The Trib on the Veto

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review doesn't get President Bush's veto:

"The president believes his Iraq policy -- the faraway defense of the American homeland, the destruction of tyranny and the spread of democracy -- is worth killing and dying for. That's the price that has to be paid to achieve a more important goal, even if innocent civilians also are caught up in the carnage unleashed by the war. When the fate of tiny human embryos is in question, the reckoning changes remarkably." ... "It is a strange moral calculus that commits to bloodshed America's youth in an optional war for high-minded goals, but perhaps condemns other Americans with minds and hearts and families to pointless suffering and death."

The Trib has actually answered its own concerns, though it doesn't realize it. The reasons we went into Iraq were A) to remove the WMDs which the world believed Saddam had, B) to stop Saddam's support of terrorism, and C) to end Saddam's tyranny.

It was not to kill civilians; it was not to get oil; it was not to get revenge for Bush's daddy; it was not to get money for Halliburton; it was not one step of a vast plan of world domination; it was not just because Bush felt like it. The reasoning didn't change after we failed to find the WMD stockpiles, either. The disinformation about the Iraq War provided by the media on a daily basis is staggering.

Embryonic stem cell research destroys human embryos in order to obtain embryonic stem cells. While we regret that civilians are dying in Iraq (though the media ignores that most of these civilians are dying at the hands of terrorists, not our troops), we do not intend to kill any of them. Ideally, only the terrorists would be killed, and if we had a way to ensure that only terrorists would be killed while all civilians would be protected, we would certainly use it.

There is a way to do stem cell research without destroying embryos. It's called adult stem cell research, and ESCR advocates love to ignore it and its successes. ASCR is our way to 'kill the terrorists without hurting civilians' when it comes to stem cell research. Since we have that option, it's the only moral choice.

That's why everyone should support Senator Santorum and Senator Specter's Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act. Let us provide federal funding for forms of stem cell research which all Americans support, and let other forms obtain private funding.

Politics of Islamofascist War

Dale Light comments on the wednesday's Santorum speech in a political context.

Not bad, and strategically well conceived. Rick has taken a clear and important stand -- one that will appeal to conservatives in his Party. Now let's see how Casey responds to it.

There is a trap here for Casey -- he cannot allow himself to be identified with the anti-war wing of his Party, nor can he defend the irresponsible practices of Beltway bureaucrats and the New York Times. but if he remains silent, he looks weak and indecisive. He could denounce the left loons and have himself a Sister Soulja moment, but that would cost him vital support. Will he do it? Stay tuned....


I admire the Republicans and people like Senator Santorum for making the war itself the focus of the campaign. There are really important issues to be resolve here, and hard choices to make. The American public must be active participants in making those choices. The election is when they shall be heard.

More than Just GWOT

Former SantorumBlogger Tim Chapman writes at Human Events...

The instigators all have one thing in common: they hate America and western values.

Gingrich’s arguments were bolstered on Thursday by the third-ranking Senate Republican. Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum delivered a major policy speech in Washington at the National Press Club. Santorum told attendees that “the biggest issue facing our children’s future is a war. Not, as so many describe it, the War on Terror. Not the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. But the world war, which at its heart is just like the previous three global struggles.”

Santorum went on to point out that the United States fought World War I and World War II because we had to. Those wars were “imposed on us, not chosen by us -- we’re either winning or losing, because there was no way out.” Similarly, today’s conflict is one in which enemies like Hezbollah, al Qaeda and the militant fundamentalist Islamists will never back down. Like Stalin, Lenin and Hitler, our enemies today are bent on the annihilation of their foes: us.

History demands that we take the rise of Islamic fascism very seriously. “If we have learned anything from the twentieth century, it should be this lesson,” Santorum said. “When leaders say they are prepared to kill millions of people to achieve their goals, we must take them at their word. Particularly in this case, when the enemy sees dying for their cause as a desired objective as opposed to a tragic consequence.”

Santorum’s speech, which was delivered to capacity crowd, was a desperate plea for America to wake up. Though Islamic fascists have made no bones about their intent to destroy Israel and America, many in the U.S. are having a difficult time grasping that basic fact. The Pennsylvanian argued that if we really understood the nature of this conflict we would not be complaining about government monitoring of terrorist finances or phone calls. Instead “we’d be screaming and hollering that these programs are being compromised” by a press corps that’s fundamentally failing American interests.

The Media

I waiver between declaring "liberal media bias" and "lazy media stupidity" sometimes.

Here's an example of the latter.

They're running neck-and-neck in the polls and fighting a vicious TV ad war.

But Sen. Rick Santorum and challenger Bob Casey are also running very close in the race for cash.

