AMERICAblog: Pennsylvania Senator Casey endorses Obama
firebrand
· 1 year ago
I'm practically doing back flips over this. Great news... GO PA.
OBAMA 2008
aquarius2
· 1 year ago
I honestly believe that Howard Dean and others are working toward ending this battle for the nomination. Perhaps Senator Casey was paying attention to Dean and others. In an interview with Harry Smith this morning, Dean said he has talked to the two campaigns and is seeking a July 1st date for the rest of the superdelegates to commit. It also might explain Clinton's little "we will pull together in November" speech yesterday.
I agree...also about Clinton's phony tactic of conciliation for the "good of the party"--it rings true for how she's "managed" her campaign, always a day late and a dollar short, trying to catch up.
It's true that Obama is the Democratic president we've been waiting for. Clinton just doesn't cut it for me, woman or not.
LunaStick
· 1 year ago
Right now hillary's lead is down to 10 points and getting smaller. Obama may not win it outright but as long as he keeps the margin down to 10 points or less, it will be good for him. Hillary must win by 20% or more to justify the unjustifiable. That is to stay in the race. DROP OUT HILLARY!!!
tbhull
· 1 year ago
Everyone can see the writing on the wall as the as the superdelagate dominoes start to fall. The party (which the Clintons onces controlled) has changed and the Hillary is on the out.
The only question left is whether Hillary can gracefully accept a devastating defeat and rejection with grace. Bill will not.
The end is nigh for the Clinton campaign.
firebrand
· 1 year ago
OT ....but this speaks volumes:
WTF Bill Clinton on Rush Limbaugh Show Day of TX Primary
this is very good..i met him,,,i did not expect this
Andrew A. Gill
· 1 year ago
Bob Casey is a powerhouse name in PA. Sort of like Richard Daley in Chicago or (less flatteringly) George Wallace in Alabama.
This is huge. Casey doesn't have Rendell's machine, but PA doesn't really have machine politics, anyway.
Some trivia from Wikipedia:
Restricted from seeking another term as Auditor General, Casey declined to seek the office of State Treasurer in 1976. Instead, a county official who also was named Robert Casey won the Democratic primary and the general election, spending virtually no money and doing virtually no campaigning; voters merely assumed that they were voting for the outgoing Auditor General. In 1980 the Republicans launched an extensive advertising campaign to clarify that "Casey isn't Casey," and the Democratic state treasurer was defeated for re-election.
In 1978, a different Robert Casey, this one a teacher and ice cream parlor owner, likewise received the Democratic party's nomination for Lieutenant Governor, again with a no-spending, no-campaigning strategy. This Casey, who joined Democratic gubernatorial nominee Pete Flaherty, narrowly lost to Richard Thornburgh and William Scranton III.
(If PA had strong machine politics, these people wouldn't have won the nomination)
WeDODeserveTheTruth
· 1 year ago
Ok--I have a very sincere question and I would love to get some feedback from Obama supporters. I'm really struggling to wrap my head around this and really would like to hear what you guys think.
I've been a Hillary supporter from the beginning--you know, experience and all--but I really don't want to jump the Democratic ship should Obama get the nomination. Until recently, I genuinely liked and admired Obama, but...
What I'm struggling coming to grips with is this Reverend Wright thing. I'm not going to make any accusations about what Obama does or does not believe based on his pastor's beliefs... What bugs me is this: Regardless of whether Obama himself agrees with the, as he put it, "controversial" remarks made by his pastor, as an Illinois and now a United States senator, he has sat in those pews for 20 years. What bothers me even more is that he sat in those pews with his CHILDREN. Even if Obama himself can filter what he does and does not agree with, how is it ok to let your children (as children are like little sponges) sit in a church that you claim as your own and soak up views that you, yourself, claim to find distasteful?
I've done quite a bit of work for gay rights over the years. The only thing I can think to compare this to is if my partner and I were to become members of a church headed up by someone like Ted Haggart or James Dobson. Yeah, I'm sure they probably have given many stirring, inspiring sermons. But they have also spewed some of the most hateful anti-gay speech ever. I'm not going to sit there, sorting out what I agree with from what I find insulting and discriminatory--while allowing my children to be exposed to the presentation of such views by someone we supposedly admire and trust. "When the Reverend says God is good and we must worship him, that's right kids. When he says that your mommy and I will burn in hell for all eternity, well, we'll just ignore that..."
