i'm liking joe sestak more and more...

[spanone]

just a few reasons....

Environment
Sestak voted for the Waxman Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (Cap and Trade) program.<18> He is the only Pennsylvanian congressman to have a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters and PennEnvironment. He was also endorsed by the Sierra Club in his 2008 Congressional re-election. He voted for the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 and the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security and Consumer Protection Act. He was also an original co-sponsor of the Climate Stewardship Act (H.R. 620) and the Safe Climate Act.<19>

Gun rights
Sestak supports gun control and has a 100% rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence<20> and an F rating from the National Rifle Association.<21>
Sestak has called for the reinstatement of the federal ban on assault weapons.<22>

Healthcare
Sestak credits his support for health care reform as to "pay back" the country that provided him and his family health care while he was in the Navy (the TRICARE program), especially for treating his daughter's brain tumor.<23> He supports state-provided preventive care and voted for the CHAMP Act. Sestak originally co-sponsored the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiations Act, the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act and co-sponsored H.R. 3800, which establishes a public-private Partnership for Health Care Improvement. He also announced the Pediatric Cancer Caucus, which he will co-chair.<24> He is also a member of the Autism Caucus, Diabetes Caucus,<25> 21st Century Health Care Caucus, Congressional Mental Health Caucus, Nursing Caucus, and Cystic Fibrosis Caucus.<26>

Labor
Sestak is an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and supports the original version that includes card check. He created the Labor Advisory Committee to address the challenges facing working families in his district.<27>

Medical marijuana
Sestak showed support for states to determine their own destiny regarding medical marijuana by voting for the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2008, which would have barred the Department of Justice from preventing the implementation of state laws regarding the distribution, possession, and cultivation of medical marijuana. The bill was defeated 165-262.<28>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Sestak

[benEzra]

1. Since he's in PA, I would suggest he get informed a little on the gun issue...

given that a new ban on the most popular civilian firearms in the United States is not going to fly, regardless of what the repubs at the Brady Campaign say about it. And I do hope he opposes the Brady Campaign's push to expand the Bush/Cheney terrah blacklists.

It didn't hurt him in the primary because of Specter's own two-faced support for new gun bans, but I believe it will hurt him in the general election to some degree. Whether or not it will hurt him enough to lose is an open question, but he needs to be aware of it.

[spanone]

2. i support his stance.

[benEzra]

3. No problem, I can certainly agree to disagree...

...just pointing out that the "Dems'll-take-yer-gunz" meme has not been particularly helpful to Dems over the last 15 years; a whole lot of gun owners are Dems and indies, and promising to ban the most popular rifles is going to cause some tough sledding in PA.

Rifles are not particularly relevant to the gun violence picture anyway:

FBI UCR, Murder by State and Type of Weapon

700 murders in PA in 2008, with all rifles combined accounting for 15 of them. But they are certainly a handy wedge issue.

I'm not in PA, so it's really your decision and not mine, but I would certainly appreciate it if he confines his distaste for protruding rifle handgrips to those in Pennsylvania and doesn't try to repeat the 1994 Feinstein ban debacle.

[liberalmike27]

4. Always like him

Never understood support of Republican Specter,over him by the White House. Nuts!

We need to stop taking the Republicans' rejects, as more DINOs we do not need. I'm just glad to see we're beginning to pull back a bit to the left. When you aren't pulling, you're going to end up giving ground, that's just a fact.

It's like in chess--if you're not attacking, you're going to shortly find, you're defending.

[JerseygirlCT]

5. Looks very, very good to me! nt