And this came from the candidate who keeps touting his promise to “never raise your taxes,” apparently come hell or high water, no matter what kind of economic difficulties the state, country or world may face over the next eight years.

Now, the Corbett camp is laughably trying to get itself out of another verbal gaffe on the part of its candidate, by ridiculously trying to claim that employee payroll taxes are not taxes at all but “contributions.”

Yeah, right—somehow I don’t think Pennsylvania workers see it that way. Not to mention the fact that both the state and U.S. Supreme Courts have interpreted “contribution” to mean “tax.”

But Corbett’s unintentional admission brings up a couple of points.

First, despite the GOP’s pandering rhetoric about “decreasing spending” and “decreasing taxes,” there are financial and economic realities that must be faced and dealt with, sadly for those who’d like to swallow this pabulum whole without looking too closely at the details.

And second, while Corbett seems intent on keeping his “no tax increase” pledge to businesses, he doesn’t seem to mind at all asking working Pennsylvanians to make still more sacrifices to meet the state’s obligations while continuing to let his corporate benefactors slide on carrying their fare share of the burden.

As I said last week, when this question was posed to both candidates, Democrat Dan Onorato gave an answer which I think most just people would find fair, equitable and appropriate—have everyone involved pay their fair share, meaning unemployment recipients, workers and businesses all take a small hit.

But Corbett, dutifully towing the Republican corporate line—which shifts the financial burdens we all share onto working and middle class men and women, letting owners and wealthy CEOs off the hook, increasing the size of their stock portfolios and redistributing our money upwards toward them—came right out and told everyone who he will be looking out for and where his priorities lie.

If average Americans cannot see what GOP candidates are about, where their interests lie and who they will be protecting, then shame on them.

Anger is no excuse to sacrifice your own interests, along with those of your country, and turn leadership over to those who don’t give a whiff about you, but who will gladly sell you whatever you want to hear to get your vote, then turn their backs on you as soon as they have it, something the GOP has been doing to working men and women for years.

It may sound great to simply spout off at “those people,” those nameless, faceless, non-existent “others” who are scamming all of the money and causing all of the problems. The problem is, it’s not true.

There is waste at every level, including within our own households—if we are going to be honest about it.

And there are responsibilities that we all must meet—whether it’s paying the rent or mortgage and the gas and electric bills, or paying our fair share to keep local cops on the beat, have the roads cleared in the winter, maintain the neighborhood public park where our kids play or the state park we visited with our families as children, having clean and safe drinking water because someone sees to that, or preventing our children from suffering the effects of lead poisoning because its use is no longer allowed in the paint we use in our houses and someone is looking out for contaminated jewelry arriving from places with more lax regulations like China.

These things don’t happen by themselves, and they don’t pay for themselves either.

We all benefit, and we are all responsible for contributing to ensure that they continue to work.

But those are things the GOP doesn’t want you to think about, and they are things you won’t think about until you can see past your anger and take a realistic look at the world in which you live.

And Onorato hit this one out of the park.

During an hour when Corbett seemed to have little to offer beyond sound bites, platitudes and corporate Republican pabulum, Onorato came armed with the facts and a firm understanding of the needs and procedures attendant to the running of the state’s government and gave thoughtful, well-informed and judicious answers to the queries posed by longtime newsman Ted Koppel.

The Attorney General, who wants to be our next governor and who began his own political career back in 1988, started off by calling Onorato a “career politician.” I guess like everything else in GOP-land, if they say it, it must be true.

He quickly moved on to telling us all how tort reform is the greatest need facing Pennsylvania while decrying the idea that victims of corporate malfeasance may be given more money than they should legitimately—by his estimation, apparently—be entitled to in a lawsuit if the jury reduces itself to making a decision based on “compassion” instead of just sticking to the evidence. Well, at least it’s good to see the GOP finally dropping that pathetic façade of ever embracing “compassionate” conservatism.

When Corbett, predictably, brought up the subject of spending cuts, the only specific subject he mentioned was education, in particular, early childhood education. For a moment, it seemed as if Corbett was implying that early childhood education funding should be cut. But a minute or two later, after Onorato had made a great case for funding such programs, Corbett announced that he agreed with his opponent that early childhood education programs are vital to the welfare of our citizens.

Let’s see. There are jobs out there if lazy Pennsylvanians would just take them, no wait, unemployment is a serious issue; we need to stop President Obama health care reform, no wait, it will benefit thousands of Pennsylvanians; and early childhood education programs are an important tool whose funding should be looked at for cost cutting measures.

