In a play on the ever-popular March Madness, left-wing group ProgressNow released their March Badness list of the most “radical conservatives” who have proven themselves so in the past year.
This year, two PA politicians have made the Not-So-Sweet 16: Governor Tom Corbett and State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler).
Corbett, whom the site dubs, “Last year’s March Badness champion,” is called a favorite for a repeat ‘victory’. In his entry on the site, ProgressNow uses one specific example as to why the PA gov should remain reigning champ.
“Corbett’s attorneys, in a filing to stop Montgomery County from issuing marriage licenses, compared gay marriage to allowing 12-year-olds to get married,” the group says.
Attempting to quiet the marriage-equality advocates from across PA who spoke out against him, Corbett eschewed the 12-year-olds comparison as an “inappropriate analogy,” and said, “I think a much better analogy would have been brother and sister, don’t you?”
ProgressNow believes Corbett has continued to fight the legalization of gay marriage in Pennsylvania, pointing out that his actions match up well enough with what he said.
“He has consistently opposed marriage equality, supporting court cases and legislation that keep Pennsylvania as the only state in the northeast that does not have same sex marriage or civil unions.”
“Governor Corbett has demonstrated from the beginning that he will make the right decisions for Pennsylvanians, advancing an agenda that keeps taxes low and creates family-sustaining jobs in the private sector. Governor Corbett is a commonsense leader who has worked across the aisle to build consensus on major initiatives such as comprehensive transportation funding and reversing federal food stamp cuts to Pennsylvania families,” Corbett campaign spokesman Billy Pitman told PoliticsPA.
“What’s maddening to Pennsylvanians is our opponents and special interest groups promoting false narratives all in a veiled attempt to export the failed Obama agenda to Harrisburg, embracing ObamaCare’s burdens on families and small businesses, spending more than we have and imposing job-killing taxes.”
Metcalfe made the list for stirring up trouble in the same social rights vein as Pennsylvania’s governor. When the Supreme Court overturned much of the Defense of Marriage Act in a landmark ruling last June, Pennsylvania’s first openly gay representative, State Rep. Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia) came to celebrate this ruling in a speech on the House floor. However, as soon as he began speaking, Metcalfe shut off his mic.
Metcalfe’s reasoning?
“His talking about that [marriage equality] on the House floor would have been an open rebellion against Almighty God and God’s word, against God’s law. And as a Christian, if I would have sat there and been silent, it would have violated my conscience because of my beliefs as a Christian.”
Voters will decide who the winners are for each March Badness round via social media. Votes are tallied whenever someone shares or retweets the quotes from contestants on any social media site.
Here is this year’s bracket so far.
Loading ...
12 Responses
I’m flattered, but my knowledge-base regarding Harrisburg is mostly perceivable as a subset of what I’ve learned from Guzzardi.
Dr. Bob should have run as Godfather Guzzardi’s runningmate. The Bob for PA!
Well said, BJ.
Wait, are we supposed to be taking Guzzardi seriously? Too bad David Diano isn’t running for governor too. We could have an all PoliticsPA commenter debate. PAIndy could moderate. Now that would be an interesting evening for readers with a slightly off-kilter sense of humor.
Pam, proof?
I wonder if the Commonwealth Foundation is funded by out-of-state billionaires sticking their collective noses into PA democracy.
Yes, yes it is.
Often overlooked when politicos classify politicians is the aphorism “Unions own Dems and rent R’s”; this is often a handy tool when assessing fundamental voting behavior.
Thus, to the GOP-Establishment, Corbett can be perceived as the most conservative PA-governor in modern history, while the Dems debate whether his social-postures; in-contrast, Guzzardi often laments that the pro-lifers who are often big-spenders [e.g., Santorum] attempt to shroud the latter by emphasizing the former.
Thus, perhaps a more useful metric would be to note underlying forces behind Corbett’s silence regarding the currently-raging “Paycheck Protection” initiative (beyond, perhaps, “i’d sign the bill were it passed, hardly a forthright posture of a limited-government leader), which Constitutional-Conservatives (such as Guzzardi) extol; this definitional “distinction with a difference” was first detectable just about four years ago when Corbett said the “Constitution is a living document” at the Pa Leadership Conference, and its mantra among Dems [“the end justifies the means”] should be anathema to the GOP.
http:/
/www.ronpaulforums.com/archive/index.
php/t-240954.html?s=123703dd57ce5a4ec6b168cbd4adc9d2
The last thing in the world “His Excellency” could be considered is a radical right winger. More’s the pity. He might have actually fixed our Commonwealth rather than laid the groundwork for the coup de grace the soon-to-be-Governor Democrat will administer.
Joseph – There is no federal ban on polygamy. It is a state issue (all 50 states currently ban it), just like gay marriage.
As to the article, anyone that would say Corbett is a radical right winger is a joke. Though I’m sure he’d take the street cred to try to win back the conservatives around the state who are disappointed by the (predictable) middle of the road approach he’s taken.
Joseph – Or you could just go left too without complaint and quit your bitching already.
I wonder if this group is funded by government union dues.
Yes, yes they are.
Once again, Politics PA is just proving to be a mouthpiece for the Communist Democrats. If “marriage equality” was actually the case, then the federal ban on polygamy would be repealed. The farther left you go, the more to the right your opposition is by default.