I am sure that Joe Sestak will be graceful and grateful for all of this support.

He may even be forgiving of TJ Rooney, a man who was despicable throughout this primary right up until Monday night when he, through Executive Director Mary Isenhour, sent a blast email to Democrats across the state using lies and distortion to try and launch a last-minute smear against Joe.

Joe may forgive and forget.

But I hope that Democrats across Pennsylvania don’t. TJ Rooney is a symbol of everything that’s wrong with our state party.

He needs to go.

Agreed, Bruce. Let’s just hope they don’t try to drag Sestak to the right now. I think yesterday proved that would be a huge miscalculation.

Anybody seen David Diano this morning?

Thanks Kevin. Diano again posted some ugly stuff late last night and that’s unfortunate. I hope it was the sting of being so off the mark for so long, and that today he will decide to keep his destructive comments to himself. He needs to man-up now and show that he is a good Democrat.

As for Joe, I have said consistently that he is not the progressive candidate we all would like him to be. He disappointed me at times with his votes during the Bush years. And he sides with President Obama as somewhat of a hawk on Afghanistan.

In order to win in PA, I think it’s important for Joe to just be himself. We won’t like everything about him, moderates won’t like everything about him. But we’ll all be able to support him over a radical right-wing fringe candidate like Toomey.

The vital task in the next few months will be to make sure that the media and the public have an accurate picture of who Pat Toomey is, so that he’s not allowed to reinvent himself as some sort of mild-mannered moderate. I think there’s enough on the record that we can make sure that never happens.

Nope. Kudos to Sestak for winning even though i was for specter. As for me, as an NRA member, ill look to see who is best for hunters and gun owners in Pennsylvania when i make my decision in the fall.

Kevin-
Nobody will have to “drag” Sestak to the Right.

Bruce-
Ugly stuff? Hardly.

Sestak’s Primary victory is going to have far reaching negative effects on the Democratic party. That’s still the case. Down-ticket candidates will not get cooperation from Sestak, and Lentz will be fighting for air as Sestak sucks up all the resources of the 7th District for himself.

While the voting record of a Joe Sestak in the Senate would be better than Toomey, Sestak will not receive my vote in November. I have a policy of not voting for candidates whose campaigns have stolen from me. Though it’s my word against theirs, I’m hardly going to take theirs over my own. No political argument or issue will override that, so please don’t waste your time trying to convince me of the “merits” of Sestak over Toomey. I’m not going to vote for Toomey, which isn’t an option either.
I’m not thrilled by Onorato either. So, the only two candidates I like on my ballot are Lentz and Vitali.

So we can look forward to you posting this vile crap for another six months?

Oh joy.

Diano:
If you cant live with the democratic results of a primary and subscribe to the ticket then your recourse it to register and participate in the process as an independent.
The principal of a party is that its nominees once elected by the members deserve and are entitled to their support.
Sore losers and tin foil hat cyber trolls griping and their snide whining only feed the opposition right wing agenda and the petty egos of the loser.
Get over it or hit the bricks.

David,
Why would Sestak want anything to do with down tick delco d’s. He ignored your organization in 06 and won. He really ignored you in 08 and trounced the other guy. His whole Senate campaign was based on ignoring your organization. Why in the world would he side with you now? He needs Moderate GOP voters to really help him in a county he will already win but needs to win bigger. Down ticket d’s will only hinder him. Why should he change his successful methods now. so that he can be a part of the team? What team? Team loser? Nah he’s going to stick with team sestak aka team winner

Bruce-
You only have to “put up my crap” if you attack me. I’ve pretty much said my peace, but don’t expect me to vote for a guy that I know to be dishonorable.

Notsure-
Actually, I’m not obligated by the votes of any other Dems to vote for a candidate I don’t like. Sestak doesn’t support the other Dems that win primaries in his district by encouraging straight-party voting. Instead, he does GOTV on split-ticket Republicans who will vote for him and against the rest of the Dem ticket.

willy-
That is EXACTLY the attitude you will find at Sestak HQ. That’s why Sestak is so damaging to the party. He failed to deliver on his promises to help build up the local party who DID get him elected in 2006 (though he never truly acknowledged it). Now that Sestak is a state-wide candidate, he will expand his destruction of party infrastructure beyond the 7th CD.

Look at the bright side. We wont have to see anymore of Sestak exploiting his sick daughter on TV for a couple months until the fall right?

At the victory rally yesterday Joe Sestak put his daughter on his shoulders and carried her through the crowd as I have seen him do many times before. He loves his little girl. Any of you who insult Sestak regarding his daughter are nasty, ignorant or both. Disgusting!

C’mon guys. The article is about the Dems coming together and here we are sniping at each other. Let’s train the fire on extremist in moderate’s clothing Toomey. If I read David correctly, he’s indicated that he will sit this one out. Let’s not re-live the primary.

Bruce Bailey –

Joe Sestak stated himself that he took on the President, the Democratic Party and everyone else…as he said “A win over the establishment, over the status quo, even over Washington, D.C.”!

The only thing Joe Sestak ran for was him self and he professes it!

Bruce, there is a name for those who back anti-establishment candidates, its “TEA PARTY”!