At first, I just wrote it off as a mistake and bad judgement. But then it started irking me--for twenty years he was a member! And he was very aware of many of these views which he claims he does not agree with. AND this is his family church! How does the exposure of a whole new generation (Obama's kids) to racist remarks create change in our country? ("Oh, that's just crazy Uncle Wright, kids... Just ignore what he says about Italians...and Jews...and whites...oh, and Americans, in general..." )
Thoughts?
Tizzy
· 1 year ago
Thoughts? Yeah, I've read this concern post from you before. Didn't buy the fake "concern" then and I don't buy it now.
You know what? I personally think the Rev. is wRight. Maybe not about specific things he said, but the tone was right on. When did minorities and put upon people lose the right to be angry about their treatment? Take your false outrage and stick it. And....ohhh, what about the children!!! Shouldn't we WHITEwash history for them, too? God forbid that they might one day "believe" that white americans have shit on as many groups of people as they could get away with through the years.
grasshopper
· 1 year ago
WeDoDeserve,
Why are you equating Reverend Wright condemning racism with Haggard and Dobson proselytizing hate against gays? This is a classic rightwing frame of accusing those on the left who speak up against injustices practiced by our government as America haters. Obama's pastor was a marine. He fought for this country only to come back to a country that treated him as a second class citizen. As a gay man, I would think you can sympathize.
jr
· 1 year ago
Hillary will probably key his car when she's in PA
Coming Undone
· 1 year ago
O/T
Rice hits U.S. 'birth defect'
March 28, 2008
By Nicholas Kralev - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.
"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."
As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that."
"That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today," she said.
Seems the conservative Catholic Casey (anti-abortion, pro gun) endorsing Obama may go some way with his working class constituents. His daughters are crazy for Obama.
And the Clintons snubbed his dad, Gov. Casey, at the 1992 convention.
Gusboy
· 1 year ago
WeDDeserveTheTruth Here's my take -- as someone who strongly supported Clinton for awhile there (yeah, the experience thing), voted for her on Super Tuesday -- and just recently made my first $$$ primary campaign donation (I was holding off on contributions until the general election) -- to Sen. OBAMA. Clinton's tactics have really appalled me, so now I look at her experience as really, really NOT good experience to rely on. I no longer trust her. I see far more divisiveness coming from her campaign and Bill, than from Obama's, and the frequent praise (Bill just yesterday) of McCain is beyond disgusting, given what is at stake for this country -- and world -- if the Republicans retain control of the White House.
As for Wright -- and Obama staying in his congregation for 20 years. That really doesn't bother me. I've taught comparative religion in college (as a mere lecturer), including courses on 'liberation theology', which includes 'black liberation theology'. The language in those texts, from theologians like James Cone, was filled with incendiary language about 'whitey'. As a white person, I found that uncomfortable -- as did many students -- BUT, if you study black history in this country, it is really not hard to understand where all that anger comes from. Despite what Pat Buchanan says about slavery being 'good' for blacks, you read history about slave ships coming over and running out of food, and weighting down loads of black women, children, men -- the slave 'cargo' -- and tossing them overboard so the crew could survive, and that's pretty damn disgusting. The fact that heinous acts of racism continued throughout the 20th century -- even though there HAS also been progress -- means, to me, that that anger, based on that particular history, is not going to easily go away. So, if you've seen many instances -- in theological texts also -- which express this rage in excessive terms, but terms having a context (as Obama said in his brilliant speech), then what Wright said in some of his sermons, is not anything to make much of, for me. If you sit in a church for 20 years, and 98% of what you hear is good stuff, and 2% (or 5 or 10%, whatever -- a minority percentage) is ugly vitriol -- but the ACTIONS of the Reverend and his church are constructive to the community (Wright is known to have reached out to the white community, and not cultivated racist actions) -- then I really wouldn't expect Obama or anyone else to feel they had to leave. What he said in those few sermons amounts, I think, to a sliver of ice skimmed off the top of that iceberg. The media make so many things seem 100 times bigger/more significant than they really are. To me, this is all just the 'cadence' of a minority group expressing justifiable anger through hyperbole. So, as a white person -- used to seeing this in other formats -- I feel I can deal with it. it is not comfortable, but it is what it is -- and I'm quite sure it hasn't been comfortable -- in far more REAL terms -- for black folk to be in American culture and seeing, unquestioned, all the nasty stereotypes about them circulating as humor in tv, movies, books, etc.
I say all this as a white person and a FORMER Clinton supporter. Good luck with your processing of all this! Gusboy
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
The Clintons are finding out that payback is a bitch...
WeDODeserveTheTruth
· 1 year ago
Thanks, Gusboy. It sounds like you've studied in some fields that have enabled you to have more of a balanced take on things (rather than the typical kneejerk reactions that most of us would have). That's always a good thing.
