Dem Campaigns at Marine Funeral

How low is the Democratic Party willing to go? How about going to a Marine funeral to campaign:

When the family of Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich gathered in Pittsburgh for the fallen Marine's funeral, they expected a large crowd – after all, they've lived in the area for generations and Joseph had been a police officer before becoming a leatherneck – but they didn't expect to see Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor show up, hand out her business card and tell them "our government" opposes the war.

Goodrich, 32, and fellow western Pennsylvanian, Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Kovacicek, 22 – both second-generation Marines – were killed in Iraq two weeks ago during a mortar attack, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Goodrich's funeral was held last Tuesday.

According to Sgt. Goodrich's sister-in-law, the church was full of those "who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives." Then, she says, "one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll."

Knoll, the first woman to achieve Pennsylvania's No. 2 position, was elected in 2002 as the running mate of current governor and fellow Democrat, Ed Rendell.

According to the fallen Marine's sister-in-law, Lt. Gov. Knoll sat down next to one of the Goodrich family members. During the distribution of communion, she leaned over and asked, "Who are you?" and gave the surprised family member her business card.

The Goodrich family is furious, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

While the church was packed with Marines and law enforcement officers in dress uniform, Rhonda Goodrich is certain the politician wasn't an invited guest.

"Knoll felt this was an appropriate time to campaign and impose her will on us. I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign."
Most upsetting, says Goodrich, was Knoll's message to the family.

"'I want you to know our government is against this war,'" Goodrich quotes the lieutenant governor.

"Our family deserves an apology," Rhonda Goodrich says. "Here you have a soldier who was killed – dying for his country – in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey's death." The family plans to ask Gov. Ed Rendell if Knoll's statement reflects his administration's position on the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This may put Dem Senate candidate Bob Casey Jr. in a tough spot. Will he denounce the actions of his party's Lt. Governor, or will he remain silent and allow the GOP to use his silence against him? It's sort of a lose-lose for Casey.