APBOSTON - Now Curt Schilling has a political platform.
The former Red Sox pitcher, who has expressed interest in running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Edward M. Kennedy for almost 50 years before he died last month, laid out his credentials on Saturday as an independent who has supported both Republicans and Democrats.
In a blog post titled “What I Believe,” Schilling said he supports gun owners but wants restrictions on assault weapons and wouldn’t allow convicted felons to own guns. He described himself as pro-life, with exceptions, and anti-gay marriage but said both should be left up to the states.
“I have no idea if I’ll even do this, but if by some slim chance I do it won’t be a joke, and it won’t be for laughs,” he wrote on his blog, 38pitches.com. “These are deadly serious times at home and abroad and this country absolutely has to elect public servants who don’t head to Washington with an ’Out of sight out of mind’ approach to us living back home.”
A three-time World Series champion who relished the limelight — and flourished in it — Schilling’s place in Red Sox history was secured in the 2004 playoffs when he took the mound despite an ankle injury that left blood seeping through his sock and helped the franchise end an 86-year title drought. Days later, he went on national TV to urge everyone to vote, “and vote Bush.”
Schilling, who also won a title with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 and again with the Red Sox in ’07, stumped for Republican John McCain in 2008. But he said he also voted for Bill Clinton, a Democrat, because “I’ve always tried to vote for the right team more so than the right person.”
“I believed in Dick Cheney, I believed in Colin Powell, I believed in Condoleezza Rice,” Schilling wrote. “I voted as much, if not more, for the team President Bush had assembled as I ever did for the man.”
Kennedy, who was first elected to the Senate in 1962, died last month of brain cancer at age 77. A primary is scheduled for Dec. 8 and the general election will be Jan. 19.
Democrats Stephen Lynch, a congressman from South Boston, and state Attorney General Martha Coakley had taken out nominating papers in anticipation of a run. Other potential candidates include Kennedy’s nephew, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, and Reps. Michael Capuano, Edward Markey and John Tierney.
Schilling, 42, whose voter status is unenrolled, would have to run as an independent.
Schilling said if he ran it would be for one term only, “and then only to do everything in my power to rid this state of the tired and unethical people that have run it into the ground and help it begin the healing process, and once again become a thriving state to live and work in.”
“To be clear I have no ambition to enter into a life of politics, or to be a career politician, none,” he wrote. “I am flattered that some people felt I’d be the right person for this.”
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“But I also know I’m watching many people with those exact credentials run this state, and this country, into the ground,” he wrote. “You don’t need either to serve the people of the commonwealth, what you need is an unbridled and unattached passion to change peoples lives for the better. You need to not be beholden to all of those groups that offer the ’we pay now, you pay later’ handout.”
In expressing his support “absolutely for the 2nd Amendment,” Schilling also criticized “special interest and lobbyists that we have completely sacrificed the safety and well being of the individual American citizen,” putting police officers at risk.
He expressed a desire for lower taxes but called them “the cost of being able to live in this country and I’ve never had a problem with that.” However, he complained that corrupt state politicians had squandered taxpayer money, asking “How in the hell is this state broke?”
“How in the hell has a state with supposedly as intelligent a voter base as Massachusetts allowed itself to be run into the ground by entrenched and often times corrupt ’me first’ politicians? ... Is there a larger breach of trust outside the family bond than that? Why have we allowed it to get this far, and why would we even consider allowing that to continue?”
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Video |
Schilling making pitch for Senate seat? Sept. 3: Sideshow: The politically conservative former Red Sox pitcher may run for Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat as an Independent. |
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