Is Democratic Sen. Bob Casey still pro-life? He ran as a pro-life Democrat in Pennsylvania last year and knocked off pro-life stalwart Senator Rick Santorum.

Last Thursday Casey voted for an amendment by Sen. Sam Brownback to preserve the federal government’s so-called Mexico City policy, which prohibits the granting of federal funds to overseas groups that refer and perform abortions.

Twenty minutes earlier, however, Casey voted for an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer that not only overturned the Mexico City policy, but also increased funding for overseas groups that perform and refer abortions.

Is Bob Casey schizophrenic or just without a spine?

This week Casey put an end to the suspense as to where he stood. He went to the floor of the Senate and announced that on the Brownback amendment, “it was my intention to vote ‘nay.’ That is pro-abortion position.

Casey is now showing his true colors. He will clearly do what the party tells him.

Casey spokesperson, Larry Smar, attempted to be cute by saying Casey did not support direct public funding of abortion. In fact the money funds groups that perform and refer abortions. Clearly a distinction without a difference.

Senator Brownback made it clear on the Senate floor by saying, “Many who support abortion question whether it should be used for family planning purposes, which these funds are designated to be used for…We should not force American taxpayers to subsidize organizations that perform or actively promote abortion.”

Some pro-life Democrats including Sen. Ben Nelson stood up against party leadership and voted against the funding.

Casey’s spokesperson came out and said, “Senator Casey supports measures that will reduce the number of abortions,” he wrote. “Providing support for family planning will reduce the number of abortions.”

This is starting to sound an awful lot like the Clinton mantra “safe, legal and rare.”

As someone who has been a spokesperson for politicians let me assure you that spokespersons are sent out when you don’t want the politician quoted saying something that could hurt him. Casey has hid from the press on this issue. He’s sending out spokespeople and they’re busy cultivating and massaging the language to use that will not anger the party leadership while still pretending to be pro-life.

The question is whether Bob Casey can still be considered pro-life. To make this clear Casey voted to not only to make abortion easily available, but also to send taxpayers’ money to abortion organizations overseas.

Shame on Bob Casey. Casey’s father was a pro-life Governor of Pennsylvania. He was shunned in the party for his pro-life position and was infamously not allowed to speak at the 1992 Democratic Convention because of it. The young Senator has this week shamed his family’s name.

Hypocrisy seems to be the story de jour of the Ordinary Ministers of the Media. Larry Craig’s bathroom stunt was grist for the media mill for weeks because he was opposed to gay marriage. Hypocrisy from Casey will go unchallenged, however.

But maybe we should’ve seen this coming all along when, in a debate last year with Sen. Santorum, Casey showed how little he’d thought out his position. Here’s the transcript:

Question: The FDA has said that Plan B, the morning-after pill, can be sold over the counter. Are you in favor?
SANTORUM: No, I’m not. I agree that it is an abortifacient, and that it’s dangerous to give a dose of hormones equivalent to one third of a whole series of birth control pills to someone without any kind of doctor supervision.
CASEY: Yes, I’m in favor. I think what emergency contraception is contraception.
Q: But you do believe life begins at conception?
CASEY: I do.
Q: If this was fertilized, would you call it abortion?
CASEY: The science is clear on this. It is contraception, and I support it. I think we’ve got to make it widely available, and I think that’s one of the ways we reach common ground on the very tough issue of abortion: emergency contraception can reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies. That’s what we should emphasize.
SANTORUM: The science is clear. In fact, it is an abortifacient in certain circumstances.

Enough said. Casey is clearly pro-life in name only. His theology has been tainted by his ambition. His morality is a shrewd political construct. His rhetoric confuses rather than illuminates. Bob Casey is a politician in the worst sense. Nothing else.