Fuck. This. Guy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) blamed President Barack Obama Tuesday for the defeat in the Senate of legislation to expand background checks.
"I would suggest the administration brought this on themselves," Toomey said in an interview with The Morning Call. "I think the president ran his re-election campaign in a divisive way. He divided Americans. He was using resentment of some Americans toward others to generate support for himself. That was very divisive, that has consequences, that lingers."
"I understand why people have some apprehension about this administration," he added. "I don't agree with the conclusion as it applies to my [background checks] amendment, but I understand where the emotion comes from."
Last Wednesday, Toomey's amendment, crafted with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the Senate with a final vote of 54 to 46. Only three Republicans joined Toomey by voting in its favor: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and John McCain (Ariz.). Three red state Democrats facing reelection in 2014, Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.), Mark Begich (Alaska) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) voted against the measure. Baucus has since announced that he will not seek reelection. Other amendments, such as a strengthened federal gun trafficking statute, ban on assault weapons and limit on high-capacity magazines, also failed.
The failure of the legislation can hardly be attributed to Obama, who pressed for measures to reduce gun violence after the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., took the lives of 20 children and six educators. The president's gun control agenda included farther-reaching reforms, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but he later focused the push on expanded background checks, which have the support of 90 percent of Americans.
The White House even endorsed the Toomey-Manchin compromise, which would have expanded background checks for firearm purchases but was a significantly watered-down alternative to legislation initially sought by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). - Huffington Post, 4/24/13
It's no secret I hate Pat Toomey. I'm still angry that the good people of my home state of Pennsylvania chose this Tea Party Wall Street scumbag over decorated Admiral and former Congressman Joe Sestak (D. PA) back in 2010. By the way, Toomey agreed to work with Manchin so he could position himself for 2016 as the very thing he hates: a pragmatic centrist. But Toomey's fringe base that helped him get elected in 2010 can see through his bull shit:
http://news.yahoo.com/...
The junior senator from Pennsylvania’s doomed effort to broker a gun-control compromise on background checks provoked anger among fellow Republicans, who called him an enemy of the Second Amendment and a traitor to the conservative cause. The heat was so searing, in fact, that an attempt at humor—Toomey posted on Facebook a Saturday Night Live skit poking fun at himself—did little more than draw incensed comments from conservatives angry he’d make light of a serious issue.
The very conservatives the senator counted among his most ardent supporters during a 2004 primary campaign against then-Sen. Arlen Specter had suddenly made Toomey a target. And for the first time since he assiduously began building a reputation as a moderate lawmaker—an effort that includes moderation on gay rights and other cultural topics—the senator faces uncertainty within his base.
The question Toomey must now answer is whether he will continue his periodic jaunts toward the political middle, or if the backlash will keep him faithful to conservatives even as he approaches his 2016 reelection in blue Pennsylvania.
Toomey appeared wounded after the compromise fell apart last week, knowing the heat he took among the party faithful had, in the end, not helped achieve new legislation.
Even if he didn’t back off the proposal, he left little doubt he’d be turning to other issues. - Yahoo News, 4/24/13
It truly would be poetic justice to see Toomey be defeated in his own primary in 2016. 2016 will be a Presidential year and Toomey, a Republican in a growing blue state, will have a serious race ahead of him. By the way, Sestak still continues to raise campaign money:
http://mainlinemedianews.com/...
Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is raising money.
But what is he running for? We still don’t know.
According the latest posting on the Federal Election Commission website, Sestak raised about $460,000 in the first quarter of 2013 which covers Jan. 1 through March 31. The campaign committee name is “Friends of Joe Sestak.”
Sestak, a Democrat and former admiral in the U.S. Navy, represented the 7th Congressional District from 2006-2010. He then decided to run for U.S. Senate and lost in the general election by a slim margin to U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
Sestak has indicated he wanted to run again for office but did not say whether it would be for governor in 2014.
“I want to serve again, and want to do it right,” he said in an email to journalists in February.
Sestak said then he is still teaching at Carnegie Mellon University in Allegheny County and Cheyney University in Thornbury, “permitting me to ensure my decision is right as I have long drives to think, and youth in class to invigorate me.” - Main Line Media News, 4/22/13
So Sestak supporters are alive and well and are supportive of whatever decision he wants to make:
http://www.delcotimes.com/...
In telephone interviews Monday, three Sestak contributors said they don't care whether he runs for governor or U.S. Senate. They cited his military experience, his intellect and his seemingly boundless energy as factors that give him a leg up in any race.
"I would love to have him for both" offices, said Madge Goldman of Bryn Mawr, who donated $5,200.
"He is the kind of a person I would love to have doing things," said Goldman, who is 83. "He doesn't just take a poll." She said Sestak finds out what is going on and does something about it.
With similar enthusiasm, businessman James Murdock and his wife contributed the same amount to Friends of Joe Sestak, his federal campaign committee.
"We're supportive of anything he wants to do," said Murdock, who lives in Wayne.
Sestak, whose campaign war chest contained less than $9,000 in January, has not ruled out a gubernatorial bid next year or a rematch against Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey in 2016.
Peter Sears, a retired pharmaceutical company executive who gave $2,600, said Sestak is "probably better suited for a Senate race because of his background" but that he would be "just as happy" if Sestak joins the already crowded field of Democrats seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
"I respect (Sestak's) energy ... He is nonstop," said Sears, a West Chester resident. Delaware County Daily Times, 4/23/13
Whether he wants to jump into the 2014 Democratic Governors primary, seek a rematch with Toomey in 2016 or even try to take back his congressional seat, Sestak will have to make a decision sooner than later:
http://www.keystonepolitics.com/...
The specific problem with Admiral Sestak’s stockpile of campaign munitions is that it could scare higher quality Democratic candidates away from competing for the 7th District seat. If it looks like there’s a chance Sestak might get in, why would a serious candidate waste his or her time raising money and building support only to get crushed late in the game by the popular former Congressman?
If he doesn’t intend to run for the seat, then he’s making life needlessly difficult for the eventual candidate, who’ll have a tougher time raising money because of the uncertainty.
And it’s much the same with the Governor’s race. Donors don’t want to max out to Rob McCord only to have Joe Sestak jump into the race later and quickly eclipse the Anti-Schwartz of Spring 2013. - Keystone Politics, 4/22/13
Personally, I think Sestak is the only one who can beat Congressman Pat Meehan (R. PA-7) and I also think he can beat Toomey in 2016. If Sestak declines to run for Senate again, I'm looking at you, Congressman Matt Cartwright (D. PA-17), to step up to the plate when 2016 comes around. A big part of me just doesn't believe that Sestak will run for Governor but I could be wrong. Either way, 2016 could get her sooner and as soon as the 2014 midterms are over, expect a lot more hate filled diaries about Toomey from me.