Hoeffel Endorses Casey

I got an email a few minutes ago from Joe Hoeffel endorsing Bob Casey for U.S. Senate. It reads, in part:

This is the most important U.S. Senate race in the country ... because Rick Santorum isn't just another Republican vote in the U.S. Senate. Day after day, he's been leading the fight for President Bush's right wing agenda and ignoring the pressing problems of many poor and struggling middle class families here in Pennsylvania.

....

We've got to devote all of our energies to removing him from the U.S. Senate. That is why I have endorsed Bob Casey. Won't you join me?

I've known Bob Casey for more than a decade. I know him to be a person of great compassion and decency, and while he and I don't agree on every issue, I ask you to look at his record of standing up and making a difference for people in need.

....

Bob is an effective advocate for seniors, for children and for working families...

Of course, this isn't surprising, after Gov. Ed Rendell's lame move to endorse Casey last month, short-circuiting that little thing called the primary. (And with it, Democrats’ right to choose the candidate they want.)

Bob might be an effective advocate for seniors, children and working families that don’t need an abortion. Bob might be an effective advocate for those who don’t care about the precedential value of Roe v. Wade on women’s rights. Or those who are pro-death penalty. But for those of us who do, well, it just looks like we’ve been sold up the river (again).

Now, there are real differences between Santorum and Casey. Santorum pushes the Republican party further to the right. He is its well-scrubbed, young religious zealot of the future. He makes my skin crawl, and well, his whole comparison of homosexuality and bestiality really rubbed me the wrong way.

Casey, on the other hand, pushes the Democratic party further to the right. He is pro-death penalty. He supports the legality of abortion only when a woman’s life is endangered. (For those wondering, that means he does not support a woman’s right to an abortion in cases of rape or incest. Yea, family values!) He appears to support legislation that would make scientific research subject to passing a "moral test." (For more on his issues, check out this Daily Kos story.)

While the Dems might then pick up a seat in the Senate, at what cost? We in the United States continue to live in a country run by the aristocracy, by the rich, white, straight men who do little to effect change because it will only harm their own interests. Rendell’s power play to endorse Casey, and Hoeffel’s jump onto the bandwagon just reinforces that. All hail to the old boys’ club, ‘cause it ain’t going anywhere.

As Catharine MacKinnon wrote, “give women equal power in social life…Let what we say matter… Take your foot off our necks, then we will hear in what tongue women speak.”