Sestak speaking truth to power. This is precisely why we need him rather than “go along to get along” Arlen Specter.

“Sestak (D-PA) is battling Sen. Arlen Specter for the Democratic primary nomination in the Keystone State, going into rebel mode with calls to “fix the leadership problem” in the Senate.”

How is he going to do this? What has he done to fix the leadership problem he sees in the House?

This isn’t meant to be combative, I’m just curious.

To me, this looks like a calculation. Sestak realized he can’t out-Dem Specter, so he is taking on this anti-establishment theme. He’s following Chris Matthews’ advice from October. And this is an ironic angle for Sestak to take, given that he had enjoyed decisive establishment support through his career.

Sestak sounds like he’s interviewing for a job as a FoxNews commentator.

What Sestak is obviously p1ssed about is that the leadership didn’t support him over Specter. In Sestak’s, that makes them bad leaders by definition.

Of course it’s funny that when asked for whom he thought would be a better Senate leader…
After a long silence, Sestak offered, “I don’t know them all well enough. I like Jack Reed. … No one jumps to mind.”

How’s he going to “fix” the problem, if he can’t even decide who would be a better leader? I bet if one of them had endorsed him, that would be his pick.

The article that Natalie referenced illustrates how Sestak’s not a team player, which is really important in the Senate.

Representative Sestak is becoming unhinged. Tremendous pressure is being brought to bear on him, and he has concluded that it is all the product of a vast establishment conspiracy. Surely his dwindling fortunes could not be the end result of his own ineptitude and egomania! Surely not!

Sadly, he is right on the merits. The Senate has not had the fortitude to take on the special interests like Wall Street or the drug companies or the insurance companies or the oil companies. They all are getting rich off the people from government largesse and the people are getting hosed.

flynnbw

House leadership is not a mess like the Senate leadership. House leadership passed a much better health care bill (with flaws) than the Senate did, and that was because the House leadership whips votes.

Dave

His response that he isnt sure who he would like to see in Senate leadership is not that surprising. If you look at the leadership now it is likely that many of them could be out of office after the 2010 election. Harry Reid is losing to anyone and everyone running against him. I am sure you are unaware of this since your political knowledge does not extend past your hatred for Sestak and love for turncoat Arlen Specter. In addition to Reid, you have Durbin, who is the senior Senator from IL, where the Democrats are likely to lose the seat that was held by President Obama. You could look to Byrd, who I am sure has no interest in reassuming a leadership position. Then you go to Patty Murray, the Conference Secretary, who is likely to face a tough reelection battle. Maybe you would like to see Policy Committee Chair Byron Dorgan… except he is retiring. There is Chuck Schumer, who would probably be a good pick, although if the 2010 Senate elections go poorly how will the DSCC chair look? There is Even Bayh and Russ Feingold, both are looking at polls that say they are going to lose (and for you that means its over, since Sestak can not win because the polls say so). In the end I would like to hear who you would like to be the next Majority Leader (or if you want Reid back).

Haverford Democrat-
You don’t need to give me a short list of better leaders. Sestak’s the one that couldn’t answer the question (and after a long pause).

I’m not disagreeing that pricks like Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman screwed up everybody else. Reid should have taken away their committee assignments, rather than handed them compromises. But, Specter’s been a better Dem then Nelson and some of the Senate blue dogs.

The arrogance is that Sestak’s going to walk in and “fix” anything.

Sestak’s going to lose, not because of the poll, but because he can’t attract rank-and-file Democrats for county endorsements outside of the lemmings in Delco. The Unions are supporting Specter. Sestak has no institutional support, so he want to throw out the whole Democratic party as dysfunctional and form his own (dysfunctional) Sestak party.

Dave,

I am more than positive that you need the short list, but please, even if you dont, name me who you would like to tap to be the next Majority Leader. You have now had more time than Sestak to come up with a name.

Also, you are so pissed that Sestak doesnt/cant/wont/ect help the DelCo Democrats, yet you never miss an opportunity to call them a bunch of head-in-ass leaders who do things ass-backwards and cant get anything right… when it comes to the Senate race. So which is it? Or as usual are you going to be spineless and hedge your bet and say they are great and work so hard for every candidate, on the local level, but just cant seem to find their way in the Senate race.

Haverford Dem-
Actually, I’d like someone like Russ Feingold as leader. He was the only vote against the Patriot Act (passed 98-1) and he has a good record on campaign finance reform. I like Al Franken (though he’s not ready yet, but he has the passion and principles).
I like Bernie Sanders as well. Even though he’s a registered Independent, he would promote progressive principles without the Republicans using the majority leader to attack Democrats.

