"We're Becoming a Nation of Wussies"

That is not a paraphrase of Attorney General Eric Holder. Good guess though.

No, that is Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, getting into a bit of a spat with a local Philly weatherman over the NFL's cowardly decision to cancel last night's Eagles-Vikings game because of forecasted snow, wind, and who knows what other nasty atmospheric disturbances that would have affected the playing conditions.

Rendell is right, for once in his politically misguided life. Football is a cold weather sport. Snow games in late December are to be expected. Heck, most fans hope for those games! Who doesn't like watching football in the snow?

Maybe the No Fun League is still punishing Philly fans for pelting Santa Claus and Jimmy Johnson with snowballs.

What, was that wrong?



Via The Blaze. Cross-posted.

Clueless Rendell 'Embarrassed' and 'Appalled' Pennsylvania Is Tracking Protesters

Actually, what Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell should be embarrassed and appalled by is the fact he's so out of touch he doesn't even have the slightest idea what his state's Homeland Security office is spending money on.

Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday evening that he was “embarrassed” and “appalled” that a contractor hired by the state has been tracking all sorts of “legitimate protest groups,” and that the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security then disseminated that information to law enforcement around the state in its tri-weekly intelligence bulletins.

Rendell said the contract with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, based in Philadelphia, would be not be renewed when it expires at the end of October, and until then the state would not disseminate information they supplied.

The state is charged by the federal government with determining and alerting local officials to “credible real threats to critical infrastructure.”

Instead, the Office of Homeland Security was notifying law enforcement of gay pride parades, taxpayer rallies and protests in support of the Governor’s own education policies, said Rendell.

Just imagine if a Republican governor was monitoring gay pride parades.

He said he first learned of the issue and ordered a review “this morning when I read the story in the Patriot-News.”

“Let me make this as clear as I can possibly make it,” he said. “Protesting against an idea, a principle, a process, protesting is not a real threat... Protesting is a God-given American right, a right that’s in our constitution.”

Rendell called the items included in the intelligence bulletins “absolutely ludicrous,” and he said distributing it to gas drilling companies “was against the guidelines set up for this program to begin with.”

But James Powers, the director of Homeland Security, will remain employed.

“He thought he was carrying out the federal mandate,” said Rendell. “He was wrong. He made a significant mistake.”

The governor said, “It’s easy to kick one person, but I think there’s shared responsibility here. I’m most interested in why I didn’t know... I would have stopped this on day one... Ultimately the responsibility is mine, and I’m deeply embarrassed.”

Update: For some reason the PennLive link is down. Here's an AP story.

'I Get Hit On By Women All the Time'

I can understand her denying it, but if you look like Ed Rendell you might want to retain an air of mystery just to give folks the impression you got the name Fast Eddie for a reason. Probably the best-looking babe you'll ever be linked with, so milk it, dude.

GOV. RENDELL and Kirstin Snow, a former beauty queen who heads the state's Commonwealth Media Services, deny rumors that they are having an affair, according to a story in the July issue of Philadelphia magazine.

The story by the magazine's features editor, Robert Huber, doesn't do much more than announce the rumors publicly and then allow Rendell and Snow to deny them. The story says "several prominent people" think Rendell is having an affair, but they declined to be quoted by name.
Rendell and Snow, who were interviewed for the story, declined to comment about it yesterday.

The three-page article includes a full-page portrait of a grinning Rendell seated with a smiling Snow standing behind him, resting her arms on his shoulders.

The photo was taken in October at the Commonwealth Media Services studio, in Harrisburg, when Rendell posed for the magazine's November "Power" issue. Rendell appeared alone on the cover of that issue.

Apparently Rendell fancies himself quite the chick magnet.

_ "You know, like a lot of people in politics, I get hit on by women all the time," Rendell says. "There are political groupies just like there are sports groupies. I got hit on when I was 260 every bit as much as when I'm 200."

'If I Organized a Rally for a Stronger Law to Protect Puppies, I'd Get 100,000 People at That Rally'

More Tea Party Derangement Syndrome, courtesy of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. I'm not quite sure what planet this guy is living on if he thinks the Tea Parties are getting too much credit from the media.

However, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) earlier cast the Tea Party movement in a far different light. Also appearing during the roundtable, the former head of the Democratic National Committee said the media are giving "the Tea Party too much credit."

"If I organized a rally for a stronger law to protect puppies, I'd get 100,000 people at that rally," he said. "So I think the media has blown [the Tea Party] out of proportion."

Which begs the question: Why isn't Rendell doing enough to protect puppies?

Meanwhile, Rendell's successor at the DNC is apparently suffering from delusions.

Tea Parties may end up helping Democrats, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine told 200 Organizing For America activists at an Ethiopian restaurant on Chicago’s North Side Wednesday night.

The Tea Party is built on “Anger politics - and the anger movements peter out,” said Kaine, a finalist for Obama’s vice-president.

See you in November, Timmy.

The Incredible Shrinking Democrats

Is it any wonder Barack Obama is reduced to conference calls with extremist bloggers? The public is tired of him already. Just wait until we get to the 2010 midterms and we have a national referendum on him, Reid and Pelosi. It could get ugly.

Trust in President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to identify the right solutions to problems facing the country has dropped off significantly since March, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll.

Just as Obama intensifies his efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and reach an agreement with Congress on health care reform, the number of Americans who say they trust the president has fallen from 66 percent to 54 percent. At the same time, the percentage of those who say they do not trust the president has jumped from 31 to 42.

The president’s party has taken a similar hit since the last Public Trust Monitor poll, with only 42 percent of respondents saying that they trust the Democratic Party, compared with 52 percent who do not. The party’s numbers are nearly the inverse of March’s survey, in which 52 percent said they trusted Democrats and 42 percent did not.

Meanwhile, in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell has dropped to his lowest approval ever, according to a Quinnipiac poll.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's job approval rating has shrunk to its lowest level ever, 39 - 53 percent negative, and voters see him as most responsible for the state's budget mess. Voters also reject 63 - 33 percent the Governor's call to raise the state income tax temporarily to balance the budget, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

A total of 90 percent of Pennsylvania voters think the inability of the Governor and State Legislature to come up with a budget by the June 30 deadline is a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds.

Two things can be learned from these numbers: Democrats cannot resist calling for more taxes and the public is sick of being taxed to death.

May the Democrats proceed with more taxes at their own peril. They can't say they haven't been warned.

Some call this behavior suicidal.

Break Out the Popcorn: Rendell Hammers Obama, Emanuel Runs for Cover

This is getting interesting now. You had to figure a loose cannon like Ed Rendell would be chiming in over the Rod Blagojevich scandal, and sure enough, he unleashes on Barack Obama.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell today criticized Barack Obama for not being more upfront about the Illinois corruption scandal.

Now, he said, the story will continue to dominate the media’s attention.

“They have never been in an executive position before,” Rendell said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The rule of thumb is whatever you did, say it and get it over with and make it a one-day story as opposed to a three-day story. Politicians are always misjudging the intelligence of the American people.”

Known for his blunt critiques of fellow Democrats, Rendell did not hold back during the interview.

The criminal complaint essentially exonerates Obama and his staff, Rendell said, because it quotes Blagojevich as saying the president-elect would offer him nothing but appreciation for appointing Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett to the position.

“Did Rahm Emanuel who took Rod Blagojevich’s seat in Congress have contact with Rod Blagojevich? Of course he did,” Rendell said. “They may have thought he was the craziest S.O.B. in the world. But you still have to have contact with him.”

The criminal complaint exonerates Obama and his staff because it quotes Blagojevich as saying the president-elect would offer him nothing but appreciation for appointing Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett to the position, Rendell said.

“Blagojevich curses them out,” Rendell said. “It is easy [for Obama to] just say, ‘Hey folks here it is, of course we had contact.'

"But they made the mistake of making it a four or five or six day story.”

Meanwhile, the heat is now squarely on Emanuel, who's ducking reporters and scurrying for cover. Emanuel loves the media when it portrays him as a tough guy, but now he looks like he's got something to hide and doesn't look like such a tough guy any more.

President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama "advisor" named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama's friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama's news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicago's City Hall. He was there to listen to his two children performing in a concert with their school, Anshe Emet.

A Sun-Times reporter pressed him to comment about whether he was the emissary named in the criminal complaint.

"You're wasting your time," Emanuel said. "I'm not going to say a word to you. I'm going to do this with my children. Dont do that. I'm a father. I have two kids. I'm not going to do it."

When in doubt, invoke the children.

What a worm.

Also revealed now is the fact some businessmen with ties to Jesse Jackson Jr. and Blagojevich planned a fundraiser to gather $1 million for Blagoejevich, which ostensibly would have been the payoff to the governor so he could appoint Jackson to Obama's seat.

According to a published report, businessmen with ties to both Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson discussed raising $1 million for Blagojevich as a way of persuading him to appoint Jackson to President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Citing unnamed sources, the Chicago Tribune reports in a story for Friday's editions that businessman Raghuveer Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi told attendees at an Oct. 31 meeting that they needed to raise $1 million for the governor to make sure Jackson was appointed to the Senate.

Nayak is a Blagojevich supporter who is also close to the Jackson family. Bedi has also been a Blagojevich fundraiser.

What we're witnessing this week is just the tip of the iceberg, folks. The entrenched corrupt Chicago machine is showing cracks and I suspect we're going to see corruption revealed beyyong our wildest imagination once the feds beging digging a bit deeper.

Obama can pretend he's above all of this and his media handlers will move mountains to carry water for him. But it's just not credible to believe he's clean in all this. He's the face of the Chicago machine and denying any involvement in the organization that put him where he is just isn't going to fly.

Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the link.

Rendell on Napolitano: 'She Has No Life'

Hey, Ed, tell us how you really feel.

How many times have politicians been warned about the dangers of an open microphone? And yet, on Tuesday, the lectern mic at the National Governors Conference picked up this little nugget from Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell.

He's having a conversation near the lectern about President-elect Barack Obama's choice for to lead the Homeland Security Department, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. Here is what Rendell said about Napolitano:

Rendell: Janet's perfect for that job. Because for that job, you have to have no life. Janet has no family. Perfect. She can devote, literally, 19-20 hours a day to it.

'MSNBC Was the Official Network of the Obama Campaign'

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell lets slip the obvious truth.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was supposed to give “closing remarks” during this afternoon’s Shorenstein Center-sponsored panel discussion with all three Sunday show moderators — NBC’s Tom Brokaw, ABC’s George Stephanopoulous and CBS’s Bob Schieffer — but instead, he opened up a can of worms about bias in 2008 election coverage

"Ladies and gentleman, the coverage of Barack Obama was embarrassing," said Rendell, in the ballroom at Denver's Brown Palace Hotel. "It was embarrassing."

Rendell, an ardent Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter during the primaries, now backs Obama in the general election. Brokaw and Rendell began debating campaign coverage, including the on-air comments by Lee Cowan, and when MSNBC came up, Rendell went after the cable network.

“MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign," Rendell said, who called their coverage "absolutely embarrassing."

Rendell: Pennsylvania Democrats Too Racist to Vote for Obama

Of course he doesn't come out and say it like that. He claims they're conservative.

What a jerk.

Gov. Ed Rendell, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton's most visible supporters, said some white Pennsylvanians are likely to vote against her rival Barack Obama because he is black.

"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," Rendell told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in remarks that appeared in Tuesday's paper.

To buttress his point, Rendell cited his 2006 re-election campaign, in which he defeated Republican challenger Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star, by a margin of more than 60 percent to less than 40 percent.

I don't recall seeing many Democrats voting for Swann. His support came from the GOP--you know--those who usually are the conservatives.

Schmuck.

Meanwhile, I see plenty of whites in Virginia must have voted for Obama.

Guess they're not as racist there as the Democrats in Pennsylvania.