I just watched Obama on "The View," too--just a few minutes after I posted. The interview answered a lot of my burning questions--my only fear is that if he gets the nomination, this whole thing will have an impact in his ability to attract certain demographics of white voters.
I really don't want to see a President McCain...but I also don't want to go into yet another election with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about both of the candidates we've been presented with.
aquarius2
· 1 year ago
Gusboy
I was neutral after Edwards left and then slowly moved to Obama. I just couldn't take Hillary, why I am not sure, but I didn't like her messages. Now it seems my gut instinct was correct. She has major credibility problems. I commented on this in the above post but thought I would also post here. The linked article describes her credibility issues. Seems the press and the voters are catching on..
I did a brief Wiki search on Reverend Wright. Much of what the media is giving is snippets or sound bites from selected speeches of Wright's. This link gives more insight to snippets by referencing the rest of the sermon. After reading this I am pretty much okay with Wirght.
Juan Williams said on NPR that this wasn't a big deal, since Casey doesn't have the "Democrat machine" behind him like HRC does. As if this was bad thing...
maggiePA08
· 1 year ago
First he beat Santorum and now this! Happy dance!
WeDODeserveTheTruth
· 1 year ago
Aquarius, I'll definately take a look at the Wiki link. If I didn't want both sides of the story, I wouldn't have come looking for info and feedback... What you're saying sounds a lot like what Obama said on "The View" this morning (if I'd seen that first, I probably wouldn't have posted)--that the media audio clips don't paint the whole picture.
I don't like all the negative media attention and sniping--from either side. McCain has been out making speeches on the issues that really matter and we're stuck in this personal back-and-forth. Unfortunately, once something has been dragged out (not just about Obama--I refer also to things like Hillary "misspeaking" about the Bosnia trip, too), it has to be addressed and put to rest. If it's not an issue now, it sure as heck will be one in the general election.
Regardless of who we support, I think we ought to be able to discuss these things without having a, well...tizzy. :-)
WeDODeserveTheTruth
· 1 year ago
Grasshopper, I'm not equating the TYPES of things said by Wright with the TYPES of things said by Haggard, Dobson, etc.
What was saying was this: Obama himself condemned the things said by Wright. (So I'm not personally judging whether what Wright said is right or wrong; I'm basing this on OBAMA himself condemned them.) Yet he and his family continued to sit in his church--and I was asking why.
What I compared this to is if I and my family sat in the church of someone whose views we did not agree with--such as Dobson. I was not comparing the speech of one with the other, by any means. I was comparing the situation.
Now--it seems from Obama's interview this morning that the views he condemns were not a regular part of Wright's sermons. That changes things. What I was asking before was--why expose your family to speech and opinion that are against what you claim to believe in? According to what he says, he did not.
I have an appreciation for the anger and frustration that is caused by being treated like a second class citizen. And I don't want to get into a debate over whether Wright is correct in his views--being that Obama has already condemned them. What I now wonder is how this will affect the general election--and white voters who WON'T bother to seek out both sides of the story. We only need to look at who is in the White House now to see that many, many voters won't.
grasshopper
· 1 year ago
WeDoDeserve,
Polls show Barack's support among whites is higher than Hillary's. Whether this translates to election day in November is anyone's guess. But given the high voter turnout we experienced so far in the primary and America's desire for change, I'm confident Barack will bury McSame.
Sarah B.
· 1 year ago
Pennsylvania Senator Casey endorses Obama
This is HUGE! -- great news, indeed.
Senator Bob Casey is enormously popular with the people of Pennsylvania, and his endorsement of Barack Obama at this time is definitely a plus.
The Casey family is very much loved and respected by Democrats, Independents--and even many GOPers--in Pennsylvania, so they are going to pay a lot of attention to this endorsement. :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dula
· 1 year ago
Some say Hillary wants to destroy Obama in order to position herself for a 2012 run against McCain. Another way of doing that is to run as McCain's VP now. Then when he is totally senile and worn out in 2012, run for Prez as the Moderate Republican we all know she is.
All Comments
OBAMA 2008
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/BRE...
It's true that Obama is the Democratic president we've been waiting for. Clinton just doesn't cut it for me, woman or not.
DROP OUT HILLARY!!!
The only question left is whether Hillary can gracefully accept a devastating defeat and rejection with grace. Bill will not.
The end is nigh for the Clinton campaign.
WTF Bill Clinton on Rush Limbaugh Show Day of TX Primary
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/...
This is huge. Casey doesn't have Rendell's machine, but PA doesn't really have machine politics, anyway.
