The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

PA-12: The Final Wisdom

Posted on | May 19, 2010 | 64 Comments

HAGERSTOWN, Md.
Back home now, after driving 430 miles in 24 hours for the Election Day swing through Pennsylvania’s 12th District. Am I totally bummed out? Yeah, especially because I spent four hours sleeping in my car at the West Virginia Welcome Center on I-79 after staying until 3:30 a.m. at the post-election bull session.

The bull session started in the lobby bar and ended on the sixth floor of the George Washington Hotel (which, I must remind you, is posh) where the young GOP campaign staffers anethetized their post-election pain with anodyne beverages. One of these young fellows bristled a little when he found out I’m a reporter, although I tried to explain I’m a friendly — as objective as Harry Carey calling a Cubs game. The hostility puzzled me, and then he explained that he’d been misquoted by the New Republic a few days earlier.

Well, Chris Burdick is a Great American — no matter what the New Republic says about him. Ever since the infamous Stephen Glass episode, it’s been good policy to take anything the New Republic says with a grain of salt, including John B. Judis’s election analysis that depicts PA-12 as a victory for The Vital Center:

Democrats can be pleased with the results of the May 18 elections. They won the only head-to-head contest with a Republican—a congressional election in Pennsylvania to fill the seat of the late John Murtha—by capturing the center in a fairly conservative district.

Which is utter hogwash — it was a victory for political inertia in a district that has been dominated by Democrats so long that the Republican Party at the county level has atrophied. And the Democrats didn’t win by “capturing the center” but by doing what they do best: Lying.

So fuck you, John B. Judis.

Hey, I’m feeling better already.

There is nothing worse that these “Big Picture” intellectual pundits who do nothing but pontificate about the cosmic significance of events they haven’t witnessed in places they’ve never been. Amy Crawford may be a vicious Marxist bull-dyke who misquotes Great Americans like Chris Burdick, but at least she was there, OK?

Until you’ve had a chili dog at Coney Island Lunch, don’t tell me about PA-12. Until you’ve been to the First Ward in Latrobe, until you’ve spent some time talking off-the-record to the locals, until you’ve taken a wrong turn and driven through the dilapidated south side of Johnstown — I missed Highway 271 and kept going south on Bedford Street — you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

Political Nostalgia and Economic Envy

The current political mantra of “jobs, jobs, jobs” has a different meaning in places where Democrats and their union-goon buddies have ruled the roost for so long. Whereas most conservatives hear “jobs” and think of innovative hard-working enterpreneurs attracting investment to create private-sector economic growth — you know, guys like Tim Burns — a lot of people in places like PA-12 hear “jobs” and think . . .

Well, they don’t really think at all.

Rather, the typical Democratic voter in PA-12 has some kind of visceral atavistic impulse to blame his problems on greedy rich Republicans — you know, guys like Tim Burns.

So those ridiculously false DCCC ads that accused Burns of wanting to “ship jobs overseas” were merely telling Democratic voters what they already believed. If you got laid off at the plant 10 years ago, and are still sitting around your run-down house on the south side of Johnstown waiting for the Good Old Days to come back, the Democrats will be only too happy to tell you that the Republican Party is the only thing that stands between you and that $22-an-hour job which doesn’t require education, skill or even sobriety.

Granted, the GOP has at times indulged in dumbed-down symbolic politics — “Vote Republican, or Gay Mexican Abortionists Will Burn Your Flag!” — but cultural conservatism doesn’t destroy communities the way economic liberalism does.

On the city square in Johnstown yesterday, I saw a monument to victims of the 1889 flood. But there was no monument to victims of the AFL-CIO: “In Loving Memory Of The Thousands Of Jobs Driven Away By Anti-Competitive Labor Policies.”

Until more Republicans in Pennsylvania can muster up the courage to start speaking some blunt truths about the source of their state’s economic malaise, Democrats will continue winning with idiotic assertions about greedy rich people who want to “ship jobs overseas.” Hell’s bells, what about shipping jobs to Alabama and Kentucky? Why are foreign companies like Honda and KIA building industrial plants in southern Appalachia, but not northern Appalachia?

Wake up and smell the AFL-CIO, Pennsylvania!

