Whose Side Is Pat Toomey On? Hint: Not Children's, Not Moderates', Not Americans...

In 2007, Pat Toomey went on Fox and blasted 45 mainstream-type conservatives who voted to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It had just passed 265-159 and Toomey was hysterical. Now, recall that Dick Armey, the fairy godmother of the teabagger movement, has gone on the record and admitted that the whole concept of teabaggerism was conceived of when President George W. Bush committed the cardinal sin of endorsing then-Republican incumbent Arlen Specter over far right extremist Toomey. You'll hear Toomey's extremist ideas in the video above.

Among the Republicans he thinks "deserve to lose" for trying to protect children are endangered current incumbents Mary Bono Mack (R-CA); Charlie Dent (R-PA), who took over Toomey's seat the year before and is now likely to lose it; 3 other Pennsylvania Republicans, Todd Platts, Tim Murphy and Jim Gerlach, currently struggling for his political life; the current Republican nominee for the open Illinois Senate seat, Mark Kirk; and Jim Reichert (R-WA). We tried reaching out to all the Republicans on the list who were slimed by Toomey and none would comment on the record, although one told me that "Mr. Toomey has more to do with having turned Congress into a toxic place than anyone on either side of the aisle. Beyond politics, he's probably the most disliked person, among his colleagues, running for office this year... People run when they see this guy coming down the hall. I hope he loses again. Jim DeMint probably would disagree but I'm pretty certain I'm speaking for the entire Pennsylvania delegation."

Everyone has an opinion and, true enough, the most radical right extremists, like DeMint and Armey, hold Toomey in high regard. So, apparently, do the Chinese. They LOVE his trade policies-- which would send entire industries off to Asia to never been seen on these shores again. Toomey is raking in hundreds of thousands of yuan and rubles and rupees, funneled through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and it's more than a little ironic that he and his allies are using the cash from America's fiercest competitors to spread lies about a man who has dedicated his entire life to protecting America and to protecting working families, Joe Sestak. Toomey is an architect of the worst American trade policies ever conceived of-- and he's voted for them all... and promises to do so again. Toomey is part of the reason the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and the United Steelworkers (USW) called on President Obama to act decisively to repudiate China's illegal trade practices on clean energy technology.

With China racing ahead and stealing clean energy jobs that should be going to Americans, the groups stressed the need for the president to take urgent action to level the trade playing field with China.  They indicated that one way to stem the loss of American jobs to China is for the administration to respond favorably to the United Steelworkers Section 301 unfair trade complaint against China on clean energy technology.
 
"Today's trade report showing an increased trade deficit with China is a powerful indicator that we need strong action to reverse this trend in order to create American jobs," said United Steelworkers International President Leo W. Gerard. "China is surging ahead as a result of practices that violate international trade agreements that China agreed to. We've got to turn this situation around, and immediate action on our 301 petition is an important first step."
 
AAM Executive Director Scott Paul said, "The rising trade deficit with China is a disturbing trend. It should be crystal clear that jawboning alone won't reduce our trade deficit and the loss of jobs. America's workers and manufacturers need concrete action. President Obama will have an opportunity to lower the trade deficit if he accepts the United Steelworkers trade case on China's cheating on clean energy manufacturing."
 
Their comments followed today's announcement that the U.S. trade gap widened to $46.3 billion in August, driven by a record U.S. $28 billion trade deficit with China.
 
The USW's 5,800 page trade complaint report details the more than 80 Chinese laws, regulations and practices that are designed to crush clean energy manufacturing and technology in the U.S. It describes how the Chinese have set prices to undercut the U.S. and other competitors, set discriminatory technology laws and regulations, demanded that foreign companies transfer valuable technology to China, and provided massive subsidies to Chinese companies, causing serious damage to U.S. interests.
 
By law, the Obama Administration has until October 24 to decide whether to proceed on or reject the complaint.

This is what Democrats are up against-- and why: