Results tagged “ricksantorum”

Pennsylvania is an increasingly Democratic state. In 2004, Kerry won the state by a hair; Obama won it with a handy ten percent lead. In 2004, twelve of nineteen Keystone Congressmen were Republican, as well as the two Senators. Now, eleven representatives and the junior Senator are Democrats. In 2004, there were roughly 500,000 more Democrats than Republicans in the state; during the extended primary last year, that lead expanded to well over a million. To Republican Pat Toomey, however, that's clearly not enough. For this reason—at least, it's the only reason that makes any sense—he announced yesterday that he's considering a primary run against Arlen Specter.

We, like most of sane America, hate Rush Limbaugh. Really, what's not to hate? C'mon, the guy calls his faithful listeners "Dittoheads." (Editor Jill and Wikipedia told this Phillyist that it's because Limbaugh listeners start their call-ins by saying "Ditto" to echo how much they enjoy his show, but I know it's really because they're mindless, or misguided, carbon copies of one another.) We've panned Rush on these pages before for encouraging his Republican listeners in Texas and Ohio to switch to the Democractic party to vote for Hillary Clinton, because she's more likely to lose to John McCain in a general election than Barack Obama is. (And let's not forget, this is the same guy who swore he would not support John McCain, which may have been a ploy to make sure McCain—the only electable Republican who ran in the primaries—got the nomination, because his endorsement of a candidate is about the quickest way to turn off moderate voters.) And now it looks like the party-switching sabotage mission may be happening in Pennsylvania.

It was the week where Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey unveiled his plan to tackle Philadelphia's crime problem. It should have been a week of optimism and feeling like we're gonna get things headed in the right direction. But alas. We were reminded of the city's problems by the fact that, on the day that Ramsey announced his plan, he was in the process of investigating four homicides that occurred in a 16-hour span. The most gut-wrenching of these was the shotgun murder of a 28-week pregnant woman. (The fetus is in critical but stable condition as of this writing.) So it's without a touch of humor that we declare anyone and everyone contributing to the city's crime problem—and particularly with regard to gun violence—our asshole of the week.

Oh, man. Did you see that Rick Santorum is writing an opinion column for the Inquirer now? Ugh. In vaguely related news, John Street's post-mayoral employment, beginning in January, will be at Temple University as a professor of urban politics and policy. Governor Rendell, who himself is an adjunct at U. Penn, encouraged Street to make the move. Officials responding to a report of a fire at a home in Upper Darby yesterday discovered...

Update: A few more sites have been added, and a few other fixes have been made.

Last night was obviously good for Pennsylvania Democrats, but precisely how good remains to be seen. They can claim already Rick Santorum's Senate seat, at least three--and maybe four--Congressional seats, and five state House seats. Locally, Democrat Patrick Murphy seems likely to pick up Pennsylvania's Eighth District with a razor-thin lead over Mike Fitzpatrick, but Fitzpatrick has yet to concede. In the Seventh District, Curt Weldon lost as expected to Vice Adm. Joe Sestak, putting an end to the career of a man listed in Rolling Stone as one of the worst members of Congress. Rep. Jim Gerlach looks to hold onto the Sixth District, although Phillyist notes that his lead has shrunk consistently since first being elected in 2002. We can only assume that a stiff breeze will suffice to knock him out of Congress in 2008.

Like most of you, I'm sure, Phillyist has been gratified to see Sen. Rick Santorum make the long, occasionally hilarious journey to the private sector. Bob Casey has led in the polls since the race began, the national GOP is already planning on a loss in Pennsylvania, and Santorum himself is pinning his last hopes on the critical WWE Smackdown contingent. Meanwhile, when the GM told Lynn Swann to make a Political Aptitude check, the dude didn't exactly roll a natural twenty.

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend is really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it.

This past weekend, I went to Charlottesville, VA with my parents and paternal grandfather for my cousin, "Leah’s" wedding. I don’t know most of my dad’s side of the family all that well. Leah grew up in Pittsburgh, which is easily a six-hour drive from Lambertville. Needless to say, we didn’t spend too much time together growing up. We’ve always gotten along, I just wouldn’t necessarily say I her. And I’d only met her fiancé twice. The first time was at a family dinner, where he said: "Rick Santorum is not conservative enough for me." I am a fierce bleeding-heart liberal. At that exact point in time, I was a fierce bleeding heart alcoholic, and immediately chugged three glasses of wine to stop myself from choking.

- The democratic primary elections were yesterday, and it looks like Bob Casey will be facing Rick Santorum in the upcoming Senate race. You can find more results here.