Trampling Out the Vintage

Who to blame for defeat in PA-12? Go ahead, blame me. I jinxed it. My family’s had a losing streak in Pennsylvania ever since my great-grandfather’s regiment got outflanked by the Iron Brigade on July 1, 1863. 

However, the finger-pointing and second-guessing will probably focus on more local scapegoats. Dave Weigel recounts some of the post-election analysis (see also here), but none mention the name of the Rob Gleason, who is chairman of both the Pennsylvania GOP and the Cambria County GOP. In the wee hours at the lobby bar of the (posh) George Washington Hotel, Gleason’s name was mentioned quite a few times by local grassroots Republicans — and not in a good way.

Mark Critz carried Gleason’s Cambria County by a margin of more than 5,000 votes, 57% to 41%. If Gleason can’t even deliver his home county for the GOP in a key special election, why the hell would Pennsylvania Republicans put a loser like Gleason in charge of their statewide party operations?

If the Tea Party Patriots in Pennsylvania want to stage an uprising, let them unfurl their Gadsden Flags and take over the state GOP with the battle cry, “DUMP GLEASON!” Trust me, there are plenty of rank-and-file Republicans who would rally behind such a movement.

And so much for strategic goals, I suppose. Before joining the rank-and-file at the lobby-bar bull session, I first had to grapple with the Final Wisdom in my American Spectator column:

Clearly, Democrats did damage to Burns with a blizzard of TV and radio ads accusing the Republican of wanting to impose a 23-percent sales tax “on just about everything we buy” — a blatant distortion of Burns’ qualified support of the Fair Tax, a proposal that would eliminate the income tax and abolish the Internal Revenue Service. FactCheck.org called that accusation “misleading” and one Pittsburgh TV station pulled the Democrat ad from the air, but it continued running elsewhere — even during commercial breaks on local broadcasts of Rush Limbaugh’s radio show — right up until Election Day.
The effectiveness of that line of attack against Burns, however, should raise alarm bells for Republicans looking forward to November. How many GOP congressional challengers have endorsed the Fair Tax? Whatever their numbers, all of them can now expect to be hit with the same kind of attack. . . .

You can read the rest of that, and also read some of the cogent reader comments like these:

I fear the voters of PA-12 are going to learn good and hard that Murthanomics will not work for them without Murtha. His seniority and committee assignments are not transferable. . . . I anticipate the Department of Defense and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee are going to rip out the rug from under Johnstown with gleeful, vengeful, abandon. . . .
I do not anticipate much joy at the next Cambria County Fair, no sir.

And:

It is a heavily and grotesquely gerrymandered Democratic district. And its demographic makeup is very old . . . [I]t was affected by the Great Depression into the 1950’s before it began to recover.. . . The young, talented and ambitious moved out long ago and are still leaving it. . . .
Pittsburgh has lost 1/2 its population in the last 30 years and it shows . . . They have been in decline for that long.

Anyway, I’m back home now. Upstairs, my kids are romping around and laughing. It’s a pleasant sound, but I’ll need need a few more hours of sleep to recover from this road trip. Thanks to everyone who hit the tip jar to make this coverage possible, and my apologies that the result was not the victory that we had expected. There were more than a few Tim Burns supporters crying last night, but I’m a neutral objective journalist and crying would be unethical.

And you know what a stickler I am about ethics.

UPDATE: Via Memeorandum, I see that second-hand wisdom is being offered today by Politico, Steve Benen, and many others who never ate at Coney Island Lunch. However, we must respect the great sage of American political analysis, Michael Barone:

In Pennsylvania 12, so far the state shows 77,410 votes cast in the Democratic primary for Congress and 43,614 in the Republican primary—43% of them for 2008 Republican nominee William Russell, who pointedly did not endorse special election Republican candidate Tim Burns. Thus the electorate in the 12th special election consisted of almost twice as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans. . . . [T]radition-minded Democrats who didn’t like Obama and never much liked Republicans . . . didn’t . . . feel compelled to vote in the Specter-Sestak primary . . . and they didn’t feel compelled to vote in the Pennsylvania 12 special between a Democrat who took care to distance himself from Nancy Pelosi but was still a Democrat and a Republican who was a businessman conspicuously not endorsed by the retired military officer who was the party’s candidate 18 months ago. Tim Burns needed these votes, and might have gotten them if they had felt obliged to vote, one way or the other, for president; but he couldn’t get them to the polls.

