More sour-grapes from Sestak. P1ssing all over the state committee people because he lost isn’t going to make him any more friend.
Despite the unanimous vote from Delco, I’ll bet that if the vote had been a completely secret ballot, Sestak would not have gotten them all.

On a interesting note, I was talking to one of the attendees from Westmoreland last night on his way to the event. He told me that he had just spoken with John (Sestak fan) Morgan, who would not be attending. John had predicted Sestak would get 160 votes. I told my friend to convey to John my prediction that Sestak wouldn’t even get 80 votes.

State committee members are not insiders?

If the democratic primary voters are as reactionary as the state committee, then Toomey wins handily in November with support from the independents. The democrats, like lemmings following the leadership off the cliff nationally, need to pay attention to what is going on nationally. We independents now are the majority. We hate both parties. Specter is the worst kind of party person, one with no principles at all, and the king of pork and earmarks. I am going to enjoy watching his fall. While I would prefer someone a little less conservative than Toomey, and many of us independents would have supported a man like Sestak (the childish slanders by a few with sour grapes on this board notwithstanding), there is no way ever that we could vote for an 80-year old career hack like Specter.

Congratulations to David Diano, a worthy opponent, and absolutely correct about Arlen and the State Committee.

[...] election (Brown’s did). And even though I was ultimately disappointed in the unsurprising endorsements by the PA Dems of Arlen Specter for PA Senate and the disappointing drop of Joe Hoeffel from the 1st round of ballot voting, I [...]

To rob

“We hate both parties.”

Just who do you think you are speaking for? All independents? I think not. If you “hate both parties” why in the world would you support Toomey while you state,” I would prefer someone a little less conservative”. A little bitter there? Get over yourself!

anon-
The state committee people are hardly the “Washington establishment” that Sestak’s been complaining about. I’ll bet that the average state committee member has deeper roots, longer residence, longer registration with the Democratic party, helped more campaigns and donated more money to Democratic candidates than Joe Sestak.
The Philadelphia and Montgomery County committees combined went 58-5 for Specter.
This is an area where Sestak is well known from his TV ads and victory over Weldon in 2006. Sestak’s claim that he can win over the more conservative Dems in the NON-Southeast part of the state (once they get to know him) is absurd.
Maybe Joe would do better with state committee members in Virginia, where he lives.

rob-
Sestak’s short career as someone who switched to Dem for his own political aspirations is as hollow as you claim Specter’s to be. Specter, on the other hand, has a decades long history of challenging and opposing the Republicans on a host of social issues (abortion, stem cells, civil rights, unions, minimum wage, etc.). When Sestak voted against party, what was it for? Oh, right, Iraq War, Cheney’s office, warrantless wiretaps, telecom immunity and allowing states to have their own single-payer health care.
Sestak’s another Joe Lieberman in waiting.
But as an independent, you should be for Specter who has owned and defined the middle for years. With the GOP shifting Right, and the Dem trying to expand, Specter is completely within the Dem Tent, but sitting on side near the Independents.

GOPHawk-
Thanks for the compliment. I talk to Dems all the time, and outside of Delco he has almost no support. Inside Delco, much of his support is lip-service only.
The word has been out on him regarding how he treats people and fails to return political favors. His recent tactic of picking up FoxNews talking points to criticize the Dems isn’t helping him. He makes a point that he’s sent letters to Obama, Pelosi and Reid telling them what to do. I’m sure they got a laugh around the office and then some poor staffer got the job of finding a polite way of telling Sestak to f*ck-off and mind his own business when the grown-ups are working.

There’s a reason Sestak was booted out of the Navy, and kept getting kicked from job to job. Joe likes to talk about the first day he met Clinton for his NSC job at the White House. I’d really love to have Sestak hooked up to a lie detector and hear his story of why he left a White House job to back to the fleet.

For a job like Senator, where you have to get along with your colleagues and serve a 6-year term, Sestak has not shown the stability to hold such a position.

Specter did an excellent organizing job and won an overwhelming victory — AMONG THE PARTY INSIDERS. Silly to suggest that they are otherwise.

Sestak is correct, whether you want to admit it or not, that telling the voters what they need is precisely what they want changed about politics.

And if Specter actually believes that elected state committeepeople are the grassroots, as he said, he is delusional. These folks are the epitome of the party structure.

Now, we will have the test of who the voters choose. No argument about who speaks for the public there.

Unfortunately, Mr. Levan, primary voters will never be afforded that opportunity, inasmuch as the political career of Representative Sestak will be a distant memory by that time. Sestak is continuing to campaign to enhance his Legal Defense Fund in anticipation of forthcoming federal charges. He is doomed – politically and personally – and he knows it. His inflammatory remarks (“Toomey will beat Specter”) suggest this. Sestak clearly believes he has no political future. Otherwise, he would be far more discreet. In reality, were it not for the reluctance of federal authorities to intervene in the midst of an ongoing campaign (something they were lambasted for in 06′), he would likely already have been charged. This is yet another reason why the embattled Sestak continues to campaign; he knows that once he withdraws, the agony truly begins. Can’t campaign forever, “Admiral” – the end is near, whether you want to confront it or not.