Ok. I'm a Santorum supporter, but usually neck and neck means that the lead trades back and forth, or they're running side by side. But 10% down is 10% down. No one's calling it neck and neck.

Very close in cash?

Records show Pennsylvania's junior senator has raised more than $15 million and has already spent about half of it - meaning he has a total of about $8.8 million.
Casey, a very well-funded challenger, still has about half of the $8.8 million he raised still available.

So basically Casey has raised exactly what Santorum has on hand.

But it's very close.

National Press Club Speech

National Review Online has the text of Senator Santorum's address to the National Press Club up.

Paradoxically, when we refuse to criticize anybody, we end up patronizing everyone, which is offensive to everyone and self-defeating. It makes a mockery of freedom of speech, and traps us in the discredited nonsense of moral equivalence. This war is not between two morally equivalent sides; it's a war between brutal totalitarian fascism and freedom. Our freedom, not just freedom for Iraqis and Afghans. We are the fascists’ prime target, and they intend to impose a brutal tyranny on those of us who survive their onslaught.

Islamic fascism is the great test of this generation. When we fail to fully grasp the nature of our enemy and the urgency of our victory, our own people become confused and divided, and the fascists are encouraged to believe that we’re afraid of them.

This has to stop. We have an obligation as leaders to articulate exactly what this threat is, and to defeat it. The American people have always rallied to the cause of freedom, once they understood what was at stake.

We had no problem branding communism an evil empire — it was.

We had no problem understanding that Nazism and fascism were evil racist empires — they were.

We must now bring the same clarity to the war against Islamic fascism.

Really too much to excerpt from...

Go read it all

Update: Tim Chapman writes that Rick is invaluable.

Conservatives may quibble with some of Rick Santorum’s policies here and there. But today, in a major policy speech speech at the National Press Club, Santorum demonstrated why he is an invaluable and irreplaceable member of the Senate GOP majority. In my opinion, there is no member of Congress who speaks with more precise moral clarity on the big issues of the day.

Strategic Vision: Opinion I (The Blog(s))

Alexander McClure at Wizbang has some doubts about this morning's poll.

First, we see that Rendell's approval rating actually went down; yet, Lynn Swann was the one whose numbers fell. At the same time, Rick Santorum, whose disapprovals fell 3 points, made no progress against Bobby Casey, Jr. and actually slid a point.

Second, and even more important, is the sample of voters that this poll is using. There is something wrong when President Bush's overall job performance in Pennsylvania is 26% and, according to a recent Strategic Vision poll in New Jersey, his approval rating there is 35%. 8 points better in New Jersey than Pennsylvania?

Only one for now... blogs and media will catch up soon, if at all.

Lowering Expectations

Sixers' co-blogger Greg Pollowitz points to some pessimism over at DailyKos.

One of the reasons, I am pessimistic about November is that I don't see Democrats turning out in huge numbers in the contests we've had so far. Democrats are so afraid to lead and inspire, that rank and file Democrats are unmotivated to turn out.

And it won't matter how poorly Republicans do, and how many Republicans tune out of the electoral process, if we can't get our own people to vote.

The Republicans are making a mess of things. Democrats don't seem to be learning their lessons. So why should they get vested in the elections and participate? So they can get their hearts broken in yet another November? It was a sentiment I saw a great deal of while traveling the country in my book tour, and it shook me greatly.

Strategic Vision Poll

Casey 50%
Santorum 40%

This poll was done July 14-16 among 1200 likely voters.

Where's Casey?

There's a new "Where's Casey?" out.

It's about the statewide bus tour to visit the voters.

You know about the bus tour? It's the one NOT visiting Pittsburgh or Philadelphia area.

Letter to the Editor

Patriot-News

We all know that families are faltering in our country as divorce rates are high, young women become pregnant, and as children become felons at young ages. In opposing these trends, Sen. Rick Santorum has been a champion in efforts to strengthen families.

He has been a vocal advocate of the National Fatherhood Initiative, which works to increase the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible and committed fathers. Santorum believes that healthy, stable families are essential to overcoming poverty and ending the cycle of welfare dependency. He also supports the marriage protection amendment, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Santorum's opponent, Bob Casey Jr., opposes the marriage protection amendment and supports homosexual civil unions. Casey also believes that homosexual couples should be able to adopt children, a policy that would deny those children a mother or a father. Research has clearly documented that a child's best interest is fulfilled in a marriage with a mother and father in a committed relationship as opposed to all other arrangements.

While Casey is working to destabilize marriage and reduce our children's well being, Sen. Santorum has been rock solid in his support of traditional family values and his advocacy of children's best interests.

