively opposing gay marriage, even just within the State of Massachusetts, which is what the sexual minority lobbying groups have earned from the Democrats in exchange for being a loyal voting block which donated millions to the Kerry campaign in 2004. This isn’t even to mention the barring of transgendered-supportive language in the 2004 party platform (note how the headline and conclusion of the article to which I link directly contradicts its contents!) and President Clinton’s ruinous and craven "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" policy (one cooked up while Democrats held the White House and both Houses of Congress; the excuse being..?). DADT should be contrasted with the actions of President Truman regarding military racial discrimination back in the 1940s; Truman was hardly some sort of radical, and African-Americans were hardly giving the sort of money to the Democrats that the gay lobbies do now. As for votes, well, the average African-American of the day simply couldn’t. Compare and contrast, friends.
So much for the recent past, now we look to the future and the 2006 PA Senate race… which appears likely to pit rabidly Catholic anti-gay, anti-abortion Senator Rick "Lube and Feces" Santorum (R-PA) against rabidly Catholic anti-gay, anti-abortion Bob Casey, Jr. Casey is the son of contraversial former [rabidly Catholic anti-gay, anti-abortion] PA Governor Bob Casey, Sr., now deceased. Casey’s primary qualifications appear to be his father’s name, and his extensive connections to the corrupt and frequently ineffective statewide Democratic party chiefs. The generally unpopular Casey Jr. ["struck out"/"went off the rails with his train"] against reporter-choking, death warrant-signing Ed Rendell in the last gubernatorial primary.
(For those keen on irony and hypocrisy, Rendell signed one of his 38-and-counting death warrants specifically because choking a woman, as a particular perp did, is held to be an especially heinous murder technique! If pattern-seeking is more your thing, consider that Ed is not the only PA politician with this nagging citizen-choking habit.)
Casey then rode the family name and Kerry coattails to the State Treasurer’s position just last year, and started the position which he is immediately campaigning to leave in late January 2005. For some reason this isn’t being discussed as odd or irresponsible.
In case you forget what Dad Casey was like:
"A fierce pro-life advocate, Casey refused to campaign for candidates (even Democrats) who supported abortion rights - including his own lieutenant governor - when he sought to succeed Casey. In 1992, Casey refused to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton due to his stance on the issue, and as a result was denied the opportunity to speak at that year’s Democratic National Convention."
How was Dad Casey originally elected to office, anyway?
"After a decade practicing law, Casey made a fourth bid for governor in 1986, billing himself as the "real Bob Casey" to distinguish himself and make light of the mistaken identity follies of the past. Dubbed "the three-time loss from Holy Cross" by detractors, Casey hired James Carville and Paul Begala to his campaign staff, two then-generally unknown political strategists.
Unlike his three previous tries, Casey won the Democratic primary, defeating Philadelphia district attorney (and future governor) Ed Rendell. He then faced Thornburgh’s lieutenant governor, William Scranton III in the general election. The race was considered too close to call until the week before the election, when the Casey campaign staff, led by Carville, launched the now infamous "guru ad" which attacked Scranton’s practice of transcendental meditation. The ad campaign depicting Scranton as a "dope smoking hippie," complete with 1960’s-era pictures of the lieutenant governor wearing long hair, a beard, and tie-dyed clothing. Casey defeated Scranton by a razor-thin margin of 79,000 votes."
I see, then, he won by bashing experimental religious practice and the flower of social liberalism. Fantastic.
But at least the old man toed the Catholic line all the way and opposed the death penalty. We’ll take it. Same with the son, right?
"Casey, like his father, is a devout Catholic and opposes abortion. However, he has drawn fire from some Catholics over his support of capital punishment, which his father opposed."
Casey has also found time to oppose stem cell research and has no particular problem with the Iraq war. So we’re essentially talking about a reverse Panglossian situation in which Casey Jr., drivin’ that train high-on ordained, is the Worst of All Possible Worlds. "Penn-syl-vania, better watch your speed…"
Now, here’s the kicker:
MoveOn and Liberty City have already announced that they’re lined up behind Casey in 2006, even though the Democratic primary is a year away. It gets worse: There is a completely liberal, untainted candidate running against Casey in the primary, Chuck Pennacchio. Follow the link to his website. He is pro-choice and supports full rights for sexual minorities. He also opposes the Iraq War, which is of course the majority position now in America.
MoveOn sent out an email last week to their Pennsylvania mailing list downplaying Pennacchio and building up Casey the only possible way an organization that sucks money and time away from the liberal grassroots could - by completely avoiding Casey’s positions on all relevant federal issues. What a bunch of turds.
As for Liberty City, this was in the most recent edition of City Paper:
Democrats running against Santorum include conservative Democrat Bob Casey Jr., currently the state treasurer, and Chuck Pennacchio, a pro-choice liberal. Despite his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, Casey will likely get a lot of the gay and lesbian vote in both the primary and the general election.
"I see it as more of an anti-Santorum vote than anything," said Michael Marsico, Liberty City co-chairman, when asked about Casey’s socially conservative views. "We can work with Casey."
Now, Marisco was one of the drunken half-wits from Liberty City who screamed and spit at me and members of my volunteer corps while successfully collecting signatures for ballot access last year at Equality Forum. Apparently he can’t work with me even as I campaigned on a platform of full equality and respect, but as a loyal Democrat he can work "with" (I believe the operable preposition is "for" if not "under") any rabid homophobe the party machinery sends his way. Mikey Boy’s problem with me was that he feared my candidacy would take votes away from, and I’m not making this up, I have witnesses, the aforementioned John Kerry! Liberty City were in fact giving out Kerry stickers at the event, in between mimosas, and I would refer the reader to the beginning of this article to see what good that did them.
Philadelphia’s shitty City Paper has put the boot into "fringe candidates like Charles Pennacchio" before and probably will again. It seems the local ‘alternative’ press would rather write people off on behalf of an ineffective and corrupt machine than stand and fight for their supposed beliefs by giving an honest citizen running for office some respectful press. What a rag.
The Big Tent of the Democratic Party is big to admit socially weak groups of people who exchange their time and money for a total lack of influence, a situation that has grown so tragicomic that the component groups have become trained to request not a damn thing in their own best interest, not even in their own party’s primary. Organ grinders would give their eye teeth to get that kind of training out of a marmoset.
