alternative hippopotamus

He Who Shall Not Be Named

6 Responses to “He Who Shall Not Be Named”

1. KCinDC Says:
   February 20th, 2006 at 10:26 pm

   To be fair, Singer addresses your point about the Supreme Court nomination in his next-to-last paragraph.

2. KCinDC Says:
   February 23rd, 2006 at 10:23 am

   If the choice is truly between Casey and a Republican — that is, if Pennacchio can’t win, which is what Singer believes — then I think “as long as it’s a Dem” applies. Years ago I might not have believed that (after all, I voted for Weicker over Lieberman for Senate in 1988), but in the current environment we don’t have principled Republicans anymore — just a bunch of Bush cultists. Having the majority is very important, especially now that the Republicans have pushed the advantages of majority status so far beyond the traditional boundaries.

   So I disagree that his logic is silly. He’s just starting from the premise that Pennacchio can’t win — a premise you obviously don’t share. That premise may very well be wrong (I don’t know enough about Pennsylvania or Pennacchio to know), but I don’t think it’s silly.

   (By the way, “Pennacchio” is misspelled in your category name.)

3. AltHippo Says:
   February 23rd, 2006 at 10:58 am

   I’m not sure if you understand what I wrote. I said that Singer’s post was silly because a.) he mischaracterizes the progressive position (by saying that bloggers have been threatening to stay home when no one is saying that, nor does he link to anyone who is saying that) b.) he holds out an unlikely scenario (Senate goes Dem) to compensate for a likely scenario (Casey votes center-right). I’m being polite to call that “silly”.

   I should also point out that, according to a recent Zogby poll, Pennacchio looks very good against Santorum. As op-ed news summarizes:

   “Santorum loses when matched with any of the democratic candidates. Both of the self identified progressive democratic candidates draw higher percentages than Casey, with Pennacchio having the largest percentage of votes against Santorum.”

   So, it’s hard for me to understand where Singer gets the idea that Pennacchio can’t win against Santorum.

4. KCinDC Says:
   February 23rd, 2006 at 11:02 am

   One situation in which “as long as it’s a Dem” has problems is when the Dem is someone who later switches parties (as seems to be happening with Cuellar). I’m not sure what the best solution is in those cases. I haven’t heard anyone suggest that Casey fits into that category, but it is a risk whenever you have a state where you need a conservative candidate (which Pennsylvania may not be, but it does after all have two Republican senators, and the Pennsylvania branch of my family are pretty staunchly Republican, and in some cases even members of the religious right (though of course they’re not a representative sample)).

   Okay, enough rambling about this. Pennsylvania isn’t one of the primaries I’ve decided to stick my outsider nose into. So far I’m confining my interference to Connecticut, where I used to live and where Lieberman needs at least a good scare, and TX-28, where Cuellar has gone far beyond the bounds of acceptable Democratic behavior. I’m considering Virginia, where I have strong family connections, but other than that I think I’ll leave choosing the candidates up to the locals (with the occasional party strongarming).

5. AltHippo Says:
   February 23rd, 2006 at 11:22 am

   Ah, the joys of DC citizenship. In any Senate race, we’re outsiders.

   I’ve been going to Philly about once a month, thus my interest. Since Massachusetts seems to be doing fine without my interference, I’ll have to stick my nose in Maryland’s business.

6. KCinDC Says:
   February 23rd, 2006 at 1:20 pm

   I wrote comment 4 before I saw your comment 3 (I was really just trying to clarify my stand), but I understand you better now. I do think that it’s not unreasonable to feel that the line between threatening to stay home and saying that Casey is effectively the same as a Republican is pretty thin. But of course what people say during the primary is often different from what they say during the general.

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