PG: Santorum, Casey go toe-to-toe in debate

[sugapablo]

The two candidates interrupted each other, talked over each other, ignored time limits, ignored the moderator and generally stopped just short of playground name-calling and shin-kicking.

To say that KDKA moderator Ken Rice lost control of yesterday's debate between U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and state Treasurer Bob Casey would be fallacious, because it suggests that he ever had control to begin with.

In short: bad manners.

But great political theater.

In this debate, sponsored jointly by KDKA and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the issues took a back seat to the candidates' sparring and demeanor. Mr. Santorum, a Republican, frequently challenged his Democratic foe to "look in the camera" and tell Pennsylvania the truth. After many of Mr. Casey's responses to panelists' queries, Mr. Santorum rolled his eyes and said: "You will not get this man to answer the question."

Mr. Casey, meanwhile, repeatedly alluded to the incumbent's poor poll numbers.

"Hey Rick, I know things are tough," he said. "Don't be a desperate campaigner."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06286/729698-177.stm

Edit: Forgot link.

[Demit]

1. Link?

[maddezmom]

2. link to video of the debate here:

http://kdka.com/video/?id=[e-mail]

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. It was pretty funny - Casey's mantra to Sick Rantorum was "tell the truth"

I have to say that Casey was not as polished as I would have hoped (and I don't mean greasy, shiny Mehlman/Gillespie type Republican spit shine polish), I mean smooth control of the facts, and quick on hitting back. But then again, I need to remind myself that many, many of our politicians - both sides - did not necessarily get there with good brain power.

Sicko, on the other hand, was Coulter-like unglued, manic and obviously full of psychological issues. Man, so many of these people should be out of sight, confined somewhere, never mind being out there as our public servants!

[Demit]

8. I fail to see the link between smooth delivery and "good brain power".

In fact, I see that wrong-headed linkage as being a prime reason we have elected such bad leaders in this country. Give me some steak for a change. Fuck the sizzle.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. I don't disagree with you - it is not polish, it is the ability to clearly

answer the question. I saw too much "politics" from each, though vastly more from Rantorum

[LetsGoMurphys]

15. Bob Casey is a smart man

make no mistake about it. I wont see he is the most articulate, but smart nonetheless.

[Judi Lynn]

4. I saw a little of it. It was WONDERFUL. Santorum seemed possessed.

He made an unbelievable ass of himself. It only highlighted his desperation.

Anyone who gets a chance to look for it online at http://www.c-span.org/ can run it down by looking for the link to the great debate programs at the very bottom of the page: "all recent programs."

You may just laugh and laugh!

[SHRED]

5. One of the finest minds

[sugapablo]

6. How utterly offensive!

...to all the people of the 13th century!

[SHRED]

7. true

[LetsGoMurphys]

16. hahahaahhahha thats great n/t

[gauguin57]

9. Yeah, I woke up to them screaming at each other on our local NPR station.

Well, Man on Dog was screaming. Casey was calmly saying, "Stop being a desperate candidate. You sound like a desperate candidate when you say that."

[LetsGoMurphys]

17. although I am no fan of repeating talking points

"desperate candidate" is VERY effective.

[zonkers]

10. Watched some of it. It was bizarre. 1st off, it looked like video from

the 70's. I don't know if it was the sparse set or the suits or the haircuts of everyone but it was strange. And the way they bickered and sniped. I wish it would have either stopped or reached a violent level. Santy was an ass but Casey didn't come across that wonderfully himself.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. ...exactly. That's what made me worry. Casey did not give

me the warm and fuzzies as to ability to persuade fence sitting voters

[zonkers]

18. True. His closing statement sucked and that should have been a

no brainer. Every time Santorum told him to "look in the camera", he should have said, "Look, in the camera?" what are you a movie director?" Instead, he just grinned and shook his head.

Casey had some soft balls lobbed to him by Santorum and the moderator and he never hit it out of the park. He tried to hard to be above the fray, but that just resulted in him repeating his "you are so desparate" line instead of using the response opportuniies to enter fresh facts about Iraq, about anything, relly. The whole thing was dissapointing.

If I was a politician, I'd have a public speaking coach.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

23. Good thing you got "sucked" into the subject line regarding Casey.

:hi: MKJ

[SDDEM06]

13. Interesting quote

Sanitarium: "I wasn't born into a family that had a great name. My dad's an immigrant to this country. I've worked hard, just like you do in western Pennsylvania..."

So the people NOT from western PA are lazy, preppy elitists who sit on their asses all day? Good strategery...insult 2/3 of the electorate. That'll help you win votes, Ricky...

[Divernan]

19. Santorum's dad was chief psychologist at VA Hosp.; Mom was chief nurse

Interesting sidelight - Santorum's wife, Karen, had a live-in relationship when she was in her early 20's with the 60+ ob/gyn who started Pittsburgh's first abortion clinic AND was the doctor who delivered Karen.