An interesting theory, but in terms of forward-looking strategy, Barone’s analysis is not as useful as my suggestion of dumping Pennsylvania GOP chairman Bob Gleason.

Gleason: He was for Arlen Specter
before he was against him.

Start printing the bumper stickers.

UPDATE II: Doug Brady offers an excellent analysis at Conservatives for Palin, pointing out that having the PA-12 special election concurrently with the primary in the predominantly Democratic district may have been decisive. And if Doug is right, then there is no weight behind  MSM’s crystal-ball claims of grand cosmic implications for November.

However, the Pennsylvania GOP still needs to dump Rob Gleason. If the Democrats hold a 2-to-1 registration on Gleason’s home turf, whose fault is that?

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Category: Congress, Election, Pennsylvania

Comments

64 Responses to “PA-12: The Final Wisdom”

  1. Roxeanne de Luca
    May 19th, 2010 @ 7:14 pm

    Wonderful writing, Stacy.

    I anticipate the Department of Defense and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee are going to rip out the rug from under Johnstown with gleeful, vengeful, abandon. . . .

    Now, I understand why Congress is involved in the DoD, but, for the vast majority of the bacon that comes home, Congress shouldn’t be involved to begin with. With a limited federal government, you don’t get the tragedy of the commons problem, wherein everyone wants to get as much out as possible, since they are paying for other people’s fruit fly research and bridges.

    I’m also infuriated by this “rich Republicans who help each other out” meme, which should have been thoroughly trashed by the shameless way in which Obama impoverished America in order to pay back his Wall Street campaign contributors.

    Grrr.

  2. Roxeanne de Luca
    May 19th, 2010 @ 2:14 pm

    Wonderful writing, Stacy.

    I anticipate the Department of Defense and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee are going to rip out the rug from under Johnstown with gleeful, vengeful, abandon. . . .

    Now, I understand why Congress is involved in the DoD, but, for the vast majority of the bacon that comes home, Congress shouldn’t be involved to begin with. With a limited federal government, you don’t get the tragedy of the commons problem, wherein everyone wants to get as much out as possible, since they are paying for other people’s fruit fly research and bridges.

    I’m also infuriated by this “rich Republicans who help each other out” meme, which should have been thoroughly trashed by the shameless way in which Obama impoverished America in order to pay back his Wall Street campaign contributors.

    Grrr.

  3. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:01 pm

    Well said, those adult beverages and lack of sleep actually fuel you.

    I was not there with you in that district, but I have spent sometime in Johnstown. While very conservative culturally and generally patriotic and pro military, there is putting it mildly a populist resentment of haves and have nots. They are still blaming Carnegie and his hunt club for the flood (the first one). It is a union stronghold. Talking about Latrobe, anyone mention how those evil fucking Belgiums (aka Anhauser Busch) shipped their Rolling Rock jobs overseas over river to New Jersey?

  4. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:01 pm

    Well said, those adult beverages and lack of sleep actually fuel you.

    I was not there with you in that district, but I have spent sometime in Johnstown. While very conservative culturally and generally patriotic and pro military, there is putting it mildly a populist resentment of haves and have nots. They are still blaming Carnegie and his hunt club for the flood (the first one). It is a union stronghold. Talking about Latrobe, anyone mention how those evil fucking Belgiums (aka Anhauser Busch) shipped their Rolling Rock jobs overseas over river to New Jersey?

  5. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:03 pm

    And I laughed when that GOP staffer said he got burned by The New Republic. I mean, seriously, that is like trusting your wallet with a junkie.

  6. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:03 pm

    And I laughed when that GOP staffer said he got burned by The New Republic. I mean, seriously, that is like trusting your wallet with a junkie.

  7. Noel
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:08 pm

    This was always going to be a tough nut to crack with 2 to 1 Democrat registration. In a gerrymander like this, politicians have elected their voters.