Back to the future for the Democrats……1965, runs as a Republican, while actually a Democrat. 1965 to 2009, portrays a Republican while actually a Democrat. 2009 to present, switches back to his actual predispositions, to avoid losing in a primary. All for naught, as he will certainly lose in the Senate Election in November 2010.

Lee-
I’m not saying they aren’t “insiders”, but they are hardly the “Washington establishment” that Sestak is complaining about. Also, the state committee people are more in touch with Pennsylvania than a Virginia resident like Sestak.

They do the nuts and bolts work of keeping the party running, getting people on the ballots and determining the strategy for the state party. Quite a few of them are involved with grassroots efforts. Sestak has shown no respect or appreciation for the mechanics of keeping the party running.

I’m glad you recognize Specter’s ability to organize and gather allies. It’s a key skill for a Senator navigating legislative deals to represent his state and get past gridlock to a workable bill, or getting his amendments passed.

For all Sestak’s running around the state, he has demonstrated he can’t make more friends in the Democratic party than a newly minted Democrat like Specter.

Sestak’s got NO organization, internal or external. He’s still got his siblings running his operation like a mom and pop shop.

[...] pa2010.com, 2/6/10 [...]

Specter is against the escalation in Afghanistan, and Sestak is for it. That in itself is enough for some of us to support Specter. And if he goes against the president of his own party, how can he be a “party hack”? Read his autobiography (through 2000), “Passion for Truth”: he stood up to Republican presidents and he’ll stand up to Democratic ones. Good!

His remakably incompetent siblings and the nefarious criminal Wendell Young IV, Mr. Diano. Incompetents and lawbreakers. No wonder Representative Sestak commands neither popular support nor insider support. Legitimate contenders do not rely on malefactors and inept siblings.

Chet-
It’s more than just that Sestak supports the decision to add 30,000 troops. Sestak OPPOSES Obama’s use of a timetable. Of all the things for Sestak to oppose, a timetable is the most amazing.

In 2006, he ran his entire campaign on the promise to fight tooth-and-nail for timetables for Iraq. But, in May 2007, Sestak voted to give Bush a blank check on Iraq WITHOUT TIMETABLES. This was a complete breach of his key campaign promise and a betrayal of the voters and the troops.

When Sestak cast his vote, he declared that he still believed that timetables were the “only viable option”. So, by his own admission, Sestak voted for something that he believed was not viable.

Where’s the principle and accountability?

This state committee was very exciting. One of the most awkward things ive ever seen occurred on Friday evening at the Roast and Toast of Governor Rendell with Speaker Pelosi. Casey, Specter and Bill George roasted Rendell and Rep. Brady introduced the Speaker. At the very end of the event, Sestak rushed towards the stage and asked Governor Rendell and the head of the PA Democratic Party to speak. They told Joe that they werent able to speak. It kinda came off very deserate to me, i must say. Rendell told him he wasnt allowed to speak. I think they plan these events for weeks if not months in advance. Nonetheless it was a very awkward last second request.

Desperate indeed. Further evidence that Representative Sestak is becoming unhinged. Perhaps Sestak wanted to bore the audience with yet another reminder of his supposedly distinguished military career. Or perhaps yet another my-daughter-is-gravely-ill sermon. Recurring – and tiresome – themes that have little, if anything, to do with the serious woes gripping this state.

WestDem-
We could to a Sestak roast… oh wait, we already do (here).

Although, typically, a roast is supposed to be conducted by your friends.

Hater-
I can’t imagine Sestak speaking at a roast. He’s got no comedic timing (at least intentionally).

David-

Excuse me for the typo —

To clarify.. Sestak darted towards the stage at the very end… right up to Rendell and tried to get Rendell and the PA Dem. Party Executive Director to let him speak.

Obviously, if he wanted to speak and if they wanted him to speak, it would have been discussed far in advance. Im not sure where he got that wild idea. Heck, if anyone was allowed to prance in and interrupt the schedule to speak, they may as well had me go up and speak.

I read that when Pelosi spoke, Specter was up there with her, and Sestak was at the back of the room. That’s political equivalent of sitting at the kiddie table.

Given Representative Sestak’s often puerile behavior, perhaps the “kiddie table” was appropriate. “Mommy – !! They took my nomination away from me – !!” Now his (increasingly anxious, nay petrified) siblings will have to protect him from the big bullies in the Democratic Party. Perhaps Wendell Young IV can give the embattled Representative a pacifier.

“I’m not saying they aren’t “insiders”, but they are hardly the “Washington establishment” that Sestak is complaining about. Also, the state committee people are more in touch with Pennsylvania than a Virginia resident like Sestak.”

David, you can’t help yourself, can you? You concede one statement is silly and then make another silly one immediately thereafter. Sestak is no more a Virginia resident than is Specter. But please continue with the overreaching stuff. It only hurts the Specter campaign’s credibility.

Sestak’s literature says his lives with his wife and daughter. They live in Virginia. Ergo.. Sestak lives in Virginia.