As for the Dem leadership, I’m one of Cliff’s biggest supporters and defenders. I’ve never called them ass-backwards or anything similar. My main criticism of the Delco leadership is that they have problems raising money. One reason is because they won’t do the kind of pay-to-pay politics in other counties (where endorsements are purchased by the candidates). But, I don’t believe in pay-to-play either so I can’t complain too hard.

The only “ass” related complaint I have is the way they kiss Sestak’s ass. When he started screwing us over, they should have stood up to him immediately and drawn a line in the sand. (I built a moat and filled it with alligators and began sharpening sticks.)

It’s political suicide for the Delco Dem leadership (and the aspirants to the leadership) to cross Sestak. Going against Sestak (publicly) simply isn’t an option because they expect retaliation from Sestak and/or his supporters. Privately, they pretty much all refuse to lift a finger to help him. So, he’ll get his endorsement vote at the county convention, and it will be a meaningless, empty gesture to pacify him. However, on a secret ballot, you’d see how weak his support really is.

BTW, Haverford is having it’s endorsement meeting a week before the county convention. At the 9th Ward meeting in Philly (where I was doing a presentation) someone told me that he heard Sestak’s planning to drop out a week before petitions because he’s too far down in the polls, so he’s going to run for congress.

IF this is true, I’m sure Sestak will have some bu11shit speech about how he’s doing it for the party, blah, blah, blah. Of course, that will put to lie all the bu11shit he’s been slinging about he’s “in it to the end as a matter of principle” against Arlen and he doesn’t follow polls.
He’s been saying how he has enough money to get his message to the statewide voters, and doesn’t care about the party establishment, because he’s going over their heads to the voters. So, why pull out if he really believes that?
(Hint: He doesn’t.)

For the good of party, I do think Sestak should pull out of the Senate race BUT not run for re-election to his House seat. Instead, he should
1) Give all $5 million to the Dem House and Senate reelection committees and the DNC to elect Dems. (or give it back to the donors, with a list of races with Dems in need)

2) If he really wants to hold elected office and help the voters of PA, he should run for State Rep against Tom Killion. Or run against Erickson for the State Senate. Edgmont (where Joe pretends to reside) is in the 168th leg district and 26th senate district. Dems need a majority in the state legislature. The next session will draw the redistricting lines based on the 2010 the census.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of Mr. Hirschhorn, allow me to humbly suggest that Representative Sestak is probably not contemplating a withdrawal solely because of grim poll data. And Sestak will undoubtedly cite his daughter’s (obviously tragic) health woes as the reason for his abrupt withdrawal. And Mr. Diano (a prescient man indeed) is indeed correct: if Representative Sestak truly cared about the fate of the Democratic Party, he would relinquish his 7th District seat altogether, and donate his campaign funds to the Democratic reelection committees. He has alienated the Democratic Party leadership (and other major actors in the political/legal realm), to such an extent that it would be virtually impossible for him to effectively serve his constitutents. And it is now readily apparent to 7th District voters that Sestak principal aim is to satisfy his own ego. Many have argued that Sestak could easily prevail in a race with Meehan. I beg to differ. 7th District voters will cast their ballots for the candidate whom they believe is genuinely committed to serving their district. Sestak has made it unequivocally clear that his primary concern is the fulfillment of his own narrow ends.

Sestak is right. Reid is a good and decent man but comes across as Mr. Rodgers. We (the Dems) need a forceful podium pounding leader. Also Sen. Nelson should be ashamed of himself for suggesting the rest of the country should pay more so Nebraska gets off the hook.

Perhaps. But we most assuredly do not need a megaomaniacal demagogue like Joe Sestak serving in the U.S. Senate.

Veteran Bob-
I’m not denying that Reid should be more effective or that Nelson is a disgrace.

However, Sestak looks silly pretending that he can “fix” the problems, when he can’t even definitely declare who’d he want as a leader.
How deeply has he really considered this problem if he can’t identify the leaders in the Senate to be part of the solution? Is his “solution” to be leader himself?

THE GATEKEEPERS OF THIS WEB SITE DELETED MY COMMENTS ABOUT SPECTER AND TOOMEY VOTING TO REPEAL THE GLASS STEAGALL ACT IN 1999, AN ACTION THAT RUINED OUR BANKING SYSTEM. WHY IS PA2010.C0M AN UNDEMOCRATIC SITE? WHO CONTROLS IT? LET’S HEAR FROM DIANO AND OTHERS ON THIS.

Hey WiseOne,

As editor of pa2010.com, I can personally assure you that no such comment was deleted. I looked back at our comment database and didn’t see it. But we’ve been having a few glitches here and there, and you’re not the first person to encounter this problem.

Nonetheless, my sincerest apologies that it didn’t post.

Open dialogue is critical to us. If you’re ever having trouble getting a comment through, please feel free to e-mail me the body of it at editor@pa2010.com. I’ll be happy to make sure it gets online.

Sorry again.

Dan Hirschhorn