Sunday, May 16, 2010
"Ick vs. Ugh"
Karen Heller is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and she will never be confused with, say, Michelle Malkin, in terms of her political perspective.
In today's paper, she writes about the primary race in Pennsylvania between incumbent Arlen Specter and challenger Joe Sestak:
If you watched the candidates' sole debate May 1 - and most likely you didn't because it was a beautiful Saturday night and the Mets were in town and you surely had better things to do - let me tell you, this was a battle between ick and ugh.It's worth reading the entire piece, just for the entertainment value. Lukewarm support for the Democratic primary winner among the base of the party probably offers encouragement to the Republican candidate, Pat Toomey, between now and November.
Sestak was strident and tone deaf and kept on message instead of listening to Specter, who was strident and petulant and kept demanding an apology from Sestak for calling him a liar. Schoolyard garbage. It was the battle of the ego monsters, dinner with your least appealing relatives, and, if you were leaning toward one or the other, the exercise nulled any affection for either...
...We get it. They're both yucky. Almost a third of all Democratic voters remain undecided. It may come down to who bothers you less. Come Tuesday, go to the polls, hold your nose, and vote.
Another Inquirer columnist (and radio talk show host) Michael Smerconish endorsed Specter today (noting his "pragmatism"), as did the Inquirer editorial page. Columnist Dick Polman wrote about the race in less critical terms than his colleague Ms. Heller, and also did not offer an endorsement.
Pennsylvania has a closed primary system, and I am not a registered Democrat, so I don't get to cast a vote in this U.S. Senate race on Tuesday. My guess is that Sestak will win the primary.
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