Abortion is supposed to be a tough issue for Republican Dave McCormick, but he had the best of it in Tuesday night’s debate with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D).
Casey was asked by a moderator about the years he spent describing himself as a pro-life Democrat and why he changed. Casey said the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which returned the right to regulate abortion to the states, was too much for him. He also attacked McCormick for saying he supported the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
McCormick hit back.
“There is no senator who has flip-flopped more on this issue than Sen. Casey. He previously said as a senator, he wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Sen. Casey said there should be one exception, the life of the mother. He was one of the most pro-life senators in the Senate and has flip-flopped his position. I don’t know how someone flip flops on this position when they held it so strongly then. and don’t hold it now.
“There is no one who has less credibility on this issue than Sen. Casey,” McCormick said.
Both candidates restated their well-worn criticisms of each other. Casey repeatedly attacked McCormick for his career as a hedge fund manager whose firm invested in China. McCormick dinged the three-term Democrat as a “career politician” with little to show for his time in Washington. They did have a couple of new insults in their repertoire: McCormick called Casey “Punxsutawney Bob,” and Casey returned the favor by accusing McCormick of “lap dog licking the shoes of the Republican nominee.”
The issue of eliminating the Senate filibuster came up when McCormick was asked about admitting Puerto Rico as a state. He laid out what he believed Democrats would do if they won both the presidency and a Senate majority and followed Casey’s recommendation to kill the filibuster.
“We will have two places that get statehood, Puerto Rico as well as Washington, D. C. There will be additional members brought onto the Supreme Court, and we’ll have a ‘Green New Deal’ beyond anything that was ever imagined,” McCormick warned. He said he supported keeping the filibuster as a “check and balance,” and killing it would be “inconsistent with America’s best interest, regardless of which party is in the majority.”
Casey said it is time to get rid of “the 60-vote rule, the so-called ‘filibuster.’
“Requiring 60 votes for substantive matters, is the reason we have not passed a background check bill for common sense gun measures to reduce the likelihood of gun violence,” Casey said. He also said getting rid of the filibuster would allow the Senate to need just 51 votes to pass legislation overriding every state’s law on abortion and the Democrats’ election legislation that would end voter ID mandates.
“We could do so much to move the country forward, but he wants to hide behind that [filibuster] rule to block progress on substantive matters the American people want to take action on,” Casey said.
But it was after Casey tried to link McCormick’s hedge fund investments to weapons that reached Hamas that the Republican unloaded.
“As a guy who went to West Point, went to Ranger School, went to the 82nd Airborne, went into Iraq in the first wave, when it looked like there would be thousands of casualties — I will not take any preaching from a guy who spent 30 years in public office and hasn’t gotten much done,” McCormick said. “I will not take preaching from you on that, or your lies, which are unworthy of you and your family and your service.”
Casey claimed that investments Bridgewater Associates made in China while McCormick was CEO benefitted Iran and, through them, Hamas. McCormick responded that all his firm’s investments were approved by the U.S. government, and that, when Casey was state treasurer, he approved investments in Bridgewater Associates.
“Sen. Casey, in 18 years in the U.S. Senate, 30 years in elective office, doesn’t have a record to run on, which is why he’s devoted himself to attacking me,” McCormick said.
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