The New York Times has an article on Senator Robert Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who pretends to be pro-life but whose primary credential on this file is that his late father, one-time governor of the Keystone State, was a principled pro-lifer who was denied a platform to speak (about anything) at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Casey says he is often compared to his father, often to his detriment, but there are some of us who think the comparison is unearned. Casey the Junior was endorsed by Democrats for Life in 2006 when he ran against Senator Rick Santorum (R), but he has done very little on life issues since being elected. The Times reports:
Eager to be known for something besides his father’s fight over abortion, Mr. Casey has publicly avoided the issue for months, working on the abortion provisions behind the scenes with Senate Democratic leaders while devoting his public statements to preserving the current children’s health insurance program.
“I don’t know how many speeches I have given saying, ‘No child worse off,’ ” he said.
On the issue of abortion funding and conscience rights, there is room for intelligent and discrete lobbying, but there is also time for leadership. Senator Casey cannot tell Pennsylvanians to trust him, that he’s working on the abortion issue behind the scenes because he has no credibility considering that he has supported pro-abortion measures in the past, such as the re-instatement of U.S. funding of international pro-abortion groups.
Senator Casey talks about “No child worse off,” but what about the unborn child? It is time for Senator Casey to step up, and do his father proud.
Oswald Clark is the economics reporter of The Interim and an Ottawa and Boston based economist.
