Today, Pennsylvania Republican Tom Smith became the newest face of the extreme anti-choice core of the Republican Party when he told an interviewer that "unwed birth is similar to rape". Tom Smith has virtually no chance of beating incumbent Bob Casey (the RCP average is Casey +14.5). However, Think Progress also uncovered(and Maddow Blog has picked it up too) that Smith has some ties to both Romney and Ryan. Indeed, there is no daylight between Tom Smith, Todd Akin and Paul Ryan. They are all virulently anti-choice, anti-Medicare, and anti-Social Security.
The Vulture/Vouchercare Etch-a-Sketch will have to be vigorously shaken yet again: Tom Smith introduced Paul Ryan at a campaign event just last week. And he was at a Romney fundraiser last month. I wonder if Romney will "disagree" with Tom Smith in 48 hours or so.
The Casey campaign has a website up: Tea Party Tom Smith. It lays out how extreme Tom Smith is on a number of issues.
Tom Smith would end Medicare as we know it, and supports letting people "opt out" of Medicare:
Tom Smith was asked at a candidate forum if he supported Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare as we know it. Smith praised both the Paul Ryan and Rand Paul radical budget plans. He stated that there are a "lot of good plans out there" and specifically mentioned the Ryan and Paul plans. He said, "There's a lot of great plans out there. Not great maybe, but they have great parts. The Ryan Plan. The Paul Plan, the Senate has a plan out there that is proposing. The Heritage Foundation; they have plans. There's a lot of good plans out there." The New York Times editorialized that the Ryan Plan is a budget where "older Americans no longer have a guarantee that Medicare will pay for their health needs." [Manufacturer and Business Association Senate Candidate Forum, 3/28/12; New York Times, 3/20/12]
Tom Smith was asked at a candidate forum in January 2012, “Would you vote to reform Medicare by allowing individuals to opt out of Medicare?” He responded, “Yes.” [Tom Smith, Murrysville Candidate Forum, 01/20/12]
I would love for a sharp reporter to ask Tom Smith just what parts of the Ryan budget are great: severely cutting Medicaid? A massive tax giveaway to the 1%? Turning Medicare into a coupon program? Inquiring minds want to know.
Smith also wants to gut Social Security, and put our earned benefits at the mercy of the stock market. From the same website:
Tom Smith Supports Privatizing Social Security. Tom Smith, in March 2012, expressed support for privatizing Social Security. Smith said he supported having “younger people opt-out a portion” of Social Security in order to create private accounts. At a candidate forum in December 2011, in reference to Social Security Smith said, “in the future people got to be allowed to invest their own if they so wish” in private accounts. [Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, 3/24/12; U.S Senate Candidate Forum, Altoona, Pa., 12/1/11]
Allowing people to "opt out" is just another way of saying that they want the program to wither and die. Paul Ryan also has a history of wanting to privatize Social Security, and I hope that Joe Biden calls him on that in their debate.
Since Bob Casey is expected to win by a large margin, I'll just list his ActBlue and link to his website. I will include a link to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party so that good Democrats all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can get support, and we can contribute to helping in the fight against the discriminatory Voter ID law.
Contribute to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party
Bob Casey-ActBlue