Some trivia from Wikipedia:
Restricted from seeking another term as Auditor General, Casey declined to seek the office of State Treasurer in 1976. Instead, a county official who also was named Robert Casey won the Democratic primary and the general election, spending virtually no money and doing virtually no campaigning; voters merely assumed that they were voting for the outgoing Auditor General. In 1980 the Republicans launched an extensive advertising campaign to clarify that "Casey isn't Casey," and the Democratic state treasurer was defeated for re-election.
In 1978, a different Robert Casey, this one a teacher and ice cream parlor owner, likewise received the Democratic party's nomination for Lieutenant Governor, again with a no-spending, no-campaigning strategy. This Casey, who joined Democratic gubernatorial nominee Pete Flaherty, narrowly lost to Richard Thornburgh and William Scranton III.
(If PA had strong machine politics, these people wouldn't have won the nomination)
I've been a Hillary supporter from the beginning--you know, experience and all--but I really don't want to jump the Democratic ship should Obama get the nomination. Until recently, I genuinely liked and admired Obama, but...
What I'm struggling coming to grips with is this Reverend Wright thing. I'm not going to make any accusations about what Obama does or does not believe based on his pastor's beliefs... What bugs me is this: Regardless of whether Obama himself agrees with the, as he put it, "controversial" remarks made by his pastor, as an Illinois and now a United States senator, he has sat in those pews for 20 years. What bothers me even more is that he sat in those pews with his CHILDREN. Even if Obama himself can filter what he does and does not agree with, how is it ok to let your children (as children are like little sponges) sit in a church that you claim as your own and soak up views that you, yourself, claim to find distasteful?
I've done quite a bit of work for gay rights over the years. The only thing I can think to compare this to is if my partner and I were to become members of a church headed up by someone like Ted Haggart or James Dobson. Yeah, I'm sure they probably have given many stirring, inspiring sermons. But they have also spewed some of the most hateful anti-gay speech ever. I'm not going to sit there, sorting out what I agree with from what I find insulting and discriminatory--while allowing my children to be exposed to the presentation of such views by someone we supposedly admire and trust. "When the Reverend says God is good and we must worship him, that's right kids. When he says that your mommy and I will burn in hell for all eternity, well, we'll just ignore that..."
At first, I just wrote it off as a mistake and bad judgement. But then it started irking me--for twenty years he was a member! And he was very aware of many of these views which he claims he does not agree with. AND this is his family church! How does the exposure of a whole new generation (Obama's kids) to racist remarks create change in our country? ("Oh, that's just crazy Uncle Wright, kids... Just ignore what he says about Italians...and Jews...and whites...oh, and Americans, in general..." )
Thoughts?
You know what? I personally think the Rev. is wRight. Maybe not about specific things he said, but the tone was right on. When did minorities and put upon people lose the right to be angry about their treatment? Take your false outrage and stick it. And....ohhh, what about the children!!! Shouldn't we WHITEwash history for them, too? God forbid that they might one day "believe" that white americans have shit on as many groups of people as they could get away with through the years.
Why are you equating Reverend Wright condemning racism with Haggard and Dobson proselytizing hate against gays? This is a classic rightwing frame of accusing those on the left who speak up against injustices practiced by our government as America haters. Obama's pastor was a marine. He fought for this country only to come back to a country that treated him as a second class citizen. As a gay man, I would think you can sympathize.
Rice hits U.S. 'birth defect'
March 28, 2008
By Nicholas Kralev - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.
"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."
As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that."
"That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today," she said.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...
And the Clintons snubbed his dad, Gov. Casey, at the 1992 convention.
Here's my take -- as someone who strongly supported Clinton for awhile there (yeah, the experience thing), voted for her on Super Tuesday -- and just recently made my first $$$ primary campaign donation (I was holding off on contributions until the general election) -- to Sen. OBAMA. Clinton's tactics have really appalled me, so now I look at her experience as really, really NOT good experience to rely on. I no longer trust her. I see far more divisiveness coming from her campaign and Bill, than from Obama's, and the frequent praise (Bill just yesterday) of McCain is beyond disgusting, given what is at stake for this country -- and world -- if the Republicans retain control of the White House.
