Whips & Buggies

Happy Labor Day!

2007-09-03T21:26:00.000-04:00

Statement By Chuck Pennacchio

2006-05-17T21:58:00.000-04:00

A BEGINNING

Our 2006 Senate campaign was a critically important step in a larger citizen movement to restore Pennsylvania's politics to Pennsylvanians. Thousands of citizens in hundreds of communities across the state over the last thirty months have inspired me, time and again, to speak truth against a political system near bankruptcy.

My heartfelt thanks go out to each volunteer and every supporter who has given so much to advance our people-first politics -- Pennsylvanians who embrace meaningful reform over politics as usual. Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians are taking a stand for a better kind of politics. A politics built on the talent, imagination, and energy of Pennsylvanians. A politics that promotes the common good instead of narrow, big-money special interests and party bosses. A government that guarantees universal health care, a living wage, civil liberties, and a sane foreign policy.

The issues we care about are not going away, and neither are we. In the coming days and weeks I look forward to talking with my supporters and other Pennsylvanians as we decide together what our next steps will be.

Yours in solidarity,

Chuck Pennacchio

"Our President is a Criminal..."

2006-05-10T12:39:00.000-04:00

"He he lied us into war in Iraq and he's engaged in warrantless wiretapping of Americans in violation of our Constitution."

"We need to impeach this President."

Wouldn't it be nice to have a Senator with the guts to say that in public? Not just censure, impeach.

Chuck Pennacchio is your man.

Party Like It's 2004!

2006-05-10T06:13:00.000-04:00

Ted Rall on the latest polls.

Those Folks in Lower Slobovia Are Not Dummies

2006-05-09T13:17:00.000-04:00

A Big Fat Slob may not lounge around in the cleanest of underwear, and his apartment may not be the tidiest, but when he can rouse himself from his comfy chair and lift his stubby fingers onto his sticky keyboard, well, nobody's been blogging better about the Casey-Pennacchio race:

Flipping & Flopping on Gay Rights

Bob Casey Jr -- He'll Take Money from Anyone

What Bob Casey Doesn't Get is that Choice is NOT about Abortion

[Oops! I forgot this companion piece to "He'll Take Money" -- Send Lawyers, Lobbyists & Money!]

Vichy Democrat Capitulates to Faux News!

2006-05-09T09:36:00.000-04:00

And no, I'm not talking about Zell Miller or Joe Lieberman.

As Will Bunch says, "in 2008, we'd like to see a candidate who's critical of some of these practices take the lead for the White House, not someone who's too busy stuffing their $1,000 bills into her purse."

Attytood: Hillary Clinton: The ultimate Fox News Democrat

[I hadn't read the comments to Will's post when I first blogged it, so I missed the links to two excellent and related posts by Michael Tomasky over at The American Prospect: The T-Word and Party in Search of a Notion]

Jeff Cohen weighs in with "Hillary, Rupert, and the Culture of Corruption"]

Just Shut Up And Vote For Casey

2006-05-07T08:03:00.000-04:00

In a recent blog, dragonballyee said he was at a loss to explain why the netroots went all-out to support certain long-shot progressive candidates (Hackett, Rodriguez, even Lamont) but they dismissed Chuck Pennacchio with a flick of the wrist as "not viable."

Funny thing is, that link takes you to a Daily Kos blog in which Kos himself questions why the hell Bob Casey Jr. would decide to antagonize his Democratic base by openly declaring his support of Alito.

Kos and Atrios don't seem to get that Casey has done almost nothing but antagonize the Democratic base, and it began with how he was hand-picked by out-of-state D.C. insiders.

Today's Washington Post has an excellent op-ed about how Hillary Clinton is "too much of a Clinton Democrat" for the netroots to get behind in '08. The writer points out that after the success of the netroots in getting behind Howard Dean, "No longer would D.C. insiders impose their candidates on us without our input; those of us in the netroots could demand a say in our political fortunes." The author of that WaPo op-ed is Markos Moulitsas, Kos himself.

Kos, Atrios and other unlikely Casey supporters offer a couple of strawman arguments against Pennacchio, one of which goes something like, "A vote for Pennacchio is a vote for Santorum." Folks, this is the primary -- not the general election. Of course a few Pennacchio supporters have gone on record as saying they wouldn't vote for Casey in the general. But most of Chuck's supporters believe that "we need this seat to have Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and subpoena power" so they'll hold their noses, vote for Casey in November, and hope for the best.

In the meantime, as Democrats, let's try some democracy and have a primary. And, of course, vote for Chuck!

[ASIDE: To some degree I can forgive Kos for not understanding PA politics, since he's in California and probably is getting some misinformation about Casey. Otherwise, why would he have said, "Bob Casey Jr is the Dem's best bet, the most popular politician in the state..."??]

Chuck Pennacchio For Senator

2006-05-04T19:33:00.000-04:00

If you live in Pennsylvania and you're a registered Democrat and you haven't heard of Chuck, please do me a favor and check out Chuck's Website.

If you're not from Pennsylvania but consider yourself a progressive Democrat, please think about donating to Chuck.