Ah, well, good to know:
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey is continuing to voice his opposition to the nuclear deal reached last year with Iran, claiming it has increased the likelihood that the Iranians will eventually acquire nuclear weapons.
Toomey, in an interview with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, accused the White House overlooking Iran’s flouting of the agreement’s language and assisting their economic development.
“I don’t think this deal blocks Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon. I think it paves their path to a nuclear weapon. There’s a relatively recent development in the last few weeks and months that have been very disturbing and I’ve been very outspoken about them… and that is the administration is now going beyond the obligations of the Iran nuclear deal. The Iranians, mind you, have refused to sign it. They have refused to ratify it. They do not acknowledge that they are bound by it. But this administration, the Obama administration, not only has released upwards of $100 billion to Iran, but they have now decided that it is their self appointed role to facilitate Iran’s economic integration into the global economy.”
Toomey’s campaign seems to be centered around making the voters scared:
Still, the turn toward non-ideological innocuousness isn’t universal. Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey has taken the sheriff strategy more literally than his colleagues — and embraced strains of Trump’s law-and-order ethos in the process.
“When rioters destroyed American cities, Pat Toomey stood strong with police,” a voice-over assures the Keystone State cops in an ad released in late March.
Toomey has called it outrageous for his Democratic opponent Katie McGinty to tie him to Donald Trump. But he’s also shown no qualms about nationalizing their race.
"She can do whatever she's going to feel she needs to do,” Toomey told Philadelphia radio host Dom Giordano in late April. "But the fact is, she is in lockstep with [Democratic front-runner] Hillary Clinton. She actually agrees with Hillary Clinton and the most liberal wing of the Democrats on everything.”
Still, Toomey paired his anti-rioters spot with an ad touting the bravery of his heterodox position on gun control. This two-step — one message geared toward base turnout, one toward reassuring the fickle middle — is a gambit that Toomey’s colleagues will likely emulate in the coming months. There’s more than one way to run for sheriff.
Yes, Toomey may not want to be seen with Donald Trump but he’s perfectly ok with using his fear mongering to help him defeat McGinty. Just look at this anti-immigrant ad Toomey put up against McGinty:
And of course this is Toomey’s latest line of attack:
In the first part of the ad, the narrator calls McGinty "an insider with ethics problems," while claiming McGinty "funneled millions of tax dollars to a group that employed her husband."
A quote from former Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell shifts the focus onto Toomey. The narrator says, "Ed Rendell called Pat Toomey, 'A man of uncommon decency.'"
Rendell responded to the ad, via PoliticsPA: “While it is true that I did say those words a while ago, I am deeply disappointed in the campaign Pat Toomey has waged against Katie McGinty. His ads have deliberately misled voters about Katie and her service in my administration. They are not the ads that would be authorized by a person of uncommon decency, so I now have serious doubts about my earlier characterization of him.”
The ad concludes with the narrator claims Toomey "is rated one of the hardest working senators."
On Tuesday, analysis revealed that Toomey missed 80 percent of Budget Committee hearings. A spokeswoman responded to the Buzzfeed report by citing his 96 percent voting attendance record and inclusion on a list of the “10 Hardest Working Senators in America.”
But it’s clear Toomey’s fear mongering is to distract voters from being associated with Donald Trump. But even Meet The Press’ Chuck Todd can see through Toomey’s act:
Todd, focusing on the influence the presidential race has had on PA politics, says the “hotly contested” Democratic primary has tested Toomey’s politics. Considered “relatively moderate,” according to Todd, Toomey has thus far been reluctant to declare his full support of Donald Trump.
Toomey also wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer expressing his dissatisfaction with the two current presidential frontrunners Trump and Hillary Clinton. Toomey finds Trump’s candidacy “highly problematic,” and Clinton “unacceptably flawed.” Toomey initially supported Marco Rubio and after the termination of that campaign, he voted for Ted Cruz.
This has left Toomey in an apparently uncomfortable position of being “not pleased” with Trump, while still being “inclined to support the nominee of [the Republican] Party.” As such, according to Todd, Toomey has begun “lining up some of his rhetoric with Trump’s,” specifically his recent attack ad towards McGinty over her support of Philadelphia’s sanctuary city status.
Todd says Toomey is “trying to have it both ways with Trump: distancing himself out loud, but sounding the alarm to Trump supporters that he’s on Trump’s side when it comes to specific issues like immigration.”
It still remains unclear how Toomey will handle Trump but there’s one person he really doesn’t want to be seen with:
Republican senators, already facing the possibility of a tough reelection in a year that will likely see Donald Trump heading up the ticket, have something else to fear — Ted Cruz’s support.
According to The Hill, Sens. Kelly Ayotte (NH), John McCain (AZ) and Pat Toomey (PA) are all facing tough reelection bids and have told Cruz thanks, but no thanks when it comes to endorsements and campaign help.
According to interviews with associates of Cruz, he hopes to become more involved with the campaigns of his fellow lawmakers in the hopes of building up some goodwill — presumably with an eye on the 2020 presidential campaign.
Toomey, a Republican in a state that will likely vote Democratic heavily if voters stay home out of disgust with Trump, explained that he and Cruz have their differences.
“[Cruz is] not going to [be] into what my campaign is doing,” Toomey explained.
But there is one issue that Toomey cannot distract the voters from:
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey recently wrote an op-ed to explain why he opposes Chief Judge Merrick Garland's U.S. Supreme Court nomination. Any senator has the right to oppose judicial nominations, but it is flatly irresponsible for Toomey to deny Garland a hearing or vote until the next president takes office in January 2017, or later.
Toomey supports this long wait for the political goal of maintaining a conservative majority on the court, and that is unprecedented. It is bad enough that an eight-justice court cannot resolve the country's hardest legal problems for a year or longer. However, the long-term impact of Toomey's position for future nominees could be much more destructive. No Supreme Court nominee in history has been rejected - much less denied a hearing - simply because a Senate majority used its muscle to demand nominees that fit its ideological preference.
Toomey's op-ed described Garland as "a pleasant man with impressive legal training and experience."
Garland is the most qualified Supreme Court nominee since Benjamin Cardozo in 1932, with more experience on the federal bench - 19 years on the D.C. Circuit - than any nominee in history. Before becoming a judge, Garland also helped prosecute the Unabomber and Oklahoma City bombing, the most important terrorism cases from that era.
It’s time for the voters to not be duped and to punish Toomey at the polls. Click here to donate and get involved with McGinty’s campaign.