Santorum's father was Chief of Psychology at a VA Hospital and his mother was Chief of Nursing. Both his parents are alive and living in Florida now - interesting he never trots them up to PA to campaign for him.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-09-29/cover.shtml

The Path of the Righteous Man
How Rick Santorum became the nation's evangelical poster boy.

by Mike Newall


To find out, I rented a car and spent a week crisscrossing the state, visiting and chatting with dozens of people from Santorum's past. I spoke to childhood friends and neighbors, college buddies and professors, former co-workers and ex-bosses, old drinking partners and an angry cousin. I attended the senator's public events. And the more I learned, the more intrigued I became. His past did not entirely fit with the great moral and religious crusader we know today. I needed to meet him, sit down, talk it out.


It is here, five and a half hours west of Philadelphia and 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, that Santorum spent most of his childhood. His parents, Al and Kay Santorum — who are alive and well in Florida — were employees of the Veteran's Administration Department and went where their work took them. The Santorums arrived in Butler via West Virginia when Rick, the second of three children, was 7 years old. The family stayed for 10 years, moving to Chicago the summer before Rick's senior year of high school. The family lived in a small red brick house on the grounds of Butler's VA hospital.

* * * * * * *
Marie Rice was the chief of personnel at the VA hospital and a close friend of the Santorum family.
"Rick's father was the chief of psychology and his mother was the chief of nurses," says Rice, a gracious, white-haired woman who lives in a senior citizen's development a 15-minute drive along the winding, country roads surrounding Butler. "Kay, his mother, was the head of the family. She knew nursing backwards and forwards and wasn't afraid to openly express her opinions about what the other nurses should and shouldn't do. An extremely intelligent and fair woman. Rick's father was a very opinionated man. Kind, but you know how psychologists can be. They have their opinions and those are the only ones that are right."

* * * * * * * * * * *
When she met Rick, Karen was living with Tom Allen, an OBGYN who in the early-1970s cofounded Pittsburgh's first abortion clinic. It was a somewhat unusual pairing. Allen was the doctor who delivered Karen. She began living with him while an undergraduate nursing student at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University. She was in her early 20s, he was in his 60s. "When she moved out to go be with Rick, she told me I'd like him, that he was pro-choice and a humanist," said Allen, an elderly but vibrant man, during a brief conversation on the porch of his Pittsburgh row home. "But I don't think there's a humanist bone in that man's body."
(End of snippets).

[SDDEM06]

22. Like sands through the hourglass....

Interesting sidelight - Santorum's wife, Karen, had a live-in relationship when she was in her early 20's with the 60+ ob/gyn who started Pittsburgh's first abortion clinic AND was the doctor who delivered Karen.

Even the writers at Days would reject this plotline...

[RamboLiberal]

24. Thanks for posting this article - I never knew they almost

sacrificed Karen's life just to keep their precious belief about abortion. From the article:

Santorum gained national prominence in 1996 when he spearheaded the Republican effort to override President Clinton's veto of the ban on partial-birth abortion. Santorum writes that managing the bill was "one of the most memorable and transforming moments of my life." During the debate, a sonogram showed that a baby Karen was carrying had a fatal birth defect and would die shortly after birth. At 20 weeks, Karen lay in the hospital near death with a 105-degree fever. Doctors warned that Karen could die unless labor was induced — an option the Santorums considered an abortion since it would result in the certain death of the child. Karen went into labor before a decision had to be made.

Gabriel Michael Santorum lived for only two hours. The Santorums spent the night in the hospital bed with their lifeless baby lying between them. The next morning they brought the palm-sized corpse to Karen's parent's house. They had their other children pose for pictures and cuddle with Gabriel. They sang lullabies and held a private mass.

[vixengrl]

20. I couldn't help but notice that--I'm in Southeastern PA--

(Philadelphia, to be exact.) Maybe he's written this part of the state off? :shrug:

[SDDEM06]

21. Hey lazy!!

Get off your ass and work hard to be productive, like your brethren in western Pennsylvania!

[Marnieworld]

14. damn I wish I knew it was on. I would have watched it.

I would vote for anyone against Santorum with a D after their names so even though I live in PA I haven't been following this race closer than seeing poll results posted here on DU. However the other night I was flipping past some local TV coverage of Casey at an event and talking to many reporters simultaneously. He took question after question and he was brilliant. He was very articulate (you can't take that for granted nowadays) informed passionate and ruthless. He has this very calm soft-spoken demeanor that is so deceptive because his words pull no punches. He was highly critical of Santorum's votes with * 98% of the time and was quite powerful in detailing his opposition to votes and policies. All off the cuff, just a really impressive candidate. I see definite National Potential from this guy. Now when I vote for him it won't be just my basic D- across the board. It will please me to choose him not just any Dem but him.

God I really hope that the hateful asshole(Santorum) gets kicked out. "Man on Dog?" It was such an embrassment.