Betraying His Bargain. Twice.
US Sen. Robert Casey Jr. cast his lot with the radical abortion crowd this week. He not only betrayed his father's famous legacy, but his bargain with constituents.
I’m no fan of US Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania. It started before he was elected in 2006 when he unseated my friend and US Senator Rick Santorum in the very Democratic year of 2006. Had Santorum been reelected, he was slated to become the Assistant Republican Leader.
Santorum would instead win eleven states in his quest for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 as the runner-up to Mitt Romney. He and about a dozen other candidates lost to Donald Trump in 2016. Santorum was best remembered in the Senate as its strongest pro-life advocate.
Casey Jr.’s political success, first as Pennsylvania Auditor-General, Treasurer, and US Senator (he narrowly lost the Democratic nomination for Governor to Ed Rendell), stemmed from his famous father, the late Robert Casey Sr.
A popular two-term Democratic governor, Casey Sr. was famously refused a platform at the 1992 Democratic National Convention over his pro-life views. He signed abortion restrictions into law that the Supreme Court upheld (with one exception, spousal notification) in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, one of the Supreme Court laws that may soon be struck down, along with its infamous cousin, Roe v. Wade.
Casey Sr., a devoted Catholic, opposed abortion and strongly defended gun rights. Imagine a Democrat taking those positions today? Casey Jr. once did. He built his political persona on the shoulders of his famous father with his own nominally pro-life position and support of gun rights. Casey’s view on gun rights eventually changed, and by 2016 he became an “evangelist for gun control laws.”
Casey dropped the other shoe this week. On May 11, Casey voted for the Women's Health Protection Act, which would enshrine abortion on demand for any reason at any time during pregnancy, up to (if not including) the moment of birth. It would have obliterated any state restrictions, like the ones his father championed in the Keystone State. Casey Sr. passed away in 2000. It would enshrine policies on abortion that most Americans reject.
"Sen. Casey appeared to share his father’s anti-abortion/pro-life stance. It appears that the apple, in this instance, has fallen far from the tree. Sen. Casey supports the codification in federal law of a practice — a procedure — that his father called a crime," writes Francis Sempa for The American Spectator. Sempa grew up in Scranton, blocks away from the Caseys.
I cannot point to a single noteworthy accomplishment during Casey’s nearly three terms in the US Senate, aside from an ability to change his mind. I can, however, point to a lot of very bad votes. There's no evidence that the power of his intellect could power a light bulb. The same now holds for the strength of his character and the courage of his convictions.
Casey has done more than change his mind. He has betrayed the bargain he long made with his state and constituents. Twice. Remember that, Pennsylvanians, when he's up again for reelection in 2024.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. . . you know the proverb.
Read the full American Spectator post here.
Betraying His Bargain. Twice.
Because this was a vote on the Motion to Proceed, rather than a vote on the bill itself, he will weasel his way out of this by saying he wasn’t voting in favor of the bill itself, he was merely voting to allow it to proceed to final consideration -- “I would have voted against it if it came to a final vote.” My view is that one of the reasons we are in this mess generally is the Senate no longer is able to agree to time agreements by Unanimous Consent to consider legislation, so almost every bill that comes to the Senate floor is subject to a Cloture vote. Cloture votes have in practice become votes in favor or against the underlying legislation. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. The Senate is broken procedurally.