It’s unfortunate that Sestak had to use this angle to get elected, being a two term congressman himself (an incumbent) and seeking to “GET RE-ELECTED” again himself.

Sestak makes it clear when he stated: “To stand up to ones own party when they don’t get it right for us…that’s what people are looking for…Republicans, Independents & Democrats”…democrats are mentioned last! Sestak took this upon himself for himself!

Hell, lets find some Independents and add a few Green Party candidates and add them in there, why not, let’s do what ever we want to do! See what you can get accomplished then! I hope Sestak comes completely back into the fold and I hope there was not any outside influence in his campaign that he is indebted to! I won’t comment on that now…

Joe did say something like we can quarrel and disagree, but in the end we come together because we are democrats! WOW, I wish that thought went through his mind before he decided to go up against the establishment and yes, BLACK MAIL THE PRESIDENT!

I am sorry Bruce, but these are the facts and they are bitter sweet, more to the bitter side!

*That Diano was one of the few that 99% of the time said how it is and what to expect, NOT HOW HE WANTS IT!

@Lee – I don’t know what you are reading, but Diano continues in this thread to bash Sestak, thereby helping Toomey. “Dems coming together” does not include Diano.

Larry Chrzan-
You don’t need to post with an initial.

Lee-
You’ve read me correctly. I’m not going out of my way to bash Joe in an effort to help Toomey, though I will advocate that Dems devote their resources to the other races.
More important than the Senate race, is holding the St. Leg and Governorship to prevent GOP redistricting, and keeping congressional seats. Sestak has shown no coattails in the past.

Even with Sestak’s much touted 20% win in 2008, we did not gain a single St. Leg seat in his district. And it wasn’t like he didn’t have the time or money to help. What he lacked was the desire, which we will see played out on a state-wide level.

My “ire” is at the Democrats for blowing their best chance at defeating Toomey and handing the Toomey the candidate the GOP preferred.

I don’t believe that the satisfaction at defeating Specter is worth the price Dems will pay in November.

BTW, the “establishment in DC” that voters are complaining about has to do with bailouts, health-care and the stimulus package, along with regulating Wall Street. This is all stuff that Sestak has supported. Sestak attacking “the establishment” is footage and rhetoric Toomey will likely use to make his own case.

I’m going to let the Sestak fans reap what they have sown.
If they attack me, I’ll defend myself. But, I’ve spent the past year making my case, as a Democrat advocating for the best policy for the party. I was opposed to Sestak even entering the race because of the $10 million that has been blown.

I’m going to support the down ticket candidates.

I wouldn’t vote for Joe unless it was an election for a human sacrifice to a volcano God.

I don’t want to hear another word about the damage Joe Sestak is doing to the party.

The damage, if any, in this race was done by the party establishment. I’m still hearing this crap on the streets and in the papers about using his daughter as a prop, about how he refused to commit to supporting the nominee in the general, about how he is not a good military man. And I’m hearing it from Democrats who got it from Bob Brady and the bought and paid for Philly machine.

Bob also did his best to push Joe Hoeffel out of contention and the party is poorer for it. Nominating people that can’t be differentiated or distinguished from Republicans is not going to help their cause in November.

Get used to it. There is going to be upheaval in a party that does not get the job done for its members. A party that since the rise of the DLC (Democratic LOSERSHIP Council) has supported fat cats and corporatism to the detriment of working families.

There has always been a “tea party” lurking within the Democratic party. They’re called Democrats.

Kevin-
You are hearing stuff from people that know the real Sestak. Sadly, not enough people listened because they were too blinded by Specter’s history and not could bring in the future.

Are you now indicating you are part of a “Tea Party” Democrats movement, with Sestak as your leader?

Anyway, I’ve said my peace during the primary. I’m going to sit back and watch the drama unfold.

Kevin, just try getting Sestak to help the down-ticket candidates.

Sestak’s daughter looks healthy. She’s in remission. Cut it out. Kids are always off topic.

Love Sestak-
Of course the daughter looks healthy. That’s why it was such a disgrace to exploit images of her from 4 years ago. In 2006, the images were current, but there is no justification for using them in 2010 when she has changed so much.
Sestak is the one that makes her the topic all the time.

yes his daughter illustrates why he went into politics,so everyone could have the same access to quality healthcare that his family has. Having his daughter in the ads very effectivly brought that message home. Of course he doesn’t exploit your stupidity or misrepresntations Dave.

Bill-
I’ve talked to people who realize those are OLD photos, and thought it was very inappropriate (including people who did vote for Joe, but voted for him despite their displeasure with his ad). Showing the “before” without the “after” left a false impression with viewers that the images of his daughter were current. This was a terrible ploy to gain sympathy. Despicable and unsurprising.
I’m thrilled to see his daughter looking so healthy and vibrant. It’s a shame everyone had to wait until she was on the podium election night.

In 2006, Sestak said he got into politics to oppose the “tragic misadventure” of the war. Then when health-care was the hot-topic, it was his daughter’s illness as his motivation.
Well, Joe’s vote to give Bush a big old blank check in Iraq, without timetables, knocks down his first excuse.

Diano is right – why why why why would you run photos of your daughter from 2006 when she looked very ill? Why not just run photos from today? It is absolutely a disgusting ploy for sympathy and should be called out as such.