    If the voters are mostly older and receiving government benefits, that makes it harder. I believe that’s why Obama hasn’t lifted a finger to help job creation. He’s trying to get people dependent so they’ll vote Democrat. we’re in a race to get people free, productive and prosperous before the Socialist Death Spiral sets in.

    The Fair Tax is a Tax Swap for the Income Tax. Democrats lied about it, calling it a new tax instead of a swap. Oddly, that confirms Reagan’s anti-tax message. But it’s still a lie, especially since it is the Democrats who just raised dozens of new taxes in the HealthControl law.

    Funny how liberals pretend to be conservative–but conservatives never pretend to be liberal. Tells us something, I think.

  8. Noel
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:08 pm

    This was always going to be a tough nut to crack with 2 to 1 Democrat registration. In a gerrymander like this, politicians have elected their voters.

    If the voters are mostly older and receiving government benefits, that makes it harder. I believe that’s why Obama hasn’t lifted a finger to help job creation. He’s trying to get people dependent so they’ll vote Democrat. we’re in a race to get people free, productive and prosperous before the Socialist Death Spiral sets in.

    The Fair Tax is a Tax Swap for the Income Tax. Democrats lied about it, calling it a new tax instead of a swap. Oddly, that confirms Reagan’s anti-tax message. But it’s still a lie, especially since it is the Democrats who just raised dozens of new taxes in the HealthControl law.

    Funny how liberals pretend to be conservative–but conservatives never pretend to be liberal. Tells us something, I think.

  9. Robert Stacy McCain
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:11 pm

    Yeah, if the New Republic thinks the election of a former Murtha staffer is “centrism,” they’ve got worse problems than merely misquoting people.

  10. Robert Stacy McCain
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:11 pm

    Yeah, if the New Republic thinks the election of a former Murtha staffer is “centrism,” they’ve got worse problems than merely misquoting people.

  11. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:23 pm

    The New Republic also thought Scott Beauchamp was the equivalent of Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge.

    So yeah, I think that answers your rhetorical question.

  12. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:23 pm

    The New Republic also thought Scott Beauchamp was the equivalent of Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge.

    So yeah, I think that answers your rhetorical question.

  13. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:28 pm

    Funny how liberals pretend to be conservative–but conservatives never pretend to be liberal. Tells us something, I think.

    Rush has been mentioning that for some time. The liberal brand name is poison. So liberals try to run as something else. I think Stacy can confirm that is exactly what happened in this race.

    Then again, the GOP’s brand name is not exactly sterling either. Which is why conservatives and tea partiers are trying to redefine it.

  14. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:28 pm

    Funny how liberals pretend to be conservative–but conservatives never pretend to be liberal. Tells us something, I think.

    Rush has been mentioning that for some time. The liberal brand name is poison. So liberals try to run as something else. I think Stacy can confirm that is exactly what happened in this race.

    Then again, the GOP’s brand name is not exactly sterling either. Which is why conservatives and tea partiers are trying to redefine it.

  15. Roxeanne de Luca
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:29 pm

    The Daily Beast mis-quoted me. I spent about a half hour on the phone with the guy, after which he could only manage to take something that I said about “not A” and make it sound like I said it about “A” by parking it directly next to an “A” subject. Even so, the effect was to make me sound like a rational, sane moderate. Normally, I would be offended because I’m a raging arch-conservative, but in the Tea Party context, it’s probably helpful.

    It happens. If you insist on talking to these people, you have to be ready for them to rip you apart for their own gain. If you aren’t into that, there’s plenty of conservative and Republican media hounds who will do it for you.

  16. Roxeanne de Luca
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:29 pm

    The Daily Beast mis-quoted me. I spent about a half hour on the phone with the guy, after which he could only manage to take something that I said about “not A” and make it sound like I said it about “A” by parking it directly next to an “A” subject. Even so, the effect was to make me sound like a rational, sane moderate. Normally, I would be offended because I’m a raging arch-conservative, but in the Tea Party context, it’s probably helpful.

    It happens. If you insist on talking to these people, you have to be ready for them to rip you apart for their own gain. If you aren’t into that, there’s plenty of conservative and Republican media hounds who will do it for you.

  17. Lee Thomas
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:33 pm

    What I found interesting in this campaign is how Murtha was very far left and yet his sidekick ran as a centrist and moderate with campaign positions that would get him elected in many Republican districts.

