Today, seven Republican candidates met for a debate leading up to the primary to ultimate take on Sen. Bob Casey. Most questions focused on tax policy, the economy, and healthcare. However, during the lightning round where questions were answered with a show of hands, they asked two gun questions.
One question was whether they support national concealed carry reciprocity. Every single candidate raised their hand without visible hesitation (that I caught, or that moderators caught). The second question was whether they could imagine a scenario where they would restrict any firearms sales to lawful owners. Not a single hand raised.
I mention the hesitation thing because moderators were looking for disagreement, hesitation, eye rolls, or other non-verbal communication so they could pick on candidates for detailed follow-up. None of the follow-ups were related to the gun questions.
Hesitation is also relevant given the squishy vote on the issue from the incumbent senator on the issue in the previous Congress.
Was this on PCN?
Where and when did they meet and debate? I had absolutely no idea there was a debate scheduled.
Are you on an e mail list I am not?
Apparently, it did air on PCN, but I didn’t see it there since we don’t have cable. It was hosted by some business group up in NY for PA Society weekend. I didn’t know about it in advance, I just saw a tweet go by from @PAindependent about a streaming link the Senate debate and clicked on it.
I think I’m a Tim Burns supporter for the primary. I appreciate that Steven Welch tried to stand out by pointing out that you have to be more nuanced in policy on energy issues and immigration, but he doesn’t have a track record on the campaign front.
I couldn’t believe it when Santorum’s former staffer talked about wanting to sit down to conversations with Iran to try and talk out the problem of them developing nukes. Yeah, because you could trust anything they would say in those talks. *eyeroll* I also got frustrated by his crap about there should be no energy policy because there should be no Department of Energy. Okay, then explain your plan to convince the rest of Congress to defund it and wind it down. But no, they never do that. Sorry, but the Senate is for serious people.
David Christian came off as totally creepy with (apparent) stage fright and making up any opportunity he could to drop key conservative terms. His opening statement detailed his war wounds. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for honoring and appreciating vets, but being wounded in service to the country isn’t an automatic qualification to serve in the Senate. It just felt awkward. The same when his last answer was all about sexual abuse he experienced as a child. Again with the awkward moment. But when he made every excuse in the world to remind us that he met Ronald Reagan and then went on to claim that the Tea Party is really focused on pro-life issues, it was pretty absurd.
The Tea Party leader from Scranton, Laureen Cummings, was much better than I anticipated. We saw so many so-called Tea Party candidates last year who could do little more than spout answers that sounded like protest sign slogans. She was a breath of fresh air on that front, even though I still recognize that she doesn’t have a shot in hell.
Rohrer was there, too. Nothing was unexpected or new with him that I caught. I still don’t think he’s the best candidate, and I wish he’d find a way to get back in the State House where his experience would be more useful.
I have some contacts at PCN, I will let you know what I find. Thanks, I sure wish our Republican Senator had let me know!