In case you missed it, Governor Rendell made some highly racially charged comments to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in reference to Senator Obama and Rendell’s opinion of how Pennsylvania voters will react to him. Here’s the recap:
You’ve got conservative whites here … who are not ready to vote for an African American candidate. I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann been the identical candidate that he was — well-spoken, charismatic, good-looking but white instead of black — that instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so. I think there was that factor there. And that exists, but on the other hand, that’s counterbalanced by Obama’s ability to bring new voters into the electoral pool.
After the fact, Rendell defended his comments:
I regret saying it because of the way it was interpreted. Remember — I always tell the truth. Maybe I’m wrong, but I tell what my experience has taught me.
Wow. Where to begin? To summarize, Rendell thinks that some Pennsylvanians are racist and won’t vote for a black guy. That’s how he feels about it, and he always speaks the truth. To be fair, some Pennsylvanians are racist and probably won’t vote for Obama because of his race. As I understand it, Pennsylvania is one of the few remaining states with active branches of the KKK. So sure, I’ll give him that point; Pennsylvania, unfortunately, does have some racists. I’d imagine that every state does. But, Rendell, you shouldn’t have said that.
And you really shouldn’t have followed it up with your analysis of your campaign with Lynn Swan. From his comments, we are to believe that 5% of Rendell’s votes in the last election were because the other guy was black. On other words, Rendell thinks that 5% of Pennsylvania voters are racist. There is no proof of that, and, in saying so, our governor slapped the face of all Pennsylvanians.
Barack Obama has united people and put up big numbers across the country in a diverse array of states: northern and southern, coastal and inland, urban and rural, diverse and homogeneous. Rendell doesn’t think he is up to the task for Pennsylvania. I can’t wait for Senator Obama to prove him wrong and win Pennsylvania in both the primary and general election.
February 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm
“As banks backed away from the market, failed auctions have left holders unable to sell the securities and boosted interest costs for borrowers from cities to hospitals. An unsuccessful auction almost doubled seven-day borrowing costs on $15 million of bonds sold by Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania to 14 percent.”
Since Grandpa Moses hasn’t started his “new, improved” blog yet, he doesn’t have a forum to announce the above development yet. However, as far as he can tell, it is being ignored locally. If you have a network, could you have pass this little tidbit along so we get news of it locally. Regretfully, it doesn’t seem to have generated any coverage locally, but Grandpa Moses found it on on Bloomberg News. Our locals are getting fleeced by the Bush real estate crash and there is no one around to pass along the news. Except Grandpa Moses, who stays on top of a lot of things.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.zb0Ize8aEM&refer=home
Sincerely,
Grandpa Moses
February 21, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Josh,
My name is Justin Kunkel and I’m the editor of a new website called spotobe.com that is focused on culture, nightlife and entertainment in Central, PA. The site doesn’t launch for another month but once it does I think it will have a lot to offer and I’d love to talk to you about it. Send me an email to the address I entered when you get a chance. I look forward to talking to you.
-J.K.