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Tom Carper on Principles & Values

Democratic Sr Senator (DE)

 


We need bridge-builders in Washington

Carper, the incumbent, said he has worked across the aisle to accomplish things in Delaware. "We need bridge-builders in Washington," Carper said. "We need leaders who don't build themselves up by tearing other people down."
Source: Cape Gazette on 2012 Delaware Senate debate , Oct 19, 2012

Rumors about my health are "baloney" and "hogwash"

Alex Pires continued his assault on Tom Carper, asserting that the incumbent had a hidden illness he wasn't disclosing to voters.

Carper responded by pointing to a doctor's letter posted to his website 2 days before stating that the senator's "overall health is good."

The moderator initiated the conversation, asking Pires to explain why he would question the senator's health, after Pires first raised the health issue in July. "If Tom Carper is emotionally and mentally healthy, he would end it by putting his health records out," Pires said, saying the senator has had trouble focusing during public events and suggesting Carper would step down soon after re-election.

Carper responded, calling the the issue "baloney," adding that "we'd do well to focus on the health of our economy and finances."

In an interview following the debate, Carper said rumors that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's or a form of dementia is "hogwash. It's nonsense."

Source: Delmarva Daily Times on 2012 Del. Senate debate , Oct 17, 2012

2000: Twenty debates are "the Delaware way"

Kevin Wade, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, is challenging Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) to a series of "twenty debates or thirty debates" in the upcoming campaign. He issued the challenge on WDEL radio Friday afternoon.

Wade said that Carper challenged then-incumbent senator William V. Roth (R-DE) to a series of twenty debates statewide in 2000. Carper defeated Roth in that election, and called the debate challenge "the Delaware way."

"There are 880,000 people in the state that have questions they'd like to ask of Senator Carper" Wade said during his call-in to a popular Wilmington radio program. "Maybe we can get 500 at a time into a room and get the questions asked and he can describe his vision from his 35-year incumbency standpoint," he continued.

Wade described Carper as "silent Tom down in the Senate." He said the debates in 2000, which he referred to as "the Carper rule," were a good idea then and are a good idea now. "Good ideas don't age," he said.

Source: Delaware Republican Examiner on 2012 Delaware Senate debates , May 26, 2012

I’ve built bipartisan coalitions in the US Senate

In the US Senate, what I’ve done is to build bipartisan coalitions, not only to address global warming, but to clean up our air. I’ve built bipartisan coalitions to better educate our children and introduce market forces into our schools. Bipartisan coalitions to bring Amtrak and the Postal Service into the 21st century. Bipartisan coalitions to build a foreign policy that’s strong and tough. My job in the Senate is to get people to work with each other. We’re need more people like that, not less.
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV , Oct 20, 2006

Voted YES on confirming of Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. In her opening statement, Judge Sotomayor pledged a "fidelity to the law:"
"In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law--it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress's intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."
Reference: Supreme Court Nomination; Bill PN506 ; vote number 2009-S262 on Aug 6, 2009

Voted NO on confirming Samuel Alito as Supreme Court Justice.

Vote on the Nomination -- a YES vote would to confirm Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Reference: Alito Nomination; Bill PN 1059 ; vote number 2006-002 on Jan 31, 2006

Voted YES on confirming John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Vote on the Nomination (Confirmation John G. Roberts, Jr., of Maryland, to be Chief Justice of the United States )
Reference: Supreme Court Nomination of John Roberts; Bill PN 801 ; vote number 2005-245 on Sep 27, 2005

Religious affiliation: Presbyterian.

Carper : religious affiliation:

The Adherents.com website is an independent project and is not supported by or affiliated with any organization (academic, religious, or otherwise).

What’s an adherent?

The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.

Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.

Source: Adherents.com web site 00-ADH5 on Nov 7, 2000

Supports Hyde Park Declaration of "Third Way" centrism.

Carper adopted the manifesto, "A New Politics for a New America":

As New Democrats, we believe in a Third Way that rejects the old left-right debate and affirms America’s basic bargain: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and community of all.