A Right-Wing Candidate Dons the Mask of Moderation (Toomey)

[babylonsister]

This is scary-he's slipping under the radar. :scared:


A Right-Wing Candidate Dons the Mask of Moderation
How Pat Toomey Persuaded Pennsylvanians He's Just Like Them
By Jesse Zwick 10/7/10 6:00 AM


As in many close elections, Pennsylvania’s Senate race has largely become a contest about defining and capturing the elusive middle. Democrats might enjoy a substantial registration advantage in the state, courtesy of the 2008 elections, but the state’s swing voters — mostly middle-class suburbanites with tolerant social views and moderate fiscal concerns — are recognized by both Rep. Joe Sestak (D) and former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) as the real prize.

These nonaligned folks are seeking a candidate who will look out for working families and approximate their own pragmatic views. And with less than a month to go before Nov. 2, it looks like they’ve settled, against all odds, on Toomey.

Judging purely by his policy positions, Toomey would appear to be well to the right of the average Pennsylvania voter, and more in line with some of the very conservative Tea Party-backed candidates who have fascinated the national media in recent months. Like Sharron Angle of Nevada, he hopes to ban abortion and privatize parts of social security. Like Rand Paul of Kentucky, he has argued for the repeal of the president’s health care and Wall Street reform bills. While in Congress, he complained that the Bush tax cuts were too small. His roll call votes place him much further to the right than former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R), whom many thought too conservative for statewide office, and even former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, the illegal immigration demagogue who is running for his state’s governorship as a member of the American Constitution Party.

But Toomey is hardly ever mentioned in the same breath as Angle or Paul, let alone Tancredo. And while these candidates’ occasionally extreme rhetoric has no doubt done its part to make Toomey’s own views appear more reasonable, refraining from sounding off is hardly sufficient to explain his moderate appeal. Toomey’s success in wooing Pennsylvania’s independent vote is attributable instead to a remarkable, Cincinnatus-like story of modesty and civic virtue that he has crafted over the years and stuck to with remarkable discipline, even when confronted by its inconsistencies. He balances his far-right views with a personality that’s reasonable, upright, and, at times, downright boring.

And it’s working. With the Senate election fast approaching, recent poll averages show Toomey ahead of Sestak by a solid seven points. The conservative Toomey isn’t new to winning the votes of most middle-of-the-road Pennsylvanians, however. It’s a strategy that can be traced to the earliest days of his political career following his move to Allentown, Pa.

more...

http://washingtonindependent.com/99831/a-right-wing-candidate-dons-the-mask-of-moderation

[catgirl]

1. New ad: Toomey isn't you

There should be ads out there that say this in teabagger races. Thank you Christine O'Donnell for
the idea.

[babylonsister]

2. There needs to be more going on than there is now; more

r/w than Santorum and Tancredo? Is that even possible? :wow:

[catgirl]

3. Sestak needs to hit him on this

He needs to be put in his proper place- with the rest of the teabaggers.

[Blue_Tires]

4. it's the smart play

McDonnell won the governor's race in VA by playing to the middle...Even praised Obama in some interviews....

[babylonsister]

5. It may be smart, so Dems need to expose what this character

is really made of. I think it's disturbing he's hiding his r/w agenda in plain sight. There needs to be a lot more press and ads pointing out this guy's views.

[babylonsister]

6. pm kick. This guy is under the radar and shouldn't be. nt