Santorum Debates Casey on "Meet the Press"

This morning Senator Rick Santorum faced off against his challenger Bob Casey Jr. in their first of many debates during this campaign. They duked it out on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert moderating. Tim did a good job dealing out tough questions to both candidates, but in the end, Senator Santorum clearly walked away as the victor.

The first section of the debate centered around the War on Terror, and specifically the War in Iraq. The two candidates seemed to have different takes on the subject, although it was unclear due to Casey's lack of specifics. The Senator continues to stress that Afghanistan and Iraq are merely fronts on a global war against radical Islamic fascism, while Casey stuck to asking "Where's Bin Laden?" and "Where's the WMD's?" When asked about stopping the sectarian violence in Iraq, Santorum said that the United States needs to go to the source that is fueling the Shiite faction: Iran. He said that Iran was "stoking" the sectarian fighting in Iraq, and has been doing so since the fall of Hussein's totalitarian regime. Casey's solution to the problem was holding the Administration accountable. I'm not sure how that will help Iraqi's, but Russert seemed to catch on. Tim showed a series of quotes from Casey over the past year or so, which showed his opinion evolving on Iraq (going from "no timetable" and "supporting the war" to "pulling out by the end of the year" along with various "vote for/against" quotes that reminded me of a John Kerry campaign.)

The theme of the entire debate seemed to be: Santorum gives solid plans and methods for solving problems, and Casey gives broad generalizations and Democratic talking points. When it came to Social Security, Santorum gave a clear three step answer: pass his bill which would protect the Soc. Sec. of anyone 50 and above, stop the raid on the surplus of Soc. Sec., and finally create private Social Security accounts for young workers so that they can have ownership to their retirement. Casey's plan for solving Social Security, as well as reducing the deficit, was: growing the economy (somehow), raising taxes (especially on the rich), changing the estate tax (which would cost money), and being fiscally responsible (without cutting one single program).

In a surprising move, that is also very contradictory, Casey said that he did support selling the Plan B Morning After Pill to teens 18 and over. Casey said that, while he believes life begins at conception, killing a fertilized egg with this pill is not abortion. A rather convoluted stance on the subject, that explains why he is getting the support of Pro Choice advocacy groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

It would have been nice to walk away from the debate knowing a little more about Bob Casey Jr.'s plan for becoming U.S. Senator, but unfortunately he stayed away from any specific policy, aside from his plan to revise the death tax and support Plan B pills. I am looking forward to watching future debates between these two men, and hopefully Casey will be able to debate more policy instead of referring back to talking points and the Bush Administration.

For more information on Santorum's stances and facts during the debate, the campaign has set up a Debates page on their website.