Fight Like Hell
by ChrisMarch 1st, 2006 10:16 pm
Chuck Pennacchio, on running for Senate, progressive power, fighting like hell and so much more:
I saw the prospect of Rick Santorum winning reelection as a train wreck. That’s quite literally how I visualized the Senate Democratic politics of Pennsylvania. Democrats in Pennsylvania don’t know how to win US Senate seats. So my first motivation was: How do we stop Rick Santorum from being reelected in 2006? And I scratched my head and I looked at the history of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania and realized that they’ve lost 14 straight US Senate elections since 1964. The last one who won, in 1962, was Joe Clark, who was progressive. And I said to myself, this party is not going to choose a candidate who can beat Rick Santorum, I’m sure of it. And it’s come to fruition. That’s the reality: They’ve chosen a guy, Bob Casey Jr., who, is as contrary to Democratic core principles and values - at least the values that I think of when I associate myself with the Democratic Party… He’s as contrary to those principles and values as anyone they possibly could have scrounged up anywhere or any place within the boundaries of the Keystone State. They’ve tried to go with this person who can not beat Rick Santorum; I’m absolutely convinced of that. So, in that sense, the thinking of November 2003 has been competely validated by a party that does not know how to win[…]
I actually talk quite a bit - as a historian, but also because I think it’s a good reminder - about Harry Truman and how he ran for president in 1948. I think he was actually outflanked on the Left by Henry Wallace. But Harry Truman did run as a progressive Democrat in 1948: He ran on full employment and on living-wage legislation. He ran on single-payer health care. He was the first modern civil-rights president. And he ran on a foreign-policy strategy, alliance building, that ultimately enabled the United States to prevail in the Cold War. This is the [Democratic] party that won even when the country was conservative - because the country really was in a conservative mindset in 1948; the Republicans had come back to control the Congress, the country was trying to get back to normalcy and trying to put the world and World War II behind them. Still, Truman was able to tap into the base and he was able to keep the base of the party together by fighting on the very values and principles that tie us together today. Constitutinal rights, rights that people are going to be able to have a quality existence and quality education and housing and employment, a living wage and all those other principles he espoused. That’s who the Democratic Party is when it’s at its best.
It’s not simply that there needs to be a place for progressives in the party. I would turn that question around and say now is the time for progressives to lead the Democratic Party out of the woods and back into majority control in the House, in the Senate, in the presidency, the federal courts and the Supreme Court. The only way to get it back is for progressives to be bold, to be courageous, to stand up and fight like hell.
That’s from an interview conducted by Natalie Davis of Natalie Davis’ All Facts and Opinions. Like myself, Davis is a fan of Pennacchio, and the interview’s questions are reflective of that. Chuck’s words are, as always, a much needed salve for the Pennsylvania progressive’s soul, so be sure to have a read if you have the need. Chuck is the last candidate I intend to endorse or promote for a few cycles. After this one I’m done, as my support doesn’t help the candidate and it doesn’t help my website. That said, have a look at Pennacchio’s positions and think about supporting Chuck with your vote and, if you can, a little cash.
(Via Rubber Hose)
