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Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Implication of the FMA in Pennsylvania
Posted by FesterI have to agree with Kos that Bush did not want to come out for openly enshrining discrimination into the basic values and laws of our American experiment. Instead he would have prefered to covertly discriminate and marginalize a segment of our population by executive order, rule design and innuendo. Coming out is an expensive procedure for Bush and it may cost the GOP a Senate seat that is somewhat safe.
Arlen Specter (R-PA) has stated that it is "premature" for him to consider the need for a constitutional amendment and that this is the proper question for the states to decide amongst and for themselves. This is a statement that is pretty damm close to the Kerry's and Edwards' positions, so it is one that I can live with.
However he is facing a strong challenge from the extreme, theological right in the form of Rep. Pat Toomey. Toomey is one of the co-sponsors of the amendment. His entire campaign strategy is based on riling up the conservative base against the Republican in Name Only Specter. This is an issue that he will use successfully to do so in my opinion. However, I believe that Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D-PA) the main Democratic challenger should be able to beat Toomey in the general election while Specter should be able to beat Hoeffel in most circumstances.
So this is a costly exercise of Bush screwing his party in order to further his own political hide... not that I am complaining.
Posted at 08:00 AM in Pennsylvania | Technorati
Comments
Speaking of Specter v. Toomey. Has anyone else seen the Specter ad attacking Toomey from the right? It complains about Toomey voting against abstinence driven sex education and other far right issues. I looked on the Specter website but it wasn't one of the ads they had posted. I wonder if they have just been running it in rural markets.
Posted by: Seamus at February 25, 2004 12:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Hahah... I like how you referred to Bush as "coming out." If only!
Question: Can Toomey drive up Specter's negatives to a point where, even if Specter wins the primary, he's wounded enough that Hoeffel can win the general? I know Hoeffel's a long-shot, but I've always felt that so-called "moderate" Republicans are actually our best targets if we can effectively link them to DeLay - and I think we can.
Posted by: DavidNYC at February 25, 2004 01:39 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Seamus --
yep, i've seen the Specter ad. it's playing frequently in the Harrisburg area... definitely a conservative market, if not necessarily a "rural" one (although an argument could be made....)
Posted by: TyWebb at February 26, 2004 10:55 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Let them eat their own. It makes our job easier. I love watching Republicans squabble with each other.
Posted by: Regime Change USA - Anti-Bush Apparel at March 7, 2004 12:14 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment