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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Rendell says Pennsylvania won't vote for a black man

Columnist Tony Norman writing in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers this stunning revelation from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell:
"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," he said bluntly.

Our eyes only met briefly, perhaps because the governor wanted to spare the only black guy in the room from feeling self-conscious for backing an obvious loser. "I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann [2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate] been the identical candidate that he was -- well-spoken [note: Mr. Rendell did not call the brother "articulate"], charismatic, good-looking -- but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so."

I know I have a habit of sometimes zoning out in these meetings, but it sounded to me like Mr. Rendell had unilaterally declared Pennsylvania to be Alabama circa 1963. Was he suggesting that Pennsylvanians are uniquely racist in ways that folks in the states Mr. Obama has won so far aren't? By the way, Mr. Obama won Alabama on Super Tuesday, thank you very much!
Rendell, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has already endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

I'm sure Rendell is frustrated that Sen. Obama keeps beating his girl, Hillary, in state after sate, but should the governor be playing the race card?

I'm a conservative white guy and I proud to say I voted for Lynn Swann in 2006. It never occurred to me that I was voting for a black man. I thought I was voting for the best candidate for governor.

And If I were to vote in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary on April 22, I'd pick Obama over Clinton without hesitation. So where are these "conservative whites" that Rendell speaks of who would not support a black candidate?

Sounds like Rendell knows Hillary Clinton is about to lose the nomination, but he can't come to grips with reality. The racial comments were unnecessary, governor. For more on Rendell's comments, check out The New Republic and the TalkingPointsMemo blog.

Rendell is one of those "super delegates" we keep hearing so much about. Those are the party establishment and most of them are backing Hillary Clinton. What will Rendell do if Obama wins Pennsylvania? Will he go against the will of the voters?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

The media is partially to blame with what is going on within the Democratic party. I’m disappointed at the overwhelmingly biased approach most news organizations have taken in regards to the current democratic Presidential race. It is obvious they are pushing Obama no matter what. Isn't the media supposed to be somewhat objective? Aren’t we (the public) supposed to make up our minds by ourselves as to who is the best candidate? Why aren’t they reporting information such like:
http://thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/09/pacs_and_lobbyists_aided_obamas_rise/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03exelon.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://obamatruth.org/
They throw trash at every other candidate while painting Obama as a saint. Well saints shouldn’t be in politics. All I’m asking is for unbiased news….not partisan opinions.

BTW check out “Beating a Dead Donkey” on http://www.savagepolitics.com

Anonymous said...

Give it a rest, Elsylee. Hillary is very well known and has been in the public eye since 1992. We know her; we just don't like her. She is going down in flames and there is nothing she can do about it.

Unknown said...

That may be so. I'm fine with that. All I'm saying is that both candidates have dirt....The media has painted Obama as clean-preaher type politician. That doesn't exist or survives in Washington.
Not to mention that people that want to get a Dem in the WH should consider. I doubt Obama will win a general election against McCain. I'm not sure Hillary can either but I believe she has more of a chance.

Anonymous said...

"I doubt Obama will win a general election against McCain. I'm not sure Hillary can either but I believe she has more of a chance."

The polls seem to show otherwise: Obama leads McCain but McCain leads Hillary. What you may be overlooking is that there are Republicans and independents who either like or are indifferent to Obama but who HATE HATE HATE Hillary and will turn out to vote against her i.e. for McCain. Personally, I am undecided between McCain or Obama and I think either one of them would do an OK job, but I find the thought of President Hilary Clinton frightening at multiple levels.

By the way, when I reread my previous post, it “read” a little nastier than I intended, and I do apologize.

Anonymous said...

operative words are .."think"..."some" "probably not ready" - and there is not a state in this union that that would not apply to - as for Hillary in the White House, my feeling as a feminist is that any woman who was/is willing to be "a first lady" in this day and age does not deserve our consideration for President - in addition the first female president should be just that...not Hillary who is merely giving Bill another term.