I can’t keep up, especially if Corbett’s going to change his position literally every two minutes.

But what really made my jaw drop was Corbett’s answer to Koppel’s question about Pennsylvania paying back the federal money borrowed to keep the state’s unemployment fund afloat. Koppel offered up three solutions to the problem—increasing payroll taxes, increasing business taxes, and decreasing unemployment benefits. Onorato gave a fair and well-thought-out reply that involved combining the three, asking everyone to pay their share, along with requesting a deferment from the feds until the state was economically back on its feet again. Corbett, on the other hand, unequivocally ruled out any increase in business taxes, basically telling the workers of Pennsylvania that he is expecting them to pay for it.

Now, refresh my memory—isn’t this the guy who’s going on and on about his promise to not raise your taxes?

This money needs to be paid back. The debt isn’t going anywhere. And if Corbett is elected the next governor, he’s going to have to find a way to do that. And a lot of other things that he can’t even anticipate.

Republican rhetoric about “tax cuts” and “spending cuts” sound great, until you look at the details.

Onorato has the details. Not to mention a fundamental grasp of reality that Corbett seems to lack.

When asked by Koppel how he would theoretically address the nation’s deficit if given the responsibility, Corbett answered that he would reduce the deficit by cutting taxes.

Again, if he says it, it must be true.

Corbett even offered up the tired, old Republican line of “if you want more taxes and more spending, and four more years of Rendell, then vote for my opponent” during a closing statement that was obviously either written down or memorized and that he couldn’t even get through without stumbling.

Tom Corbett demonstrated a few things Monday night.

First, like most Republicans running in this election cycle, he has nothing to offer aside from “feel good” rhetoric and, at a time when our state and our nation are facing serious difficulties, that simply isn’t enough. Second, if elected, he will cater to the interests of big business and either does not understand or simply does not care about the concerns of everyday, working Pennsylvanians. And third, he would be an absolute disaster for our Commonwealth.

Being a public servant is a real job and government institutions are a necessity, whether those who so often like to decry them want to acknowledge that or not.

But for those of us who do prefer to be part of a civilized group, some form of government will always be present because it is the only way for people to coexist with each other.

Whether it is a nation, state, city, township, rotary club, book group, or secret tree house no-girls-allowed he-man team, every group requires a venue to come together, air differences, address needs, and develop plans to move forward, or just to continue existing. And those panels require leaders who know how to do the jobs assigned to them, who understand the needs of the whole group and actually possess a desire to address them, and who are grounded enough in the reality the rest of the group shares to carry out their duties.

Neither Tom Corbett, nor most Republican candidates these days, possess those qualities.

If only every Democratic candidate for every office could get their GOP, Tea Party, or Libertarian opponent into a debate like Onorato had with Corbett, not only would the right wing be exposed for its complete lack of ideas and solutions, but there would be a Democratic sweep in the November elections that would shock the political pundits out of the Beltway Bubble.

My apologies for being away for so long—I had some family matters to attend to which took much more of my time and attention than I’d anticipated.

But I’m back!

So, did you miss me?

And I pose that question only because I am beginning to rethink my answer to those Bushies who have been asking the same about our potential longing for ol’ W.

Don’t worry—I haven’t crossed over to the dark side.

It’s just that the recent spate of Republican nominees for office is making George W. look, well, normal. Intellectual even. And that is bad.

Although I wasn’t writing, I was trying my best to keep up with the news. And as if Sharron Angle, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina weren’t enough, we have now topped off the nouveau Republican offerings with some guy in Alaska boasting not only an endorsement from the Mama Grizzly herself but the incredibly memorable name of Joe Miller, and what has to be the piece de resistance of the Tea Party movement, Christine O’Donnell—former witch turned Roman Catholic turned uber-celibate Evangelical—in the apparently now ultra-conservative state of Delaware.

[Just for the record, I actually knew about the whole witchcraft thing before everyone and their mother started playing that “Politically Incorrect” clip—when I saw O’Donnell and heard her name on election night, I knew I recognized both from somewhere; it didn’t take me long to remember.]

O’Donnell took her campaign momentum into the “Values Voter Summit” last week, where our own GOP candidate for Senate, Pat Toomey, was excitedly mentioned in the same breath with Angle, Paul and O’Donnell by Tea Party advocate—and bankroller—South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.

Nice company Toomey is keeping.

Yeah, this would be the same “Summit” during which former pastor, governor and super-marriage advocate Mike Huckabee mocked the new health care provision that prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions, comparing sick people to a wrecked car and a burning house.

Isn’t it nice to see these good “Christian” folks getting together to express their love, care and compassion for their fellow human beings?

Of course, it wasn’t all news and views for this political junkie. Sci-fi nerd that I am, I took a bit of time one day last week to watch a repeat episode of “Stargate Atlantis” and found myself doing a double-take at the screen when one of the guest stars bore an amazing resemblance to Tom Corbett.

He was playing an Ancient.

Not that that has any reflection whatsoever on Corbett.

Or the GOP.

Really.

First came the accusations that Republican candidate Pat Meehan submitted nominating petitions containing fraudulent signatures, and the subsequent investigation that had to be referred to the office of the Republican Attorney General—and GOP nominee for governor—seeing as how the Delaware County DA had contributed to Meehan’s campaign… an investigation that, more than four months later, is still awaiting resolution.

Now comes news that independent Jim Schneller had help getting himself on the ballot thanks to supporters of Democratic nominee Bryan Lentz, a revelation that Schneller himself is either disingenuously denying or having a rather difficult time coming to terms with.

Now, it may not be the Orie-Zappala family feud that we’ve got going on over here in the southwestern corner of the state, but voters of the 7th District certainly do seem to have a rather lively battle on their hands.

But the evidence and witness testimony introduced raised a number of others.

First and foremost is why Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin has yet to be indicted. While a grand jury is currently probing her involvement, not only was it her campaign for the high court that is alleged to have benefited from the work done on taxpayer time, but an affidavit introduced into evidence during the hearing alleges that she and her senator sister tried to recruit a local labor consultant to deliver threats to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala in an effort to stop the initial grand jury investigation into the senator.

Really? Threatening a public official? That also provides a whole new wrinkle in the likening of the Zappala-led investigation to a “Mafia hit” by Orie’s brother Jack, who at the time was serving as his sisters’ attorney. “Sending a message” via a labor consultant? Sounds awfully “Mafia-like” to me.

And, of course, predictably, Senator Orie’s new lawyer showed up at the hearing insisting that what she did wasn’t that bad, and besides, everyone does it. Didn’t these people learn anything from the Mike Veon trial? I guess not, since state Representative Bill DeWeese, facing the same kinds of charges, is trying to use the same kind of defense. And are they oblivious to the appearance of hypocrisy at best, desperation at worst, in attempting to enlist the same excuses that were so derisively laughed off and dismissed by many of those representing their side of the aisle when they were made by others?

But the biggest question coming out of all of this? How in the world did Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office miss this? In his nearly three-year-long “mission” to “clean up” Harrisburg, he’s gone after some of the biggest fish in the Capitol. It doesn’t get much bigger than the woman who, at the time of her indictment, was the senate majority whip, the No. 3 Republican in the chamber.

Add to that the fact that Jennifer Knapp Rioja, the intern whose complaint started the investigation, insists that the first call she made was not to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office but rather to the state Attorney General’s office, which told her to contact local authorities. Not to mention the fact that staffers from the Orie office swore under oath at the hearing that they’ve been directed by the senator herself to perform campaign work on behalf of herself and her sister for the last nine years! And that the Orie office in question is right down the road from the one where some of the now-infamous Veon shenanigans took place.

The Attorney General’s office didn’t have to look very long or hard to find this one.

So the question remains, why didn’t they?

This, of course, follows on the heels of repeated revelations that Corbett himself—in addition to those working for him—has used a state-provided and taxpayer-funded phone to conduct campaign business.

Or maybe he hasn’t. It’s difficult to keep up with Corbett’s constantly changing stories on this issue. He has two Blackberries, one for official work, one for campaign work. He has one Blackberry, because it’s easier to keep everything on one. He doesn’t even know the number for his state-issued phone. No, he’s got two. No, one. No, two.

This mirrors Corbett’s seemingly ever-changing thoughts about the unemployment rate in the state. Unemployed Pennsylvanians are completely comfortable sitting around collecting government checks. The jobs are out there. Well, we do need to improve our jobs climate. Maybe he just wasn’t “clear and complete” enough. He didn’t mean to be “insensitive.” But jeez, look at all those help-wanted ads.

And now, even though Corbett has suggested on several occasions that there are plenty of jobs out there for Pennsylvanians who want to take them, he is now trying to insist that Ed Rendell’s Democratic tax-and-spend policies have cost Pennsylvanians more than half a million jobs (but I guess those are jobs we could afford to lose since there are still so many out there anyway, so maybe Rendell hasn’t done so badly after all).

Even I can’t keep up with this. And anyone who says they can must either be not entirely truthful or heavily medicated.

I honestly have no idea whether Tom Corbett is the inept bumbler he appears to be, if he is simply insincerely self-serving and saying and doing at any given moment whatever he thinks is going to win him political points with the constituencies he’s courting (although it’s anybody’s guess exactly who those constituencies are at this point), or if underneath it all, he really is a normal guy who is being steered badly by his political advisers.

Whatever you say, Tom.

In case you missed it, Corbett said there are plenty of jobs available to Pennsylvanians, after someone apparently either showed him the classified sections of a few newspapers or alerted him to the fact that they seem to be filled with help-wanted ads. Of course, someone should have also explained to Mr. Corbett that many of those jobs are not only bogus, but even the ones that are legit often pay wages that are not enough to support one person let alone an entire family. And to qualify for those that are legit and do pay well—positions that are often advertised out of obligation but filled either from within or through network contacts—usually requires an educational and experiential background that many job seekers simply do not have.

But in suggesting that there are jobs out there, and insinuating that unemployed citizens simply are not taking or do not want to take them, Corbett is indeed blaming the unemployed of Pennsylvania for the state’s unemployment rate.

You see, the jobs are out there. That means if the unemployed are not taking them, they are intentionally remaining out of work, driving up the state’s rate of unemployment. If they would simply accept the jobs that are available to them, the unemployment rate would then decrease.

So, insisting despite all evidence to the contrary that there are jobs available and that Pennsylvania’s out-of-work are just not taking them, Corbett is, once again, saying that they are responsible for the state’s rate of unemployment.

He’s just saying it in a more obscure way this time.

I must say, I am glad to finally see some real people of faith standing up to the “pretenders” who like to throw around self-serving claims about their supposed “religious beliefs” along with cherry-picked scripture to—as Catholics United’s executive director Chris Korzen put it—“score cheap political points and lead voters astray.” Everything reported from Korzen’s statement should have been said a long time ago, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks, Mr. Korzen. And please keep up the good, and desperately needed, work.

Another item from that same post, however, made me laugh.

Let me first say that, up to this point, I’ve seen nothing not to like about 3rd District GOP candidate Mike Kelly. He appears to be personable, charming, charismatic, a font for delightful metaphors, down-to-earth, and, astounding for a Republican these days, firmly grounded in reality. One thing he’s not, though, is a young-un.

Nonetheless, he has been added to the NRCC’s “Young Guns” program for tracking congressional challengers.

Now, I get that the political parties have to have their plans in place to assist their candidates across the board, and that catchy names attract attention as well as much needed dollars. But come on, “Young Guns” for campaigners who are middle-aged or greater? Keith Rothfus, the GOP’s contender in the 4th District, got a nod too, and this guy’s gotta be around my age!

Surely the GOP can do better than to offer up a program name that provides an unintentional laugh-fest to anyone who looks a little more closely at the details.

Zaborney is the guy who ran Lynn Swann’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, taking a guy with one of the most famous names from the Pittsburgh Steelers but managing to garner only 40 percent of the general election vote.

Swann’s was hardly the model of a winning campaign, but Zaborney is sure the Corbett team is handling this embarrassment the right way.

That should put the minds of Pennsylvania Republicans at ease.

Well, if that’s what he believes, why didn’t he just come out and say so instead of saying he “heard that only 10 percent of the people that are on unemployment” are looking for work, that “the other 80, 90 percent” are “a problem,” and that extending unemployment benefits will allow the jobless to just “sit there.”

Apparently, Corbett’s spokesman is trying to convince us that whether it’s a politically-motivated lawsuit challenging the new health care reforms, a subpoena to obtain the identities of Twitter users, or a remark about the unemployed, what he says or does and what he believes are entirely different things.

Now, while I understand that constantly having to defend a man who seems to suffer from a terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease can’t be an easy task, defending his statements by suggesting that we should just forget what he said and trust that he actually believes the opposite, as spokesman Kevin Harley has done, doesn’t exactly seem like a winning strategy.

So how, exactly, am I supposed to know who the “real” Tom Corbett is and what he believes?

Maybe I can dig out my old Magic 8 Ball, or consult a new crystal one.

Better yet, maybe Keith Rothfus, the Republican nominee here in the 4th Congressional District, will lend me his astrologer, who can then cast me a chart giving me all the juicy details.

Or maybe the “real” Tom Corbett can just tell me himself who he is, what he believes, and what his plans are, should he have the good fortune of being elected governor, for the future of my state.

Inquiring minds want to know.