Pennsylvania...out of site out of mind nationally? (Philadelphia, York: transfer, train)

[pman]

Originally Posted by cwa1984

Agreed. Regardless of your political affiliation PA can't be run like a blue state or a red state. PA is one of if not the most moderate states in the nation. Between the big two Philly and Pittsburgh and all of the rural areas and small cities like Harrisburg and Scranton you need bipartisanship to make PA work. Corbett did fail to grasp that when he came to power and that is a reason why he is the first one term governor in decades. Hopefully Wolf doesn't make that mistake and does work with the Republican controlled legislature. PA needs pragmatic leadership not ideological leadership.

Corbett wasn't ideological leadership. I have to disagree with your assessment entirely. He lost because he was a poor leader, unable to effectively communicate with voters and even work with his own party. Most importantly private sector job growth was abysmal. Bipartisan ship is nothing more than a catch phrase, typically bipartisan issues are bad for the state. Both parties have agreed on kicking the can down the road for decades and now we're at the end of the road. The bill for overly generous benefits is coming due while the state struggles with high taxes and low growth. What we need isn't just bipartisan ship but competence.

[ny789987]

Originally Posted by pman

Corbett wasn't ideological leadership.

Wasn't he the same guy that equated gay marriage to incest? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to gay marriage, but throwing out such a controversial, red meat statement when you are governing a middle of the road, purple state shows bad judgement IMO. He communicated his ideological beliefs loud and clear to voters and that is why he was booted out of office. Any leader that strays too far to the left or right will lose public support in a moderate state such as PA.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by pman

Corbett wasn't ideological leadership. I have to disagree with your assessment entirely. He lost because he was a poor leader, unable to effectively communicate with voters and even work with his own party.

I agree with you on this - I think Corbett is actually more moderate than he was made out to be (despite his poor communication/phrasing skills), but there's no denying that Republican Party leadership in the General Assembly has definitely taken a sharp turn to the right.

Wolf has indicated that he will do his best to work across the aisle. The onus is really on Republican leadership to be receptive to this and not subscribe to obstructionism to score political points.

[cwa1984]

Originally Posted by pman

Corbett wasn't ideological leadership. I have to disagree with your assessment entirely. He lost because he was a poor leader, unable to effectively communicate with voters and even work with his own party. Most importantly private sector job growth was abysmal. Bipartisan ship is nothing more than a catch phrase, typically bipartisan issues are bad for the state. Both parties have agreed on kicking the can down the road for decades and now we're at the end of the road. The bill for overly generous benefits is coming due while the state struggles with high taxes and low growth. What we need isn't just bipartisan ship but competence.

That wasn't really what I was getting at. I should've been more clear on it though. My point was him p***ing off democratic leadership when he first came to office and when he had a falling out in his own party he was essentially left impotent in part due to that. Like I said it was one reason he was a one term governor and his overall leadership did play a major role. I will disagree with you about bipartanship since PA goes back and forth between democrat and republican rule you need to able to work across the isle to get things done. The ideological part I throw in there is more to do with someone like Rick Santorum who is very ideological and someone like him can't run the state effectively because of there ideology and lack of practicality.

Originally Posted by ny789987

Wasn't he the same guy that equated gay marriage to incest? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to gay marriage, but throwing out such a controversial, red meat statement when you are governing a middle of the road, purple state shows bad judgement IMO. He communicated his ideological beliefs loud and clear to voters and that is why he was booted out of office. Any leader that strays too far to the left or right will lose public support in a moderate state such as PA.

He said somethings that weren't to bright to say. I forget if he did say something like that or not though.

[bradjl2009]

I actually do think for being the 6th largest state in the county, Pennsylvania doesn't get as much attention in many ways compared to other states of the same size or even smaller.

[Ohiogirl81]

People naturally most attention to what's nearest to them. If you don't live in Pennsylvania, what goes on there doesn't affect you much.

The idea of "out of sight, out of mind" is rather preposterous and seems somewhat defensive, and quite irrationally so.

Unless you mean Pennsylvania is "outtasite", and it's not that, either.

[cwa1984]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

The idea of "out of sight, out of mind" is rather preposterous and seems somewhat defensive, and quite irrationally so.

I'm not quite understanding this line of thinking in regards to the topic. As I stated earlier PA just tends to get overlooked. When people talking about the history of the country PA even gets overlooked even though a lot of nation defining moments happened in PA. I'm not mad or upset about it I just find it odd. I also mention if it's a good thing or not that PA doesn't get a lot of attention like New York, Texas, or California. PA tends to be one of the most liked nations in polls vs New York, Texas, California, etc.

[pman]

Originally Posted by ny789987

Wasn't he the same guy that equated gay marriage to incest? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to gay marriage, but throwing out such a controversial, red meat statement when you are governing a middle of the road, purple state shows bad judgement IMO. He communicated his ideological beliefs loud and clear to voters and that is why he was booted out of office. Any leader that strays too far to the left or right will lose public support in a moderate state such as PA.

Yep that's him but you're dead wrong for why he was booted. It's mainly the states awful private sector job creation and rising pension obligations that have people in a vice. Corbett was unable to communicate solutions or work with his own party. He had a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth as well. Even when he was right he had a way of coming off wrong.
Dude ring - I don't subscribe to the idea that corruption equals moderation. In both cases the leadership changes appear to be good moves. Harrisburg s biggest problem isn't partisanship but incompetence.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by cwa1984

I got to ask do you think PA being out of site out of mind is because Pennsylvanians prefer to be quiet vs loud like other states such as California, New York, and Texas. We tend to be one of the more liked states in the union maybe because we are more quiet perhaps? Are we just legitimately unknown? Not so much to the rest of the country but to the rest of the world? It seems outside of the Amish and Philadelphia when I've talked to people from other countries they are completely clueless about our state. Or is Pennsylvania just ignored? When talking about the History of the United States I've seen people bring up New England and New York but in reality it was PA that had the moments that heavily defined our nation compared to New England or New York. Yet PA is hardly brought up. So I wonder if is it just plain ignorance on the part of other people.

Anyway with that all said do you think PA being out of site out of mind is a good thing or a bad thing? If it's a bad thing do you think the state should be more vocal? If not do you think the state should stay relatively not vocal or should we try to be even quieter?

You mention California, Texas and New York as being relatively well-known states outside the U.S. I would also throw Florida into this category, but would eliminate New York, as I believe it's NYC and not NY state that carries global notoriety. Given that, I would imagine PA is no more or less known globally than Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Washington, or fill in the blank. At least as I see things, it's the more negative aspects of Florida, Texas and California that are well known as compared with any of their positive attributes. For example, California is known for its mudslides and earthquakes, Florida is known for its shooting of unarmed black teenagers and Texas is known for Rick Perry. We should probably be thankful that the Jerry Sandusky case didn't garner as much global attention to PA as it might have.

So, I'm curious how a "state" could be more vocal and generate more fame for itself? What would you suggest?

[cwa1984]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

So, I'm curious how a "state" could be more vocal and generate more fame for itself? What would you suggest?

As far as the state government goes PA loves it's back room deals and we aren't ideological or moralistic in making decisions for the most part compared to others so honestly I don't know. As I stated previously to I'm not sure it's bad thing PA doesn't get much attention. Maybe it's better that Pennsylvania isn't more well known. I just pointed out it's a little surprising when you think about it considering the contributions the state and Pennsylvanians have made to the country and nation defining events happening in PA.