    It will be important to watch the Dems move to center in order to get elected. Much as Obama did during the 2008 presidential election.

  18. Lee Thomas
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:33 pm

    What I found interesting in this campaign is how Murtha was very far left and yet his sidekick ran as a centrist and moderate with campaign positions that would get him elected in many Republican districts.

    It will be important to watch the Dems move to center in order to get elected. Much as Obama did during the 2008 presidential election.

  19. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:42 pm

    This is very funny (and sad too). A Salon writers worries her Dad is turning into a crazy conservative.

    H/T: Althouse

    I have had people I am friends with and who I know to be intelligent say the most craziest things in relation to politics (both liberal and conservative, but mostly liberal). Their frontal lobes and cerebellum shut down and their little reptilian fear centers go into overdrive.

    My guess that this writer’s dad is a sane smart patriotic guy and she is increasingly going mad not understanding where he is coming from. It would be nice if parents and kids could get along.

  20. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:42 pm

    This is very funny (and sad too). A Salon writers worries her Dad is turning into a crazy conservative.

    H/T: Althouse

    I have had people I am friends with and who I know to be intelligent say the most craziest things in relation to politics (both liberal and conservative, but mostly liberal). Their frontal lobes and cerebellum shut down and their little reptilian fear centers go into overdrive.

    My guess that this writer’s dad is a sane smart patriotic guy and she is increasingly going mad not understanding where he is coming from. It would be nice if parents and kids could get along.

  21. DB9
    May 19th, 2010 @ 8:46 pm

    A good explanation is to why Burns lost:

    http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2010/05/pa-12-why-tim-burns-lost.html

  22. DB9
    May 19th, 2010 @ 3:46 pm

    A good explanation is to why Burns lost:

    http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2010/05/pa-12-why-tim-burns-lost.html

  23. smitty
    May 19th, 2010 @ 9:04 pm

    @Roxeanne,
    In #1, you said:
    With a limited federal government, you don’t get the tragedy of the commons problem, wherein everyone wants to get as much out as possible, since they are paying for other people’s fruit fly research and bridges.
    Within those Federal limits resides National Defense, which committee Murtha rode like Rocinante for a very long time.
    Defense Acquisition is the original TOTC problem, and I don’t see how that shall be fixed, alas.

  24. smitty
    May 19th, 2010 @ 4:04 pm

    @Roxeanne,
    In #1, you said:
    With a limited federal government, you don’t get the tragedy of the commons problem, wherein everyone wants to get as much out as possible, since they are paying for other people’s fruit fly research and bridges.
    Within those Federal limits resides National Defense, which committee Murtha rode like Rocinante for a very long time.
    Defense Acquisition is the original TOTC problem, and I don’t see how that shall be fixed, alas.

  25. TR Sterling
    May 19th, 2010 @ 9:22 pm

    I agree, nice job on the road RSM and crispy writing all the way.

    Interestingly Critz also had 2 competitors in the primary section and he beat those and won the special. Unfotunately though, Tim Burns needed more as M. Barone observed. Maybe, however with LTC Russell gone from the scene, Burns might put together the missing votes for a win in Nov. He did obtain quite a number of ind. or dem votes (14,000 about) so it would be possible to change over in Nov. At least he would not be in a ‘house divided’. A Fine tune of the tax issue would be a good thing.

  26. TR Sterling
    May 19th, 2010 @ 4:22 pm

    I agree, nice job on the road RSM and crispy writing all the way.

    Interestingly Critz also had 2 competitors in the primary section and he beat those and won the special. Unfotunately though, Tim Burns needed more as M. Barone observed. Maybe, however with LTC Russell gone from the scene, Burns might put together the missing votes for a win in Nov. He did obtain quite a number of ind. or dem votes (14,000 about) so it would be possible to change over in Nov. At least he would not be in a ‘house divided’. A Fine tune of the tax issue would be a good thing.

  27. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 9:56 pm

    I am not sure a tragedy of the commons argument is the issue. The cows got out of the barn, ate the commons down to dirt long ago, and are currently outside your door willing to eat the carpet and the upholstery off the couch.

