In decisively defeating Rick Santorum in a Meet the Press debate yesterday, Bob Casey took a giant step forward towards running out the clock on Rick Santorum. Santorum's pathetic football analogies for American strategy in Iraq--"we have a great game plan. We go it just like a football team....we had bad intelligence. But....I don't play Monday morning quarterback"--were no match for Casey's detailed critiques of the dismal Iraq war record of Bush, Rumsfeld, and Santorum.
Casey said he would not have voted to send troops to Iraq if he had known then what he knows now. He also said that if the entire Congress had known then what it knows now, it is unlikely that a vote would have even been taken.
Casey offered four goals for our war in Iraq--accountability, including the firing of Donald Rumsfeld and an investigation into whether Congress was lied to about what the military intelligence showed when it supported the war; clear and measureable benchmarks from Bush and the Iraqis for the prosecution of the war; transformation of the mission on the ground so that fewer American soldiers are at risk; doubling the number of Special Forces in Iraq.
Casey while personally friendly to Santorum--he repeatedly called him Rick, while Santorum refused to call him by name; he thanked Santorum for participating in the debate while Santorum declined to thank him; he included Santorum in his expression of condolences to the family of the recently deceased Mayor Bob O'Connor of Pittsburgh--was decisive in his dismissal of Santorum's positions on Iraq.
He dismissed Santorum's description of his own policy--which was to see the war in Iraq as merely one front in a struggle with Islamic fascism--as merely "Stay the course in Iraq."
"I think we've got to change the course and have new leadership," Casey said.
Casey said that he (like most Democratic U.S. Senators in my opinion) does not support John Kerry's call for all troops out by July, 2007. "I've never favored a deadline in this whole campaign, " Casey said. "Because we have to do everything we can to hold the administration accountable....this thing is headed toward civil war. We don't know if it's there yet. We hope it's not. But when you have it heading in the wrong direction, you've got to have a new course...."
Casey ridiculed Santorum's defense of his record by referring to recent speeches he has given raising minor points of difference with Bush policies. "You're hearing a long speech about...other speeches he has given. What we need and what the president needs to tell us about, and what this senator won't hold the president accountable for, is a plan. One of the things we could be doing, not just when it comes to Iraq, but when it comes to the global war on terror, is to have more Special Forces out there. Doubling the number of Special Forces, having counterproliferation units run by the Special Forces that intercept nuclear, biological, chemical potential weapons around the world--finding them before the terrorists get them. That's the kind of on-the-ground thing. We don't need more speeches."
Casey firmly attacked both Bush Administration secrecy and Santorum's allegiance with Bush. "The objective here is to make sure we're doing everything possible to give the American people the information they need and to protect our troops. And I think it's an abomination, Tim, when you have people like Santorum, who have rubber-stamped this administration 98% of the time, did not call for or insist upon the best body armor when those troops needed it."
Casey mocked Santorum's desire to change the language from a war on terror--now apparently losing political currency--to a war on Islamic fascism--which in my opinion could resonate better among religious people and people who lived through World War II.
"What we need, Rick, is not a change in the terminology, we need to change the tactics. And we've got to make sure that even as you're debating whether or not we call Osama bin Laden a terrorist or a fascist, I don't think that really matters. We need a plan. You're in the Senate, you have votes, you should be leading the effort. And I, I think after it's over, after you get the terminology right, maybe you can have a seminar in Washington about whether bin Laden, whom we should be finding and killing, whether he's a dead terrorist or a dead fascist. And I think you should worry more about finding and killing him."
Casey parried Santorum's attempt to link him to Democratic positions he was caricaturing in a ridiculous way. "Rick, Rick," Casey said, "you're not debating the (Democratic) party, you're debating me right here."
Casey praised Senator Arlen Specter on surveillance issues, saying "Senator Specter, you know, can get this right."
Casey succeeded in noting the incongruity between Santorum's professions of militant support for sanctions in Iran and strong sanctions opponent Dick Cheyney raising $300,000 for him. "Rick, sanctions are important," Casey said, "you should tell him he's wrong."
"Tim," Casey said,...I think what the people of Pennsylvania expect and deserve is someone who's going to be independent, truly independent. That voting record shows very graphically he hasn't been independent. Being a rubber stamp for the President of the United States is not...in the best interest of the people of America.
"And think Tim," said Casey in concluding the debate on Iraq, "when you have two politicians in Washington who agree 98% of the time, one of them's not really necessary. We could have, we could have a machine have that kind of vote. We need someone who's going to be truly independent, who has the character and the integrity to stand up to his party and his president, especially at a time of war."
Casey could improve his delivery, but his content stakes out a clear position of opposition to Bush's failed policies and opposition to the argument that the duty of a senator is to support the President regardless of the merits of the President's policies. Those in other campaigns should take note of Casey's rhetoric: it is mainstream, main street language issuing a clarion call for change. In many ways, Democrats around the country are going to proud to have Casey as a U.S. Senator.
Tommorrow, I will discuss other aspects of the Casey/Santorum debate. You can find the transcript at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/.... Once again, I thank jiacinto for calling this transcript to my attention.