Immigration Still an Issue

USA Today

People on both sides of the immigration debate agree it could help decide this fall's elections. "After the Iraq war, it is the issue that is paramount on everybody's mind," says House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., agrees: "It's obviously the No. 2 issue in the country."

McCain, President Bush and Democrats such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., believe it is important to bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows. The bill McCain helped write includes a plan to offer millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship. The Senate passed it in May.

Boehner, Santorum and other conservatives back the approach taken in a competing bill passed by the House in December. It would not offer citizenship to people in the country illegally and would crack down on employers who hire them. There will be no need to deport illegal immigrants, supporters argue; they'll leave because they won't get jobs.

"We can solve this problem without even dealing with the issue of what you do with all the people who are here," Santorum said.

Casey supports the Senate bill, spokesman Doug Anderson says.

Amnesty, which the Senate bill provides, is disapproved by 80% of Pennsylvanians.

Notification Bill

LifeNews

The Senate plans to vote on Thursday on a measure that would help uphold parental involvement laws that require notifying or getting permission from a teenager's parents before she can have an abortion. The bill is designed to prohibit taking teens to other states for secret abortions without parental knowledge.

A leading pro-life group says Senate Democrats are holding up the bill and a vote on the legislation can't proceed unless a cloture vote is taken to end debate.

According to a letter to senators from the National Right to Life Committee obtained by LifeNews.com, "Democratic leadership is currently obstructing the bill by refusing to agree to the motion to proceed, thereby making this cloture vote necessary."

Since a vote to defeat the cloture motion would kill the parental involvement bill, NRLC says that it will score the cloture vote as a pro-life vote in its annual scorecard.

The Child Custody Protection Act would make it a federal crime to take a teen to another state for an abortion that circumvents the parental involvement laws of the girl's home state.

Senator Santorum, along with 38 other Senators, is sponsoring this bill.

Government Like A Business

Americans for Limited Government...

[Bob Casey] wants government to be run more like a business. Now, this is a common notion, and insofar as it's a call for budget-cutting and the like, okay. But government agencies are not run on a profit-and-loss basis. They are much less flexible than businesses. And if they squander taxpayer money, what happens is that they just get more taxpayer money thrown at them.

I was willing to let the statement pass; really I was. But then the next line of the story says Casey thinks "tax cuts for multimillionaires and tax breaks to corporations that send jobs overseas don't make sense."

So, let's see, keeping "too much" of your profit is senseless if you make business decisions that actually help you earn a profit. The debate about outsourcing is for another day. My point today is that even as Mr. Casey wants government to be run more like business, he wants business to be run less like business. And sure, if you tax and regulate a business so much that it can no longer operate like a profit-seeking entity, but only like a regulation-obeying one, it will indeed become less like a business, more like government bureaucracy.

CUFI Dinner

Israpundit was at the Christians United for Israel dinner, and writes it up.

As Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said to the vast audience; ‘the enemy [are] Islamic fascists’ and that the ‘war on terrorism is disinformation.’ Given the current crisis in the Middle East Santorum pointed to ‘Iran as the genesis of the problem.’ He noted that the Islamic Republic in Iran requires all university students to volunteer for training as a suicide bombers ‘as a condition of their admittance.’ Santorum referred to the recent defeat in the U.S. Senate of an Iran Freedom Support Act (‘IFSA’), because Bush Administration national security and State department officials wanted to give ‘diplomacy’ a chance to convince the “Messianic mullahs” and President Ahmadinejad to suspend nuclear enrichment and development of nuclear weapons. Now, as Santorum pointed out, Iran’s true objectives have been unveiled in its support and supply to Hezbollah in Lebanon of missiles raining death and destruction on Israel.

As Santorum pointed out in his remarks, the Senate action occurred just before the current eruption of Hezbollah actions directed at Israel with the support of Iran and Syria bent of destroying Israel and killing thousands if not millions of Israelis, if they had ‘the means,” to do it. As one regional CUFI Pastor said, “Iran certainly has the will.

Santorum Hurting Swann

Tribune-Review drags this silly number out.

Swann and Santorum are trailing badly in their respective races against Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell and state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. Pardon us -- and, yes, we know the long-shot nature of our speculation -- but given Swann garnered 22,000 more votes statewide than Santorum in the May primary, perhaps the concern should be that Santorum will hurt Swann.

After this "fun fact" was revealed in May, I did the following calculation...

Ed Rendell was alone on the ballot and got 646,397.

Casey: 621,233; Sandals: 47,982; Pennacchio: 65,828; for a total of 735,043 Democrat voters.

With no other selection than Rapid Ed Rendell, that means that 88,646 didn't pull the lever, push the button, or touch the screen for him.

Does that mean that Governor Rendell is in four times the trouble that Santorum is in? Of course not.

Me? I'm waiting to see all of the county by county results.
That's where the interesting numbers lay.

For example, my county. Montgomery.

Lynn Swann got 25,454 votes versus Santorum's 25,829. The Senator beat the Steeler by 375! ... and this is in somewhat moderate Montco, with Lynn Swann's running mate Jim Matthews being the commissioner! To be fair, Jim Matthews got 26,789.

Let's go to the left.

Governor Rendell got 24,981 votes, compared with Casey's 20,155. The total Dem Senate vote was 25,573. 592 did not vote for Rendell.

While fun to calculate, and repeat ad-nauseum, it doesn't mean anything.

SwannBlog writes...

But the reasons from Senator Santorum’s primary woes were twofold. First, the unpopularity of President Bush. If the polls are to be believed, a goodly sized chunk of the Pennsylvania GOP considers the President to be pond scum. By association, Rick Santorum is contaminated.

Secondly, there are the backwards voters who stubbornly decided that since Rick supported Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in the ‘04 Senate race, they’re not going to vote for him. It is a petty grudge forcing an electoral decision where one would wish, in a democracy, that one would use a rational basis for determining for whom to vote. It is the same dynamic as that shown by the Trib when they go off on one of their rants of opposition to anything remotely related to “payjack Bob.” The same sort of thing drives the anti-Bushies, but it may date back to Bill Clinton’s impeachment or Al Gore and his hanging chads.

Strategic Vision : Casey 50% Santorum 40%

A new Strategic Vision poll is up today, Casey at 50%, Santorum at 40%. Almost no change since the last poll one month ago, which showed 49% - 40%. The margin of error is three points.



Senator Santorum's approval is 46%/46%, a slight improvement from 46%/49%, if only because 3% less Pennsylvanians disapprove of him.

Amnesty (a result of the Casey supported Senate immigration bill) still polls in the basement, at 15% approval, 80% disapproval.... and a wall at the Mexican border is backed by 80% of the state.

Most surprisingly, the 60% of the polled think the state is headed in the wrong direction. That would be good news for Republican Lynn Swann, except that he polls at 36%, behind the Governor at 49%.



Update:

The Blogs : Opinion 1

Suggestion for ESCR Advocates

Today, President Bush vetoed a bill which would have approved the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research. In other words, federal tax dollars - your money - would have been spent on something which is equivalent to abortion in that both ESCR and abortion result in the death of an early human life. So much for the mantra, "Don't want an abortion? Don't have one!" All are made guilty of the crime in being forced to pay for it.

ESCR is currently completely legal. President Bush's position is a moderate one - allowing for private organizations to do ESCR, while preventing anyone in the nation from being forced to pay for it.

The folks who are angry about this veto today are thus angry that their money is not going to be spent on ESCR. This is easily rectified. Simply get your checkbook or credit card ready and head on over to the Michael J. Fox Foundation or the Christopher Reeve Foundation and make a donation for exactly as much of your money that you wanted to have spent on this immoral, unethical, worthless research which has yet to cure a single human being of any disease.

Stem Cell Bill

Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review writes about the Democrats' recent actions in Congress.

Proponents of embryo-destroying research lost one of their favorite knee-jerk rhetorical points on Tuesday, as they succeeded in killing a bill that would have funded alternatives to embryo-destroying research. It’s hard to dismiss your opponents as “anti-science” when you’ve voted against it yourself.

The Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act was a great constructive opportunity for Congress. Early on Tuesday, a leading pro-life senator, Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum (who is in a tough reelection battle and could afford to be focusing on other things right now — like, oh, saving his political life), rattled off his record of commitment to stem-cell-research advocacy, none of it destructive. He talked about his attempt at finding a “middle ground” by sponsoring a bill to fund adult-stem-cell and other non-embryo-destroying research. This “alternatives” bill was even cosponsored by his Pennsylvania colleague Arlen Specter (who supports embryo research, abortion . . . very many things a Santorum never will). The bill, in both its House and its Senate version, was an embrace of research that is free of embryonic-stem-cell research’s unavoidable ethical baggage.

The Democrat Agenda

Chuck Schumer, who you may remember picked Bob Casey, on the Democrat Party's agenda.

"We stopped being Democrats talking to small people on the issues" as Reagan so effectively did, he argued. Then he launched into a monologue on his party's failure -- and the Republicans' success -- in communicating to average voters about the day-to-day matters that concern them most.

Schumer cited the effectiveness of Bush and his colleagues in selling themselves as the stronger guardians of national security, while reducing the Democrats' posture to cut-and-run against terrorism in Iraq. On other issues as well, he said, the opposition has done a much superior job in phrasing its message for the man and woman on the street.

"We don't have 80 words" to sum up the Democratic agenda, he lamented. "We don't have eight." It's a common refrain among Democrats these days as they start rolling out the pitch they hope will enable their party to achieve that majority in both Senate and House in the fall, and go on to elect a Democratic president in 2008.

Why do you need eight or eighty words, when four will do?

"I/We hate George Bush" "I/We hate Rick Santorum"

Perhaps three will do better... "We're not them." (well, that's kind of four)

Here it is mid July and the agenda hasn't been really rolled out. Disappointing.

Slots Trouble II

This from PennLive:

"What Are The Odds? PA Gaming Board Running Out Of Money

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which oversees what is expected to be a lucrative slot-machine gambling industry in the state, is trying to conserve its dwindling supply of cash as it awaits more state money.

While aides to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell are promising more money for the board, Republican legislators are questioning whether its methods of funding the agency are constitutional."

This almost certainly will be trouble for Rendell and help Lynn Swann but how that affects Santorum is yet to be seen.

Immigration Initiatives

1210 WPHT's Dom Giordano writes in the Evening Bulletin.

This initiative [English only documents, fining landlords & punishing business] has emboldened great numbers of small-to medium-sized cities to go to the mayor's Web site to get a blueprint to adopt similar laws in their towns. The demand was so great that overwhelming Internet traffic choked the W ebsite. It has now been learned that Mayor Barletta turned to Senator Rick Santorum's staff to redesign the site to handle the traffic. There is also speculation that Santorum helped Barletta with the law and plans to make it a major issue in his campaign.

I hope all this is true. I have told Santorum publicly and privately that this is a top issue in Pennsylvania. He opposes the Senate bill on immigration reform and accurately labels it an amnesty bill. This stance distinguishes him from his opponent who supports the bill. More importantly, overwhelming numbers of Pennsylvanians support Santorum's stance.

I know many pundits are surprised that the issues is boiling up in a state where they think people should be consumed by concerns over health care, education and other issues. I've got news for them - people do care about this, in great and growing numbers. The lessons of Hazleton are far reaching. Places like Reading, Norristown, and South Philly also want relief from this invasion. Many other towns fear they may be next.

Vets for Santorum

Intelligencer Journal reports on a Veterans for Santorum rally in Lancaster yesterday.

At issue were Casey's stances on national security. Or, according to the veterans, the lack thereof.

Reminiscent of accusations during the 2004 presidential election that Sen. John Kerry "flip-flopped" on whether to invade Iraq, the Santorum camp is trying to stamp Casey as indecisive.

At the Penn Square event, Air National Guard officer Kevin Dellicker of Kutztown and former Army Capt. Ryan Aument of Quarryville, cited statements Casey made in late 2005 that he would have voted to authorize and fund the war as Santorum did three years ago.

Congressman Jack Murtha came up...

But, they said, Casey on Tuesday participated in a Washington, D.C., fundraiser with U.S. Rep. John Murtha of Johnstown.

"Murtha is the poster child for the radical anti-war left," Dellicker, an Air National Guard told the crowd. "Before veterans, (Casey) sways to the right. In Washington with anti-war activists, he leans left. He can only hope people aren't watching."

Parental Notification

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist

In national polls, over 70 percent of Americans support parental notification laws for abortion and about half of all states -- including Pennsylvania -- have them on the books. In fact, parental notification is the rule for other nearly all medical procedures: school nurses typically won’t even give aspirin to teenagers without a signed parental permission slip. When I practiced medicine full time, I never performed non-emergency surgery on a child without a release form with a signature from a parent or legal guardian.

At the moment, parents who find that others have, in effect, kidnapped their children for the purposes of abortion have few legal rights available. This should change. Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Nevada Senator John Ensign and others will bring a bill before the Senate soon that addresses this situation. The bill, the Child Custody Protection Act, makes it illegal to transport a minor across state lines in order to evade a state’s parental notification law and obtain an abortion. The House has already passed a version of the bill and the Senate will take it up this week.

The Child Custody Protection Act is a modest bill which simply protects state parental notification laws. All state protections for young girls in difficult home situations remain in place. The law simply holds accountable people who knowingly flout a state’s parental notification law by transporting a minor across state lines to get an abortion.

Slots Trouble

The Tribune-Review says there's a shell game going on.

The board has taken a $7.3 million transfer from the Revenue Department in addition to its initial $7.5 million allocation, the Lancaster Sunday News reported. The board won't get big money until it awards those bargain-basement $50 million slots licenses.

There is but one tiny legal flaw in this reshuffling of state funds overseen by the governor's office and the Treasury Department: A legal opinion by the Legislative Reference Bureau says it's unconstitutional. The Legislature did not authorize more money for the gaming board.

But constitutionality is optional -- unless you get caught. Treasurer Bob Casey cut checks for the Legislature's illegal, midterm pay-jacking, which Rendell had signed into law and, later, signed out of law. Under legal pressure and political incentive -- from a lawsuit challenging the pay raise and his U.S. Senate campaign -- Casey admitted he had acted unconstitutionally when he issued the checks.

To set up gaming, lawmakers allocated $7.5 million for the state police, $7.5 million for the board and $21.1 million for a computer system. But Rendell and Casey are illegally treating the discrete dollars as one gaming jackpot. These guys won't learn.

The Pa Jewish Bloc

Patriot-News

Pennsylvania is again the battleground for a hotly contested Senate election, but Lipstein has no plans to support Democratic challenger Robert P. Casey Jr.

The Bryn Mawr woman, who contributes to Democrats and Republicans and is on the boards of Philadelphia-area Jewish organizations, is among a cadre of Jewish leaders lining up behind Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.

Though Santorum is more often identified for his ties to evangelical Christians and conservative causes, his support for Israel is driving a wedge between Jewish voters.

"I want to support the guy who has supported the Jewish community in tough times," said Lipstein, who attended a Capitol Hill summit Santorum hosted yesterday for several dozen Jewish leaders.

Jews represent only 2.3 percent of the state's voters, but Santorum and Casey are courting them.

House Kills Stem Cell Bill

AP

Sen. Rick Santorum, a conservative struggling to win reelection, suffered a political setback late Tuesday when the House rejected his bill to encourage adult stem cell research.

The 273-154 vote fell 12 votes short of the two-thirds majority required under the rules. Opponents, mostly Democrats, said the bill would have given the Republican Santorum and other anti-abortion lawmakers political cover for opposing a related bill that instead would fund embryonic stem cell research. The bill had passed the Senate unanimously earlier in the day.

Santorum likens embryonic stem cell research to abortion because a days-old embryo is destroyed in the process of extracting stem cells.

Santorum on TV

Patriot-News

The Pennsylvania Republican who is considered one of this year’s most endangered incumbents delivers what’s being billed as a major policy address on America’s war against “Islamic fascism” Thursday before a national audience at the National Press Club.

His luncheon speech is scheduled to be broadcast live on C-Span at 1 p.m.

He’ll be on Pennsylvania Cable Network that night for an hour-long segment of PCN’s Election 2006: “On The Issues” that will look at Santorum’s views and his race against Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr.

The program airs at 9 p.m. Thursday and will replay Sunday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Some Ads

New Santorum ad out today.

Greenland.

It's about energy, specifically oil, our foreign energy sources, and a Pennsylvania based waste-coal to liquid fuels plant.

Perry Christopher comments on Bob Casey's latest ad, "Stands Up."

What a phony! All it is democratic talking points and class envy. People use to call another prominent candidate an empty suit. Let me tell you: Bob Casey, Jr is the defintion of an empty suit.

He is an opportunist and poll driven career politician. We need a leader in the senate, not a puppet.

Stem Cell Bills Pass

... and on to a veto.

The Senate voted Tuesday after two days of emotional debate to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, sending the measure to President Bush for a promised veto that would be the first of his presidency.
The bill passed 63-37, four votes short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override Bush's veto. The president left little doubt he would reject the bill despite late appeals on its behalf from fellow Republicans Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"The simple answer is he thinks murder's wrong," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "The president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something living and making it dead for the purposes of scientific research."

The Santorum sponsored bill passed as well.

The Senate also passed two related measures - 100-0 in each case - that Bush was expected to sign into law.

One would encourage stem cell research using cells from sources other than embryos in an effort to cure diseases and treat injuries. The other would ban "fetal farming," the possibility of growing and aborting fetuses for research.

Those two bills were headed for a House vote later Tuesday. Bush was expected to sign them when he vetoes the embryonic stem cell research bill, as early as Wednesday.

Funny Stem Cell Argument

From Senator Barbara Mikulski:

"I fear that without national standards and national legislation, [embryonic stem cell research] could be conducted outside of the public eye without national and international scrutiny, where dark and ghoulish things could occur."

-Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland

This is funny for three reasons:

-Mikulski is worried about what goes on outside of the public eye? Maybe she should go look at what goes on inside an abortion clinic. Maybe she should have gone into Terri Schiavo's hospital room.

-International scrutiny?! Is there anything that liberals don't want us to have to get international permission to do? Does Mikulski call up Kofi Annan to ask him if it's OK for her to cross the street?

-The greatest irony of all - Mikulski says that we need regulations on research which involves the intentional killing of embryonic human life in order to keep said research from becoming 'dark and ghoulish'.