    Murtha’s largeness with other people’s money aside, you could cut all the pork and earmarks out of the system, shut down half the federal government (Dept of Ag, NEA, EPA, etc., etc.), and it would not come close to fixing the deficit. Even totally eliminating the Department of Defense would not do it. And you cannot tax your way out of this either.

    The only way is to significantly change dynamic is cutting or restricting social security and medicare and not doing Obamacare at all. But since that is not a winning program for getting elected it will unfortunatley require a crisis for that to happen. The crisis will come.

  28. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 4:56 pm

    I am not sure a tragedy of the commons argument is the issue. The cows got out of the barn, ate the commons down to dirt long ago, and are currently outside your door willing to eat the carpet and the upholstery off the couch.

    Murtha’s largeness with other people’s money aside, you could cut all the pork and earmarks out of the system, shut down half the federal government (Dept of Ag, NEA, EPA, etc., etc.), and it would not come close to fixing the deficit. Even totally eliminating the Department of Defense would not do it. And you cannot tax your way out of this either.

    The only way is to significantly change dynamic is cutting or restricting social security and medicare and not doing Obamacare at all. But since that is not a winning program for getting elected it will unfortunatley require a crisis for that to happen. The crisis will come.

  29. Good News, Bad News: Primary Post-Mortem | PAWaterCooler.com
    May 19th, 2010 @ 5:09 pm

    […] It should go without saying what party mistrust cost us in this district, even with a very attractive […]

  30. chuck cross
    May 19th, 2010 @ 10:12 pm

    Now this is reporting.

    *clink*

  31. chuck cross
    May 19th, 2010 @ 5:12 pm

    Now this is reporting.

    *clink*

  32. Charles
    May 19th, 2010 @ 10:33 pm

    The problem with the Fair Tax is that the average voter just hears the word tax. And 23% isn’t a good number to pair with the word tax. The average voter doesn’t believe you’re really going to succeed in getting rid of the IRS.

    So if Tim Burns ever uttered the words Fair Tax he can blame himself for his own loss.

  33. Charles
    May 19th, 2010 @ 5:33 pm

    The problem with the Fair Tax is that the average voter just hears the word tax. And 23% isn’t a good number to pair with the word tax. The average voter doesn’t believe you’re really going to succeed in getting rid of the IRS.

    So if Tim Burns ever uttered the words Fair Tax he can blame himself for his own loss.

  34. Adobe Walls
    May 19th, 2010 @ 10:38 pm

    @ Joe
    followed your link didn’t find the sad part. That a progressive 20 something becomes “progressively” more insane is normal for those infected with that disease. What the young lady mistakes for sadness on her part is merely disappointment at her inability to drag her father into the quagmire of madness she inhabits. The sad element to this tale may be that the father hasn’t institutionalized his daughter indicating that he doesn’t perceive the danger.

  35. Adobe Walls
    May 19th, 2010 @ 5:38 pm

    @ Joe
    followed your link didn’t find the sad part. That a progressive 20 something becomes “progressively” more insane is normal for those infected with that disease. What the young lady mistakes for sadness on her part is merely disappointment at her inability to drag her father into the quagmire of madness she inhabits. The sad element to this tale may be that the father hasn’t institutionalized his daughter indicating that he doesn’t perceive the danger.

  36. Natedawg
    May 19th, 2010 @ 10:52 pm

    Mr. McCain, if it makes you feel any better the “Black Hats” of the Iron Brigade were also flanked (by Gen. Ewell’s 2nd Corps) and decimated on July 1, 1863.

  37. Natedawg
    May 19th, 2010 @ 5:52 pm

    Mr. McCain, if it makes you feel any better the “Black Hats” of the Iron Brigade were also flanked (by Gen. Ewell’s 2nd Corps) and decimated on July 1, 1863.

  38. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 10:54 pm

    Adobe, the sadness is she is unable to even consider her father’s position as having merit. This sort of generational dischord is all too common. It is much easier for her to just dismiss it as right wing craziness, rather than honestly confront some of her own positions.

  39. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 5:54 pm

    Adobe, the sadness is she is unable to even consider her father’s position as having merit. This sort of generational dischord is all too common. It is much easier for her to just dismiss it as right wing craziness, rather than honestly confront some of her own positions.

