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Archive for “Pat Toomey” news
Joe Sestak May Challenge Pat Toomey Again
By Joel Mathis 5/15/2013
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It didn't work out so well the first time, but former Congressman Joe Sestak is apparently ready to challenge Sen. Pat Toomey again.
Politico reports:
The former Philadelphia-area congressman announced Tuesday in an email to supporters and a video on his website that he’s launching an exploratory committee for Senate in 2016 to challenge Toomey again.
“[T]he leadership in America is not exceptional right now, and most damaging to our nation’s purpose is the U.S. Senate’s lack of leadership and lack of accountability as our nation careens from crisis to crisis,” he said in the email. “Its failure has paralyzed the governing of our
Following Gun Vote, Pat Toomey Is Now More Popular Than Ever
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/26/2013
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So much for gun control being a political third rail. At least in Pennsylvania, where we cling to our guns, Senator Pat Toomey's recent, failed, efforts to strengthen criminal background checks have boosted his popularity to an all-time high. According to a Quinnipiac Poll released today, his approval rating stands at 48%-30%, and 54% of voters think more favorably of Toomey for the gun bill, versus 12% who like him less. The question that remains now is whether Toomey continues to hew to a more moderate path (he recently changed his mind on the Violence Against Women Act), or uses
Toomey’s Gun Control Bill Blocked in Senate
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/17/2013
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The Senate passed Pat Toomey's gun control bill today, by a vote of 54-46, gaining Republican support from three other Senators. But it needed 60 to overcome a Republican filibuster, so it failed. "I did the best I could. I wish it had passed, but the Senate has spoken and these things happen," Toomey said to the Morning Call after the vote. "It's always worth it to do the right thing." The bill would have expanded background checks to internet and gun show sales. New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg, who's in ill health, was wheeled in for the vote. At least today, he
Pat Toomey’s Gun Bill Spoofed on Saturday Night Live
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/15/2013
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Not real Pat Toomey, of course, but Bill Hader Pat Toomey, wearing a wig to grant him an XL-Toomey-style forehead. (Though the real Pat Toomey does have a sense of humor, we found out recently.) In SNL's cold open, Jay Pharoah's Barack Obama introduced Toomey and West Virginia's Sen. Joe Manchin (Jason Sudeikis), to tout their new gun control plan. Among the hard-hitting new regulations Toomey announced: "We have agreed to limit the number of guns you can shoot at once...to two" as well as a ban on selling AK-47s from coin-operated vending machines.
In conclusion: "Is this bill what we
Pat Toomey Getting A Lot of Right-Wing Heat for Gun Control Bill
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/12/2013
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The Daily Beast has done us the favor of rounding up some examples of recent conservative opposition to Pat Toomey, after he paired up with Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (and shh, Chuck Schumer) to introduce a bill to beef up background checks and close the gun-show loophole.
Red State's Erick Erickson, who predicts overzealous mental health providers will start barring Christians from buying guns.
Heritage Action, which will "score" Toomey lower and is very disappointed in him. (We expect more from Pat Toomey, and, more importantly, so do his constituents.)
The NRA, duh.
Best of all: A new facebook page called "Arlen Toomey," comparing
Toomey Threatened to Nix Gun Control Bill For A Ridiculously Petty Reason
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/11/2013
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Today, for the first time since voting on the "Brady Bill" and the infamous assault weapons ban during the Clinton administration, the Senate will vote today on a series of gun control bills. One with perhaps the highest likelihood of passage is the one floated yesterday by Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin to close the gun-show loophole and expand background checks to internet sales. The one, in other words, that almost didn't get done. And here's why:
Four senators may have signed on to a gun background check deal Wednesday, but only two showed up for the news conference — in
Pat Toomey (Yes, Pat Toomey) Reaches Deal to Save Gun Control Bill [Updated]
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/10/2013
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Well, gun control advocates (and 90% of the country) have a new ally in Pennsylvania's junior senator. Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin, blue dog Democrat of West Virginia, have reached an agreement to expand background checks on gun purchases made on the internet and at gun shows. The deal signals that Republican senators do not have enough votes to filibuster the legislation. Their bill will be tacked on as an amendment to an existing gun control bill, which will be brought to a vote Thursday. The larger bill, which includes school safety measures and harsher penalties for gun traffickers and
Will Pat Toomey Save The Gun Bill?
By Joel Mathis 4/08/2013
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The Washington Post suggests that Pennsylvania's deeply conservative senator, Pat Toomey, may be the only person who can bring a gun bill to the president's desk. But why would he? "
So, why is Toomey involved in talks on background checks? Because, at his core, Toomey is not a pure ideologue but rather a political survivor. Prior to running against Specter in 2004, Toomey spent three terms representing a swing-ish House seat in northeastern Pennsylvania. And, while he clearly touted his conservative bona fides when he ran against Specter in 2004, he cast himself much more as a pragmatic pol during
Breaking: Pat Toomey Has Sense of Humor
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/01/2013
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Pat Toomey declared his intention of running against Tom Corbett, Tom Corbett announced he was privatizing his own mouth, and Joe Sestak won tickets to see Nickelback. Such was the news on Politics PA today, which reprised its annual April Fools Day festivities with a bunch of groaners. Almost more surprising than a potential Toomey run for Governor is his apparent participation in the joke. Who knew he had in in him! Here's Pat, making the "announcement," to a "conservative audience."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kh5RA2Qts3Q#!
*5 of 10 commenters apparently fell for the joke ("Corbett should be freaking out"). So in case it wasn't abundantly
Pat Toomey, Barack Obama Pretended to be Friends Over Dinner Last Night
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 3/07/2013
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Last night--before he ahem, droned on and on last night to temporarily filibuster Barack Obama's controversial C.I.A. Director nominee--Pat Toomey apparently had a lovely dinner party with the POTUS.
"It was a candid and constructive conversation on both sides," said Toomey, one of a handful of Republican senators invited to dine with the president at the high-end Jefferson Hotel, a few blocks north of the White House. "Most of the discussion was about fiscal issues, although it did extend beyond fiscal and budgetary issues."
Great! Except Toomey and Obama agree on basically nothing, and as the man himself told the Inky last night: "I