• Pat Robertson calling for his death notwithstanding, Hugo Chavez is showing generosity to Philadelphians by shipping five million gallons of heating oil for distribution to area low-income families, and it will be available at a 40% discount. Mayoral hopeful and current U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah brokered the deal. Chavez, President of Venezuela, recently called President George W. Bush a "genocidal madman".
• In a really stupid move, Pennsylvania lawmakers are mulling over the idea of taxing gym memberships. Granted, Men's Fitness magazine says we've improved since last year - we're the 25th fattest city in America instead of the second fattest city in the U.S. - but we're fairly certain it's not the best idea ever had to penalize people for trying to be healthy. The legislation being considered would also levy a tax on advertising services, campground fees, laundry services, candy, tanning, management consulting, and concert tickets. Yeah, because the Ticketmaster fees don't already make going to a concert annoyingly expensive.
• In sort of related news, people all over town are abuzz with the gossip that 12th Street Gym owner Robert Guzzardi is a big contributor to Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. 12th Street Gym is smack dab in the middle of the Gayborhood and heavily utilized by the Philadelphia gay community. Santorum is not exactly a friend to the LGBT community.
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Pennsylvania politics are just downright entertaining. If politicians aren't voting themselves gigantic pay raises in the middle of the night, then Philly city council members and various political wonks are being indicted. If state reps aren't calling each other 'crackers', then gubernatorial hopefuls are firing their campaign managers for referring to the African-American candidate as ''the rich white guy in the campaign.'

by Mildred Taylor won the Jason Award. The book is aimed at grades 4-6 (reading ages 9-12), and speaks to racism and moral fortitude. Nope, we wouldn't want kids to learn about how bad racism is, now would we? We hope the Ashton Marsh Elementary School in Absecon does not plan to pull the book.

Phillyist guides you through today's more entertaining and important moments in the Philadelphia blogiverse today:
• Badminton Stamps memorializes Wilson Picket. Any man who can rock a purple suit with matching scarf is OK with us.
• No more beer commercials involving anorexic chicks in bikinis and sweaty guys bonding over brewskis? Enrico discusses the new beer industry image.
• Kate crosses the line - by buying an iPod. For shame, Kate! For shame!

Pennsylvania's own Junior Senator Rick Santorum has taken the lead (along with Senator John McCain) in offering up legislation to curb the influence of lobbyists, following the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal that threatens to ensnare several GOP lawmakers.

Justice Sunday III came and went in Philly yesterday, and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had the chance to rub elbows with darlings of the religious right like Jerry Falwell. After Senator Santorum's shimmy to the left on issues like Intelligent Design and the death penalty, Phillyist wondered if he would continue to reach out to those not in his conservative base.

Justice Sunday strives to convince us all that judicial activists - such as the Bush-appointed conservative Republican judge who recently ruled against Intelligent Design in Dover, PA - are ruining this country and have declared a de facto war on Christians. Justice Sunday III: Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land follows Justice Sunday II: God Save the United States and this Honorable Court, Justice Sunday I: Stop the Filibuster Against People of Faith, and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol. OK, maybe not that last one.

Phillyist has been watching Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum very closely. Santorum, up for reelection next year, has made quite a name for himself as a super religious conservative and has been sinking in the polls for quite some time. In an effort to shimmy to the middle and appeal to a wider range of voters, Santorum completely reversed his previous pro-death penalty stance this past Summer and has now flip-flopped his position on Intelligent Design.

Philadelphians will go to the polls next Tuesday. Like any good, civic-minded resident, we're sure that you'll be there bright and early, clutching your voter registration card excitedly, ready to participate in democracy!

News of U2 coming to the campaign aid of PA junior senator Rick Santorum came from a questionable source yesterday. We scratched our heads and tried to imagine a U2 fundraising concert solely for Republicans who support Rick Santorum. We dreamt of Bono dragging Rick Santorum up onto the stage on Sunday, October 16 at the Wachovia Center and congratulating Santorum on his compassionate conservative agenda. Visions of hip Republicans with lighters screaming "Freeeebird!" danced in our heads.

It looks like the big push for volunteers and donations for Philly's expected share of Hurricane Katrina survivors was premature. While Mayor Street is still committed to hosting up to 5,000 survivors from the affected region if needed, 38 people and one dog arrived yesterday, but no more are expected.

Things are getting interesting in mid-term election news. Concerned that moderate Republicans have no options in the choice for Senator, a dark horse has emerged to challenge Senator Rick Santorum in the primary election.

If you enjoyed Jon Stewart's recent interview with Bernie Goldberg on The Daily Show, you might be interested in checking out tonight's show. Pennsylvania's own junior Senator, Rick Santorum, will be sitting down with Stewart at the brand-spanking new studio. We're sure it'll be a rip-roaring fun time for whole family.