Day 21: Mike Castle’s Betrayal of Delaware

Filed in Delaware by on February 18, 2009

El Somnambulo is proud to present 1,577,219,319 reasons why Mike Castle has betrayed the public trust and has dishonored both his office and himself.

In his Rosemary Woods-like contortions to explain away his vote against President Obama’s economic stimulus package, Castle somehow never got around to explaining how Delaware and its citizens would benefit from the package.

Today’s News-Journal provides a detailed breakdown of how the $1.577 billion dollars that Delaware is projected to receive will likely be utilized.

In his desire to remain out of the casita del perro of John Boehner and Eric Cantor, Mike Castle voted to deny Delaware:
$46 million for clean energy programs
$179 million for infrastructure improvements
$106 million for education
$213 million to rescue workers hit by the economy
$420 million to save public services and to close Delaware’s budget shortfall
$612 million in tax cuts.

El Somnambulo highly recommends that you go to p. A2 of today’s News-Journal to see even more specific breakdowns. Anyone with a conscience will be enraged at Castle’s dismissal of the desperate needs of the people he is pledged to serve. Does anybody really believe that, were he still Governor, Castle would send this money back to Washington?

By placing mindless party discipline (maybe he just likes getting disciplined…) ahead of solving the dire economic emergency that he and his party created, Castle has forfeited any rightful claim to continue in public service. If he had any remaining pride, he would resign.

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  1. Unstable Isotope says:

    Hey ‘Bulo! I don’t know how Castle can look at himself in the mirror. I think he must really be insulated in the DC bubble, so he’s probably still patting himself on the back for being a Republican’t.

    Are you going to have a schadenfreude moment today because I read the Hummer is going bye bye. It will not be missed! Plus, Bush and Cheney are at odds over Scooter Libby. I hope they all write their memoirs and point the fingers at each other. Do you think Libby knows the most damaging info about Cheney?

  2. jason330 says:

    The list of things that Castle voted against is massive.

    Renewable energy jobs – Castle voted NO
    Highway Bulding jobs – Castle voted NO
    Water Managment jobs – Castle voted NO
    Teachers & Schools – Castle voted NO
    Helping unemployed with interest on loans – Castle voted NO
    Rebulding affordable housing – Castle voted NO
    Child Support Enforcement – Castle voted NO
    Helping Seniors and Vets – Castle voted NO

    The list goes on and on and Castle voted NO, for what? So Boehner could have a talking point.

  3. The D’s, specifically John Dingell, were, in large part, responsible for the Hummer, SUV’s, mini-vans and the like, by creating loopholes that made minimal EPA mileage requirements utterly ineffective. The D’s have overthrown Dingell and put Henry Waxman in charge of the House Energy Committee, and that’s a real boost for energy efficiency. Ironically, in defending the Big Three from efficient fuel standards, Dingell may have done more to kill America’s auto industry than anybody.

    And, yes, El Somnambulo is enjoying the Bush/Cheney/Libby soap opera, although he thinks it is largely posturing on Cheney’s part to somehow discourage Libby from spilling the refried beans on big Dick.

  4. Bill Dunn says:

    I believe that the Dem’s are going to have people falling over themselves vying to run against him this time….. and, I think they’ll bring a little more to the game than Mike Miller and KHN.

  5. anon says:

    No matter what happens Mike Castle will never be part of a Republican majority again… so how much effort will they put into defending his seat?

  6. cassandra m says:

    I really hope that Bill’s prediction in #4 is true. Should I be concerned that I don’t really see anybody making any moves yet, though?

  7. Cass, El Somnambulo thinks that, by laying out Castle’s record, strong D’s will be emboldened to run. That’s the purpose of this thread. And one has to think that Carney is in. If that’s the worst that happens, it’s still an improvement over Castle.

  8. Perry says:

    I think either Carney or Biden could beat Castle. Spivak is another possibility. How about Karen Peterson, or Pete Schwartzkopf, or John Kowalko? We have plenty of good Dems who could be considered.

    These issues being assembled here are powerful, and will be very useful for any Dem candidacy against Castle, whose true colors are more obvious than ever!

  9. Unstable Isotope says:

    Cass,

    I know for sure there’s at least one guy making moves, because he came to talk to PDD. I’m not sure if he’s making it public yet, but he’s not a well-known name (he could be a great candidate, the jury is out).

  10. liz says:

    Any candidate who wants to run better have a about $500,000 at the very least. Unless you have the banking/creditcard/insurance company/big pharma/and the Jewish Community Center on your side…hang it up.

  11. AFSME says:

    “I think they’ll bring a little more to the game than Mike Miller and KHN” .

    and sure, more than you brought to your milquetoast run for Council President?

  12. h. says:

    You really hate jews , don’t you Liz?

  13. Don’t make El Somnambulo press the delete button…

    Please take personal feuds elsewhere.

  14. nemski says:

    Agree with El Som on this one.

  15. anon says:

    El Som… Please tell me you are speaking only about the anti-Semitic comment at 11:34.

    I would hate to think that commenters who call out anti-Semites are considered to be co-equal participants in a “feud.”

    I see the anti-Semitic comment went unanswered… but the comment calling it out was answered in two minutes. For now I will be content to assume that was just an accident of timing; you guys can’t be patrolling every five minutes.

  16. xstryker says:

    I’m assuming they’re talking about Liz and AFSME? I was going to say more or less the same thing “h.” did.

  17. El Somnambulo is Jewish so, yes, that’s what raised concern. He should’ve been more specific in his response.

  18. pandora says:

    I should have paid more attention, but I’ve honestly gotten into the habit of not reading certain posters comments.

    Call it… self preservation. I’ll try and do better.