  40. Stacy McCain: Nobody Does It Better « The Camp Of The Saints
    May 19th, 2010 @ 6:53 pm

    […] It’s a damn shame, but, on the bright side, we all who have sent him moolah can all feel good about supporting some real, honest-to-goodness first-class political reporting.  Stacy’s work on the PA-12 is a fine example of good, old-fashion show leather reporting and in…. […]

  41. just a conservative girl
    May 20th, 2010 @ 12:03 am

    Is it just me, or did the republican do very well considering that the district is 2 to 1 dems to republicans and a heavy union presence?

    I would look at this as a net postive; in a primary with very low turnout the republican got what was 48% of the vote? Not too bad.

  42. just a conservative girl
    May 19th, 2010 @ 7:03 pm

    Is it just me, or did the republican do very well considering that the district is 2 to 1 dems to republicans and a heavy union presence?

    I would look at this as a net postive; in a primary with very low turnout the republican got what was 48% of the vote? Not too bad.

  43. Tania Gail
    May 20th, 2010 @ 12:21 am

    However, the Pennsylvania GOP still needs to dump Rob Gleason. If the Democrats hold a 2-to-1 registration on Gleason’s home turf, whose fault is that?

    This is the major reason why I backed Russell, not Burns. Rob Gleason chose Burns to run in this election and made it so through committee approval.

    http://midnightbluesays.com/2010/05/pennyslvania-primary-preview.html

  44. Tania Gail
    May 19th, 2010 @ 7:21 pm

    However, the Pennsylvania GOP still needs to dump Rob Gleason. If the Democrats hold a 2-to-1 registration on Gleason’s home turf, whose fault is that?

    This is the major reason why I backed Russell, not Burns. Rob Gleason chose Burns to run in this election and made it so through committee approval.

    http://midnightbluesays.com/2010/05/pennyslvania-primary-preview.html

  45. Joe
    May 20th, 2010 @ 12:23 am

    just a conservative girl makes a lot of sense.

  46. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 7:23 pm

    just a conservative girl makes a lot of sense.

  47. Joe
    May 20th, 2010 @ 12:24 am

    I still want to win, however, and Burns lost.

  48. Joe
    May 19th, 2010 @ 7:24 pm

    I still want to win, however, and Burns lost.

  49. Liz
    May 20th, 2010 @ 2:57 am

    Excellent writing and analysis, Stacy. You nailed it about PA-12. I live near one of the small towns in this district and it pretty much fits the bill of generations of Democratic government: a desolate downtown district and an older populace with their Social Security and Medicare. Anyone with a full-time job drives to downtown Pittsburgh or one of the innumerable office parks surrounding it.

    I’ve also read a bit about Rob Gleason on my way to researching some semblance of a GOP in PA and discovered that he was good buddies with Jack Murtha, which explains a lot. The impression I get is that he’s a RINO, since there’s already a Dem committeeman and he has to have a party affiliation because of our closed primaries.

    Realize, too, that it’s only been in the last half-decade that we’ve *ever* had *anyone* running opposite Murtha, so in many ways, this is a new experience for me. For others, old habits die hard, if they die at all. That’s what we’re up against here.

    Again, kudos on your excellent work! We’re glad to have you.

  50. Liz
    May 19th, 2010 @ 9:57 pm

    Excellent writing and analysis, Stacy. You nailed it about PA-12. I live near one of the small towns in this district and it pretty much fits the bill of generations of Democratic government: a desolate downtown district and an older populace with their Social Security and Medicare. Anyone with a full-time job drives to downtown Pittsburgh or one of the innumerable office parks surrounding it.

    I’ve also read a bit about Rob Gleason on my way to researching some semblance of a GOP in PA and discovered that he was good buddies with Jack Murtha, which explains a lot. The impression I get is that he’s a RINO, since there’s already a Dem committeeman and he has to have a party affiliation because of our closed primaries.

    Realize, too, that it’s only been in the last half-decade that we’ve *ever* had *anyone* running opposite Murtha, so in many ways, this is a new experience for me. For others, old habits die hard, if they die at all. That’s what we’re up against here.

    Again, kudos on your excellent work! We’re glad to have you.