Democracy Has Prevailed.

April 21, 2010

It Ain't Easy Being Dan

It's all well and good being anti choice and not so benignly neglectful of LGBT issues when you're a Democratic politician in Southwestern PA, but take a campaign statewide and you're going to need to, say, broaden your horizons -- especially if you're running in a Democratic primary against real progressive Joe Hoeffel and pro choice Anthony Hardy Williams.

Onorato vs. Wagner is pretty much a wash on social issues, but Dan faces two more liberal candidates from the East so he's dancing as fast as he can and leading ever more to the left and ever more Big D Democratic (notice how his ad tag line is "The Democrat for Governor").

Dan's pretty much an unknown quantity in the rest of the state so he's taking advantage of the chance to reinvent himself.

Even here in the Burgh, Dan has gone all gay friendly (having a gay advisor donate a sound system for an LGBT group's endorsement meeting and helping to pack the vote, etc.), but now the abortion issue is coming back to bite Danny Boy on the ass.

As Chris Potter notes here, Dan was invited to the Americans for Christian Traditions in our Nation (ACTION) forum as a "pro life" candidate. Originally Onorato was sending a representative, but after Joe Hoeffel called him out on it, suddenly any participation by the Onorato campaign disappeared down the rabbit hole. (Nice going, Joe!)

By May, we expect Dan to be flashing peace signs and sporting a MoveOn button, then of course, a hard swing to the mighty right if he wins the primary.

PA politics right on schedule...

3 comments:

Chris Potter said...

Thanks for the plug, though I feel obliged to point out that Onorato's camp insists they never agreed to send a spokesperson in the first place. As I said in my post, a miscommunication between the campaign and ACTION seems possible. And obviously, it's clearly more likely when you have a history of support from prolife groups.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Would Tye-dye Dan help us forget "Dan the Taxman Dan?"

Gloria said...

Political candidates have always pandered.

It's on we the people to do our homework. It's been said a bazillion times before & few pay it any mind. But, jeez, liberals, are you really going to grow a tail & horns if you read some conservative papers/blogs once in a while? Same goes for conservatives, check out Huffington Post once in a while, see what the enemy's up to.

Hilarity ensues when you find a single candidate speaking out of both sides of his/her mouth, depending on the audience.

Don't believe what the candidates tell you, do the due (diligence). Political candidates have always pandered.

It's on we the people to do our homework. It's been said a bazillion times before & few pay it any mind. But, jeez, liberals, are you really going to grow a tail & horns if you read some conservative papers/blogs once in a while? Same goes for conservatives, check out Huffington Post once in a while, see what the enemy's up to.

Hilarity ensues when you find a single candidate speaking out of both sides of his/her mouth, depending on the audience.

Don't believe what the candidates tell you, Do the Due (diligence).