Teabagging State Rep Curt Schroder (R-PA) Is Running For Congress
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Night and day: progressive Democrat Doug Pike and anti-labor union fanatic Curt Schroder
Pennsylvania state Rep. Curt Schroder, a former insurance agent who is widely considered to be the worst shill for Big Insurance in his state, was planning to primary Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach. Now that Gerlach is giving up his suburban seat north and west of Philadelphia, Schroder has jumped into the race for the 6th CD. This will pit a solid progressive Democrat, Doug Pike against a full bore right wing loon. (A mainstream conservative, worried that his party is driving off the cliff and into the political wilderness, Chester County Recorder of Deeds Ryan Costello, is running against Schroder for the GOP nomination. He alluded to two of Schroder's weakest points in his announcement yesterday, namely that Schroder has a proven record of corruption of and an inability to work in a bipartisan manner. He points out that voters in southeast Pennsylvania will elect "individuals who can work in a bi-partisan manner, individuals who will support or oppose an issue based on its merits, not pressure from special interest groups."
The Republican primary is likely to be bloody and costly-- and irrelevant. The district has so fundamentally changed since going for Bush in 2000 and 2004, that McCain only managed to get 41% of the vote and Gerlach, up against an unknown and unfunded opponent, Bob Roggio, barely held onto the seat with 52%. No Republican has carried the district in a statewide race since 2004. Senator Bob Casey took 59% of the district's votes in 2006 and Ed Rendell was re-elected with 66% that year (after having won with 57% in 2002. Most observers feel, in the words of The Hill, that "Gerlach may have handed his House seat to Democrats on Tuesday when he announced he will run for governor of Pennsylvania next year." Schroder will accelerate the deterioration of the GOP in the district because his views are so completely outside the mainstream and so extreme. Watch him carrying on like a jackass at a local teaparty (it was before the "birther controversy" got pushed into the Republican consciousness by Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck, so Schroder didn't mention anything about Mombasa General Hospital. Just wait!)
Labels: 2010 congressional races, crazy extremists, Curt Shroder, Doug Pike, PA-06, tea parties
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 9:00 AM
3 comments
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3 Comments:
Schroder is my State Rep. Ugh!! And he was going to primary Gerlach? No paper around here even carried such speculation. Hmmm!!
Would you mind being more specific on why you think he is an insurance shill?
I believe you will find he has sponsored insurance reform legislation in the General Assembly that has been nationally recognized, including legislation revising underwriting practices that allowed insurance companies to gouge small businesses who wanted to offer insurance to their employees.
He also took the lead a while back in advocating the "Patients Bill of Rights" which gave individuals a lot more leverage against insurance companies.
Take a harder look, friend. Schroder has a lot of bipartisan support, and there's a reason for it.
Still waiting. And what is so crazy about that speech, anyway? So he was against card check. I understand not everyone agrees, but that really makes him crazy? So was Gerlach.
The rest is all about fiscal restraint. He's against corporate welfare, no-bid contracts and unnecessary tax credit for favored industries. That's not only conservative, but mainstream, bipartisan conservative. That's the type of conservatism that pisses off leaders in BOTH parties.
Costello, by the way, who you laud here as a more mainstream alternative, dropped out of the race. There are a number of other very middle of the road candidates still in it, including a very rich well-financed one. Costello, though, seems to be supporting Rep. Schroder.
I live in the Congressional district, and know a number of self-described pinkos that like Schroder just fine, as he has taken on his own party in the past when necessary, and is very receptive to all his constituents no matter how they are registered.
Like I said before, learn a little more about the man and his record. Most of the Ron Paul republicans in the area are lined up behind him, for example. How many other candidates are going to call for an audit of the Fed to a roomful of supporters? If you're as independent-minded as he is, I bet you will like him just fine as well.
(that is, unless you're a union-organizer, in which case you won't like any of the five GOP candidates for this district)
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