You are judged by the company you keep:
Sen. Pat Toomey endorsed U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta for a U.S. Senate seat in a recent video announcement.
Barletta is vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey. Others who are also seeking the Republican nomination in the Senate race include Paul Addis, Cynthia Ayers, Jim Christiana and Paul DeLong.
Barletta, who is currently the U.S. representative for the 11th district, was reportedly encouraged to run for the Senate seat by the White House administration. Toomey called Barletta a "trusted conservative and a relentless fighter for hardworking Pennsylvanians."
"When we recently needed an ally in the House to pass the most sweeping tax reforms in a generation, Lou was there every step of the way," Toomey said in the announcement. "It's time we all unite behind Lou and support him with our time, our energy, and most of all, with our vote."
Toomey also cited Barletta's work in trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act and attempting to end sanctuary city policies as other reasons for his support.
Yes, Barletta already has the endorsements of the entire PA GOP delegation but Toomey sticks out the most because he’s a scumbag:
The final tax bill signed by Trump lowers the top individual rate to 37 percent from 39.6 percent, reflecting one of many triumphs for the “supply-side” economic doctrine Toomey (R-Pa.) has relentlessly promoted through more than two decades in politics over the more populist ideology of Trump’s campaign.
Behind the scenes, according to aides, lobbyists and fellow lawmakers, Toomey played a major role in shaping the Republican tax overhaul — pushing not only for a cut in the top individual rate but also helping slash rates for corporations and repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care Act.
“Let’s face it, he was central,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who negotiated a crucial budget agreement with Toomey that paved the way for the tax bill. “This would be, I’m sure, the ultimate thing for him to accomplish here in the United States Senate, and so he stayed focused.”
More broadly, Toomey’s influence represents the imprint of the supply-side doctrine on the bill — the notion that the benefit of lower taxes and fewer regulations on businesses and investors, in the words of its critics, “trickle down” to other Americans. That thinking delivered most of the dollar value of the GOP tax cuts to a lower corporate rate and a new break for owners of “pass-through” businesses, whose profits are taxed as individual income, while offering relatively meager benefits for wage-earning Americans.
“But for Pat Toomey, it’s not likely we would have seen 50-plus votes in the Senate for that nature of a tax cut,” said David M. McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, a group that promotes tax cuts and that Toomey led before entering the Senate.
The tension between populism and conservative orthodoxy is set to play out next year as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans embark on a legislative agenda that could include major infrastructure and trade initiatives. While Trump proposes hundreds of billions of dollars in spending and deploying protectionist measures for American companies, Toomey and his allies lean toward encouraging private infrastructure investment and removing trade barriers.
If the tax bill is any indication, shrewd conservatives such as Toomey could find a way to again turn the president’s agenda toward their liking.
By the way, this open letter to Toomey on The Huffington Post is worth a full read:
You, sir, own Donald Trump. You, sir, are Donald Trump.
You are his hatred. You are his darkness. You are his profanity.
People of goodwill in Pennsylvania see you as clearly as they do him. And what we see and what we hear is silence, cowardice, and betrayal. We see a despicable dearth of moral fiber. We see a gaping hole of apathy where your heart and conscience should be.
You and your GOP counterparts are abject, irresolute pawns in the scourge that has overtaken this country in the form of Donald Trump, a scourge which you encourage and embolden by your inexcusable silence.
The people of Pennsylvania see you, Senator.
Get out from under your desk and look in the mirror.
By the way, here’s what a real populist looks like:
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. , has joined with 49 of his U.S. Senate colleagues, including Republican Susan Collins of Maine, to endorse a resolution that would topple the Federal Communications Commission's recent ruling deregulating the broadband industry.
The Washington Post reports this morning that the tally puts the Senate just a vote shy of restoring so-called 'net neutrality' rules that provided free and open access to the internet.
"With full caucus support," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. , one of the lawmakers spearheading the effort, said, "it's clear that Democrats are committed to fighting to keep the Internet from becoming the Wild West where ISPs are free to offer premium service to only the wealthiest customers while average consumers are left with far inferior options."
In November, Casey , a Scranton Democrat who is up for re-election this year,Tweeted that the agency's decision was "disappointing," and that lawmakers must "work on a bipartisan legislative solution to ensure net neutrality principles are upheld and enforced."
It’s going to be hard selling Trump without Trump to fire up voters but there’s a real reason Barletta is running against Casey. He was gerrymandered into Congress and it looks like those days are numbered:
Pennsylvania’s highest court could be on the verge of setting unprecedented limits on how much politicians can redraw electoral districts to their party's advantage, a decision that would have profound legal and political consequences both in the state and the rest of the country.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in a case alleging the state’s 2011 congressional map, drawn by Republicans, violates protections on freedom of expression and equal protection in the state constitution.
Since 2012, Republicans have consistently been able to win 13 of the state’s 18 congressional seats, despite winning only about 50 percent of the statewide vote. The Brennan Center for Justice describes the state’s congressional map as one of the worst partisan gerrymanders in the country, and an analysis by The Associated Press found that the map was responsible for an additional three GOP seats in Congress.
A ruling striking down the map would be deeply significant. Before the end of January, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could order state lawmakers to redraw the congressional map ahead of the 2018 elections, giving Democrats a better chance of picking up GOP seats. The state court will have final say in this case, but the ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers similar federal cases and could also strike down electoral maps as too partisan and implement standards to determine when partisan redistricting goes too far ― something it has never done.
Let’s not let Barletta slime his way into another elected position. Click here to donate and get involved with Casey’s re-election campaign.