Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

Like Albert, I’m perplexed by MoveOnPac’s early endorsement of Robert Casey in the upcoming Pennsylvania Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. While, I haven’t invested myself in Chuck Pennacchio in the way Albert has, I’m disappointed that MoveOn has moved to endorse a candidate who really hasn’t, as yet, provided the voting public with any policy substance over one who has. This is especially disappointing given that we are still so far away from the actual vote, and if Pennacchio is to have a credible run he will need all of the progressive grassroots support he can muster.

In his post, Albert discusses a conversation he had on Sunday with a Casey intern. I should add that I was a part of this same discussion, and walked away with more questions than answers. Since the discussion was casual and off record I won’t go into the details, but I think Albert’s description of his feelings walking away from the conversation speaks for both of us.

If the Pennsylvania Democratic Party is to nominate a staunch Pro-Life candidate to run against Rick Santorum, I would imagine that the abortion issue will indeed consume a great deal of our debate leading up until the November 2006 vote. Roe V. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973. Politicians have been running campaigns and raising money vowing to criminalize the procedure for nearly 32 years. I fail to understand how this registers as logical or even useful strategy, given that it has, to my knowledge, failed to prevent even a single unwanted pregnancy or a single abortion. At present, we have an anti-abortion president, coupled with and anti-abortion majority in both houses of Congress, yet we have not seen a statistically significant decrease in the overall number of abortions. Though I would never be so cynical, one could almost imagine that they are dragging this issue out and doing nothing to actually reduce the actual incidence of abortion, purely for political gain.

I was assured by the Casey intern, with whom Albert and I spoke with on Sunday, that Mr. Casey is an honest man who will not hedge on his abortion position for political expediency. Well that’s just swell, but what I would like to hear from Mr. Casey is what he plans to do to actually reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and thus abortions, as the current strategy is an abject failure. If he really believes in this position, surely he must have an answer. Does he plan to shut his eyes tight and hope for circumstances that might allow for criminalization, or does he have an actual, comprehensive plan which might actually reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and thus abortions? Should he succeed in criminalizing abortion, does he plan to declare victory and close his eyes to what happens next? Does he actually have a program in mind? If history serves as any example, criminalization probably won’t do much to actually reduce the number abortions, or anything else, and the loss of all regulation as a result of that criminalization, will probably lead to some very brutal outcomes. How does Mr. Casey plan to deal with these realities?

Given that his position is at odds with much of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania, I don’t think that he deserves the nomination if he doesn’t have answers to these, and many other questions. I’m by no means a one issue voter, but given that this issue is of particular concern to so many voters who we will need in November of 2006 if we are to defeat Rick Santorum, we really need more that pat answers, simple positions, and regular bullshit. For myself, I like a little depth and a little sound policy, and I hope to hear it from Mr. Casey.

The reason I bring up this particular concern is that, despite whatever anybody may say, the Democratic base is going to need to be out in force if we expect to defeat Rick Santorum in 2006. While Santorum is such an unpalpable figure and so out of touch with his constituency that most of us can’t even imagine he could ever be reelected, he is an extremely formidable politician of considerable skill, and none of us should ever forget it. If you don’t believe that he’s just a bit more than very dangerous as a politician, you’re way off your rocker. The Democratic nominee will need considerable enthusiasm, for his or her candidacy, from the Democratic base, beyond mere Santorum hatred, if he or she is to have a chance in hell of winning. If Casey is to be the guy, and I’m not pulling for that outcome at this point, he has a lot of questions to answer and a lot of policies to develop and explain clearly. I’m stuck wondering why MoveOn doesn’t feel the same way. Why the hell didn’t they just take a deep breath and wait?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2005 at 1:22 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.