Senator Santorum's statements, also ironically, were scientific facts which are ignored by the 'reality-based' community:

"It is human, and it's alive, and under H.R. 810 we say that the federal government is going to fund the destruction, the killing, of that embryo."

-Sen. Rick Santorum

There is no denying that human embryos are both alive and human. The argument is, do you think that embryonic human life has worth, or does human life magically become important at some arbitrary point, such as when the baby takes a breath outside the womb?

I think my favorite pro-ESCR argument states that the left-over IVF embryos are just going to be killed anyway, so you might as well do research on them. I wonder if anyone would ever make the same argument about inmates on death row.

KQV Polling

An emailer writes...

I want to let you know that today there's a KQV phone poll in the Pgh Tribune Review newspaper "Santorum / Casey / undecided for PA Senate."

Also the KQV website has an internet poll "Santorum / Casey / undecided for PA Senate". This morning the internet poll had Santorum with 60% of the vote to Casey 38%, with 2% undecided. Then soon after 12p today I think the liberal radio stations and blogs found out about the poll and began to rig the internet poll to show Casey with a wide lead Casey 76% / Santorum 21%/ undecided 3%.

The phone poll results aren't online.

But the KQV poll is here.

And it's now 57% to 42% in favor of Santorum.

Online polls are pretty silly. It's far too easy to game the results.

Syria & Leadership

The Forward

Both Senate candidates in Pennsylvania say that the Bush administration should implement additional sanctions against Syria.

Spokesmen for the incumbent, Republican Rick Santorum, and the challenger, Democrat Bob Casey Jr., told the Forward that their respective candidates believe that the White House should fully implement the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. The 2003 law, which Santorum sponsored in the Senate, grants the president the power to slap Damascus with a host of sanctions.

The Santorum campaigns calls this another case of "Follow the Leader"

Not to be outdone by recently following Sen. Santorum's lead on Middle East Security, Bobby Casey, Jr. followed Sen. Santorum's lead on stem cell research:

The debate puts Democrat Bob Casey Jr., who seeks to unseat Santorum, in the odd position of coming out in favor of bills heralded by his opponent. ... Casey supports the two other bills, [both of which] Santorum authored.

Casey & Murtha

A couple of blog posts today about a Casey/Murtha fundraiser.

Redstate.com

While you and I were probably having our coffee this morning, we should note that Bob Casey, Jr. had a private fundraiser at the Crystal City Ritz-Carlton just across the Potomac (and very near the Pentagon) from Washington. He did so with Representative John "Our Troops Are Butchers" Murtha.

One must wonder if Mr. Casey, Jr. shares Mr. Murtha's opinions on the war and troops and, if not, why would Mr. Casey, Jr. want to have a man who has excoriated our troops as war criminals help him raise money.

Pittsburgh Students for Santorum (with picture)

Protesting this morning at the Ritz in Pentagon City, outside of DC, while Bobby Casey was doing a fundraiser with Cong. John Murtha, our favorite anti-war "cut and run" Congressman. You would think DC would be a little out of the way for Casey from his home to his office in Harrisburg where he is supposed to be working as State Treasurer of PA. But when liberal anti-war money calls... Casey can't help but leave his taxpaying constituents in the dust!

Stem Cells

AP

Specter, a cancer survivor, is leading the fight to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, taking on President Bush and siding with medical researchers who say it could someday produce cures for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and other crippling ailments.

But Specter also is co-sponsoring Santorum's bill that essentially endorses what already is unfettered federally funded research utilizing stem cells derived from sources other than embryos.

Some look at it as payback for Santorum coming to the aid of the more moderate Specter during a 2004 primary challenge.

By advocating Santorum's bill, Specter is potentially helping Santorum pick up votes in the Philadelphia suburbs - a huge voting bloc full of moderate Republicans where Specter is popular.

Larry Smar, spokesman for Santorum's Democratic opponent, Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey, said Monday he doesn't know Specter's motive but that Santorum is "trying to fool the people of Pennsylvania into thinking he supports the other Specter stem cell bill."

Specter said Monday the two bills are very different, and he denied the claims made by the Casey campaign about Santorum.

Letter to the Editor

Patriot-News

Finally, one of the senators in Washington has a backbone. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has teamed up with Rep. Peter Hoekstra to push for declassification of a report on the recovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Thanks to The Wall Street Journal (June 26), this report summarizes that "coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent." This is hazardous and potentially lethal stuff. So, there were and are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Santorum wrote to John Defreitas, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, on April 12, asking to see the report. No response. On June 5, the senator wrote to John Negroponte, director of National Intelligence, with a similar request. No response. Santorum didn't quit. He shared his concern with Hoesksta, chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, who, on June 15, wrote to Mr. Negroponte, urging him to declassify this information.

Finally, after nearly three months of determination by Sen. Santorum, the American public was informed via press conference that these weapons have been found. In fact, more WMDs are still being found.

For three years the mainstream media and its apologists have told the American public there are not, and never were any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now, when we have the proof, the mainstream media is strangely silent..

Who's Funnier?

The Rooster or the Duck?

Comedian/impressionist Joe Conklin has been booked for the 13th time as headliner for the Stu Bykofsky Candidates' Comedy Night, which in its 16th edition will be Aug. 8 at Finnigan's Wake (Third and Spring Garden Streets). The show, in which the Daily News columnist summons pols to act funny on purpose, sends every dime raised to Variety - The Children's Charity. In a statement, the charity says candidates Rick Santorum, Bob Casey Jr., Gov. Rendell and Lynn Swann will throw down. Tickets ($60) are available through 215-735-0803.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine the Treasurer being laugh out loud funny.

Strategic Vision Polling

Strategic Vision's last poll was on the 11th of June. (Casey 49, Santorum 40)

Unless they didn't poll for July, look for it soon.

Santorum Interview

Tammy Bruce with PoliticsCentral has an interview with Senator Santorum online.

Listen here

Stem Cells This Week

Washington Post

The Senate this week will grapple with embryonic stem cell research -- which proponents say holds the promise of prolonging human life by curing disease, and which critics say destroys human life. Tomorrow, the Senate will take up a bill passed by the House that would authorize federal funding for research on stem cells taken from surplus embryos stored at fertilization clinics. President Bush, who in August 2001 issued an executive order permitting funding for research only on those embryonic stem cell lines already in existence, has vowed to veto the measure. There are probably not enough votes to override a veto.

The Senate will also take up two other stem cell bills. One, by Pennsylvania Republicans Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter, would support research into obtaining non-embryonic stem cells with the same potential as those derived from embryos. A second bill, proposed by Santorum and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), bans research on embryos harvested in "fetal farms."

Chaperoning

Morning Call

''To say you want debates and actually do debates are two different things,'' Santorum campaign manager Vince Galko said.

The Casey campaign countered that the Santorum campaign had turned down one of its debate requests and hadn't responded when the Casey campaign agreed to a Philadelphia debate.

''They're much more interested in debating debates than debating issues,'' Casey spokesman Larry Smar said.

The Santorum folks complain that the Casey campaign won't talk to them. The Casey folks said they don't trust the Santorum campaign when it comes to arranging debates and would rather work through a moderator.

''We have to have a chaperone,'' Smar said.

The Swann Effect

Pennlive/AP

Republican leaders in southeastern Pennsylvania, who worry that a weak showing in the governor's race will cost U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum votes, are working to shore up Lynn Swann's campaign.

Their early efforts include raising several hundred thousand dollars for Gov. Ed Rendell's Republican opponent at recent events, including Wednesday's gathering in King of Prussia with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that raised at least $150,000.

GOP leaders also secured commitments from Swann to step up his presence in the region.

"The key to this election is not to win the southeast but to hold it down to under half a million or 400,000 votes, and if we do that, we're in the hunt," said John McNichol, chairman of the Upper Darby Republican Campaign Committee.

I think Swann's candidacy is a double edged sword.

On one side, if his campaign doesn't energize anyone, Rendell is going to have a cake walk, and won't be pounding the pavement. A sure thing for the Gov might depress some of the Dem turnout. Especially those unexcited by the riveting Treasurer. But he'll have money to give to other candidates. Like Bob Casey Jr., who seems to be down 2-1 in cash on hand.

On the other hand, a close Swann/Rendell race means everyone's out there all the time AND the Dems will turnout to vote.

Pa's GOP

Lowman Henry writes about the state of the state party.

The biggest problem for GOP liberals is that, at its core, the Pennsylvania Republican Party has become a strongly conservative one. Talk to virtually any "man on the street" Republican and you find widespread adherence to the core principles of the party. Republicans have won elections espousing those principles for a reason -- people believe in them, revere them and actually expect their elected officials to reflect them.

But that is not happening. So, unrest among the grass roots has been building. It started two years ago when Congressman Pat Toomey came within a percentage point of unseating longtime liberal U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. Anger over profligate spending, tax increases, slot machines and other issues created a powder keg of voter animosity. And last year's pay-jacking was the lit match that caused the powder keg to explode.

In the wake of the "political earthquake" that shook the state's political establishment in the primary, look for the schism between factions of the Pennsylvania GOP to get deeper and wider.

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum is trailing in his race for re-election, in part, because of soft support from moderate to liberal Republicans. A Santorum loss will further stoke conservative anger.