When he ran in 2006, he had to swap out the Virginia license plate on his car for a PA plate.

In 2006, he and his wife rented an apartment in Delaware County, and Joe switched his voter registration from his parent’s house to that apartment. His wife also registered using the apartment. Once Sestak got elected, he and his wife bought a house in Edgmont.
Joe changed his voter registration to the house, but his wife dropped her PA voter registration, and hasn’t voted or re-registered in PA since. I think she kept her job in Virginia and is even registered to vote there.
The key part in all of this is that Sestak claims to live with his wife and daughter (in his campaign literature), but they live in Virginia, not Pennsylvania.
This is just like the problem we had with Rick Santorum. We don’t need another Senator from Virginia representing PA.

If Sestak’s literature said that HE lives in PA and spends lots of time visiting with his family, who lives in Virginia, it would be closer to the truth.

Lee, once Sestak loses the Primary and then his congressional seat, where do YOU think he’s going to be living?

Lee, part of the problem with Sestak is that he doesn’t give a rat’s @ss about the 7th district because he moved away years ago and left it behind. He lived here when he was a kid, and moved away when he graduated high school and joined the Navy. For over 30 years, the 7th district’s been a port of call for holidays and family events, but he hadn’t lived in Pennsylvania as a adult dealing with everyday issues. Roads, traffic, schools, taxes, local government, etc.

My point was that Sestak’s got no business chastising the Pennsylvania committee people that have suffered and worked through decades of PA politics at every level, just because they resoundingly rejected him as their choice to represent PA.

[...] election (Brown’s did). And even though I was ultimately disappointed in the unsurprising endorsements by the PA Dems of Arlen Specter for PA Senate and the disappointing drop of Joe Hoeffel from the 1st round of ballot voting, I [...]

Pat Toomey in a romp!!!!!!

Hey Mr. Diano – maybe Sestak will be living in a CORRECTIONAL FACILITY in Virginia. They are undoubtedly preferable to Delaware County prisons.

Pat Toomey is for the Romper-Room level voters.

[...] just nine short months ago was a Republican. One would think that the fix was in for Specter to win the Democrat endorsement otherwise, why [...]

Don’t underestimate how angry people are with “career politicians” so all of this chatter here seems to have little relevance. Specter is a moderate by these standards. But he is a “career politician.” Secondly, party endorsements may just very well be a kiss of death. Thus, Sestak may be favored for that reason alone.

Despite a turning tide back to conservative values, don’t Underestimate that PA is not as conservative as it used to be and still has a Democratic registration edge. This would be positive for Specter.

Thus, no matter which Dem wins in primary, Toomey may not be as palatable as thought unless Dems don’t come out to vote or tea baggers come out in droves to disrupt the process. Have we forgotten that Pennsylvanian booted Rick Santorum for being “too conservative” and “too much like GW Bush”…..Thus, can a candidate who is to the right of Santorum, really win?

Intelligent Voter-
A candidate like Toomey shouldn’t be able to win.

If Specter can beat Toomey within the 2004 GOP, he should be able to defeat Toomey with the overall electorate which is more representative of Specter than Toomey.

Party endorsements DO matter for primaries, because the endorsed candidates appear on the sample ballots handed out a the polls. It’s one more hurdle for Sestak to overcome. He’s lost the union endorsements. He doesn’t have the endorsements of the President, VP, Gov and the other PA Dem Senator.
Sestak anti-establishment rhetoric is hollow.

Think about “his” story about how he got into this race. According to him, he was approached in Jan 2009 to be the Dem senate candidate. So, he was the “establishment” pick. Sestak claims he rejected their offer. (Note: at the time, Toomey wasn’t expected to run against Specter, so few were interested in challenging Specter in a general election.)
So, when Specter came over to the Dems (in a victory for boosting Dem strength in the Senate), Specter became the lead candidate. Sestak, who DID NOT have the courage to run originally, suddenly is like “umm.. on second thought..I’d like to run…”

Since Sestak was (or claims he was) the establishment pick, he’s pretty childish to whine about them giving the nod to someone else after he passed up their offer.

What was this guy doing with a navy bomber jacket on after the endorsement blow out? It seemed a little odd

David, no temper tantrums about the upcoming Specter Political Suicide. And hey, btw, the voting age is 18.

Mr. Diano will be vindicated in the near future, “95 South” – I guarantee it.

Speaking of which – Mr. Diano, if you have an e-mail address you can be reached at, post it in this forum. I have something to forward to you.

Hater-
I think 95-South’s handle is a reference to his IQ being “south” of 95.

I’ve created a temporary email address of: hatesestak@diano.com you can use for today. I’ll remove it once we’ve established contact.
I got a fleeting glance at one of the scanned documents you sent Dan. You could use the name of the “informant” in your email (or attach one of the scans) to confirm your identity. Alternatively, you could get my email address from Dan, using the communication protocol you two have already established.

Thanks for the information, Mr. Diano. I’m sure you’ll be interested in this item. I’ll forward it this evening.

Check the e-mail, Mr. Diano. And celebrate.