As for Wright -- and Obama staying in his congregation for 20 years. That really doesn't bother me. I've taught comparative religion in college (as a mere lecturer), including courses on 'liberation theology', which includes 'black liberation theology'. The language in those texts, from theologians like James Cone, was filled with incendiary language about 'whitey'. As a white person, I found that uncomfortable -- as did many students -- BUT, if you study black history in this country, it is really not hard to understand where all that anger comes from. Despite what Pat Buchanan says about slavery being 'good' for blacks, you read history about slave ships coming over and running out of food, and weighting down loads of black women, children, men -- the slave 'cargo' -- and tossing them overboard so the crew could survive, and that's pretty damn disgusting. The fact that heinous acts of racism continued throughout the 20th century -- even though there HAS also been progress -- means, to me, that that anger, based on that particular history, is not going to easily go away. So, if you've seen many instances -- in theological texts also -- which express this rage in excessive terms, but terms having a context (as Obama said in his brilliant speech), then what Wright said in some of his sermons, is not anything to make much of, for me. If you sit in a church for 20 years, and 98% of what you hear is good stuff, and 2% (or 5 or 10%, whatever -- a minority percentage) is ugly vitriol -- but the ACTIONS of the Reverend and his church are constructive to the community (Wright is known to have reached out to the white community, and not cultivated racist actions) -- then I really wouldn't expect Obama or anyone else to feel they had to leave. What he said in those few sermons amounts, I think, to a sliver of ice skimmed off the top of that iceberg. The media make so many things seem 100 times bigger/more significant than they really are. To me, this is all just the 'cadence' of a minority group expressing justifiable anger through hyperbole. So, as a white person -- used to seeing this in other formats -- I feel I can deal with it. it is not comfortable, but it is what it is -- and I'm quite sure it hasn't been comfortable -- in far more REAL terms -- for black folk to be in American culture and seeing, unquestioned, all the nasty stereotypes about them circulating as humor in tv, movies, books, etc.
I say all this as a white person and a FORMER Clinton supporter. Good luck with your processing of all this!
Gusboy
I just watched Obama on "The View," too--just a few minutes after I posted. The interview answered a lot of my burning questions--my only fear is that if he gets the nomination, this whole thing will have an impact in his ability to attract certain demographics of white voters.
I really don't want to see a President McCain...but I also don't want to go into yet another election with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about both of the candidates we've been presented with.
I was neutral after Edwards left and then slowly moved to Obama. I just couldn't take Hillary, why I am not sure, but I didn't like her messages. Now it seems my gut instinct was correct. She has major credibility problems. I commented on this in the above post but thought I would also post here. The linked article describes her credibility issues. Seems the press and the voters are catching on..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080328/pl_b...
I did a brief Wiki search on Reverend Wright. Much of what the media is giving is snippets or sound bites from selected speeches of Wright's. This link gives more insight to snippets by referencing the rest of the sermon. After reading this I am pretty much okay with Wirght.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright#Ed...
Happy dance!
I don't like all the negative media attention and sniping--from either side. McCain has been out making speeches on the issues that really matter and we're stuck in this personal back-and-forth. Unfortunately, once something has been dragged out (not just about Obama--I refer also to things like Hillary "misspeaking" about the Bosnia trip, too), it has to be addressed and put to rest. If it's not an issue now, it sure as heck will be one in the general election.
Regardless of who we support, I think we ought to be able to discuss these things without having a, well...tizzy. :-)
I'm not equating the TYPES of things said by Wright with the TYPES of things said by Haggard, Dobson, etc.
What was saying was this: Obama himself condemned the things said by Wright. (So I'm not personally judging whether what Wright said is right or wrong; I'm basing this on OBAMA himself condemned them.) Yet he and his family continued to sit in his church--and I was asking why.
What I compared this to is if I and my family sat in the church of someone whose views we did not agree with--such as Dobson. I was not comparing the speech of one with the other, by any means. I was comparing the situation.
Now--it seems from Obama's interview this morning that the views he condemns were not a regular part of Wright's sermons. That changes things. What I was asking before was--why expose your family to speech and opinion that are against what you claim to believe in? According to what he says, he did not.
I have an appreciation for the anger and frustration that is caused by being treated like a second class citizen. And I don't want to get into a debate over whether Wright is correct in his views--being that Obama has already condemned them. What I now wonder is how this will affect the general election--and white voters who WON'T bother to seek out both sides of the story. We only need to look at who is in the White House now to see that many, many voters won't.
Polls show Barack's support among whites is higher than Hillary's. Whether this translates to election day in November is anyone's guess. But given the high voter turnout we experienced so far in the primary and America's desire for change, I'm confident Barack will bury McSame.
This is HUGE! -- great news, indeed.
Senator Bob Casey is enormously popular with the people of Pennsylvania, and his endorsement of Barack Obama at this time is definitely a plus.
The Casey family is very much loved and respected by Democrats, Independents--and even many GOPers--in Pennsylvania, so they are going to pay a lot of attention to this endorsement.
:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~