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Their view: Why Facebook is afraid of Mueller

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Threats on social media cause area school districts to react

<p>It&#8217;s been clear for years that U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has been fighting the image critics prefer to project onto him: &#8220;Do-Nothing.&#8221;</p><p>Casey regularly touts his own legislative accomplishments, often with &#8220;bipartisan&#8221; attached. It was no exception when he stopped by to talk to Times Leader staff Monday.</p><p>&#8220;We have charts!&#8221; he smiled as his aids set up one large one and handed out folders with a healthy dose of data from his tenure.</p><p>And the truth is that to any but the most adamant partisan, the evidence is pretty clear: Casey may not be the most persuasive speaker or charismatic campaigner, but to call the two-term incumbent from Scranton &#8220;do-nothing&#8221; is disingenuous at best.</p><p>He touted 40 pieces of legislation enacted into law, savings for prescription medications for seniors, progress in fully funding promised health insurance to miners and their widows, and helping pass a federal plan for babies born opioid-dependent.</p><p>The merit of his accomplishments and his importance in getting those things done will be legitimate grounds for debate as his campaign for a third term ramps up. And with staunch Donald Trump supporter Lou Barletta, a U.S. representative, running for a crack at being the Republican senate opponent in November, this election is likely to be as much a referendum on Trump as it is a vote of confidence on Casey.</p><p>But there is an important aspect of Casey that comes out best &#8212; and perhaps only &#8212; when you talk to him in person, and it is likely precisely why opponents get away with the &#8220;do-nothing&#8221; label: He is not strident in defending his actions, he is not inflexible in pushing his agenda. He talks, in short, the language of a moderate ready to compromise.</p><p>He peppers his comments with things like &#8220;There are lots of ways,&#8221; &#8220;We have to figure out,&#8221; and &#8220;I don&#8217;t think there is one bill, but there are lots of things we can do.&#8221;</p><p>There is validity to the criticism that Casey&#8217;s solutions tend to require more government spending, and that he is short on details as to where the money should come from in a nation running massive annual deficits for decades. But he rightly notes Republicans, unlike Democrats, talk incessantly about eliminating deficits but routinely make them worse once they gain real power.</p><p>&#8220;The difference is <em>our</em> party doesn&#8217;t go all &#8216;holier than though&#8217;, saying &#8216;deficits are terrible!&#8217; and then give tax cuts that add to the deficit,&#8221; he said.</p><p>True enough, but <em>how</em> you get to budget-busting annual deficits probably shouldn&#8217;t be as important as figuring out the right way to break the habit.</p><p>This is not an endorsement of Casey &#8212; while Barletta is the likely opponent, that won&#8217;t be settled until the primary results. But as the election progresses it behooves voters to ignore the inevitable blanket attacks and to listen closer to the two-term incumbent. He is not far left, he has not been idle, and an argument can be made that he is the type of candidate needed to break the hyper-partisan logjam paralyzing Washington, and our nation.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">U.S. Senator Bob Casey speaks about progress  made last year and the hope for progress in the future. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022018Casey2-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>U.S. Senator Bob Casey speaks about progress  made last year and the hope for progress in the future. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>

Our view: ‘Do-nothing’ label unfair to Casey