With Friends Like This, Hillary Needs no Enemies


Click here to get Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority by Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan.

Open mouth, insert foot:

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.

So, what Rendell is saying is that white Democrats are racists and just as they put him into the governor’s mansion, they’ll also put Hillary over the top in Pennsylvania.

Anyone out there know of an even stupider statement in campaign ‘08?

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Mark Noonan is co-author (with Matt Margolis) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at Nevada News and Views. Follow Mark on Twitter.


21 Responses to “With Friends Like This, Hillary Needs no Enemies”

  1. LiberalMind says:

    Deleted – off topic; the topic is actually stupid statements, not just what you want to be stupid because you are a blind partisan…

  2. So, do you think Obama will continue to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq or will he pull out immediately?

  3. Adrian says:

    Anyone out there know of an even stupider statement in campaign ‘08?

    Not yet, but there’s quite a way to go yet. This one will be tough to beat.

  4. Darva Conger says:

    I care not what idiot Rendell said. He is just one Clinton supporter. My candidate is Obama.

  5. phil says:

    Mark,

    Anybody who won’t vote for Obama because he is black is an idiot. Anybody who twists Rendell’s words “I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate” into “Rendell is saying is that white Democrats are racists” is an even greater idiot.

  6. Brian (Boston) says:

    If you read what you quoted he says that conservatives, not Democrats, may not be ready to vote for a black person.

  7. Sunny says:

    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,

    Mark – Just once, please report fairly. He did not say that white Democrats were racist and would not vote for an African-American. He said that “you’ve got CONSERVATIVE whites . . ” I guess you missed the word conservative. And I suppect he is correct about the conservative whites. You have some posters right on this board that are very disprespectful to Barack Obama, using names to describe him that are truly racist. Won’t mention the names of those posters at this time, but I’ll bet you can guess who they are.

  8. John Ryan says:

    Mark really you have to be careful about what you say: you can’t just make up your own meanings and hope that they will not go unchallenged.

  9. sleepygene says:

    Mike Huckabee… paraphrasing “I don’t believe in evolution.”

    This is not as stupid as Rendell, but close.

  10. Obama2008 says:

    The stupidest statement in this campaigning season is the attack that Democrats winning would help terrorists

    Mitt Romney said it when he said “In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

    Well since the democrats in congress have given Bush all the money he asks for, how are they surrendering? Obama never said he would take all troops out of Iraq immediately

    I guess you want McCain who want to stay there for 100 years.

  11. Sara says:

    Rendell is just being honest. I’m originally from Pennsylvania and have most of my family still there in and around the Pittsburgh area. After years living in the world of the color blind military and in California, I was shocked at the attitudes of some in my own family when I was back there 2 years ago for a big reunion. They still talk about “those coloreds.” It is not so much in the younger generations, but there is very much an attitude in the older generations. Would they think they are racist? No, they don’t think they are. They see themselves as realistic, solid church goers, and good citizens.

    Rendell knows his own state and I’m sure he knows this attitude is prevalent about “coloreds.” I think he even used that term, which is a dead give-away. My own Uncle, who died this past year and who was one of the sweetest men I’ve known, said to me about Lynn Swann, “I love the guy. He’s one of the greatest ever. I’d love to go out and have a drink with him and talk the night away. But, coloreds shouldn’t try to be politicians.” This is the attitude Rendell knows about and warns about.

  12. Kahn says:

    phil – I agree with you 100% Someone who wouldn’t vote for someone because he’s black is stupid.

    Is voting for someone because he’s black equally as stupid? Yes.

    Democrats see people as part of groups. White, black, male, female, gay, gay hater, etc.

    Republicans tend to see people as individuals.

    Attack it now liberals, I expect it.

  13. Sara says:

    #10 – Obama is sadly under informed about Iraq. Just last week he said one of the first things he’d do is get the UN to force them to get a Constitution. I guess he is totally unaware that Iraq approved their Constitution in August 2005 and accepted it by referendum in Oct 2005 along with a process to amend it. How can you trust someone that clueless?

    ..in an effort to get Iraq’s political leaders to resolve the political disagreements at the heart of their civil war, I would work with the United Nations to call a constitutional convention in Iraq, using aggressive diplomacy to get the neighbors to back that convention and stop the flow of weapons and terrorists into Iraq.

    Obama 2/5/2008

  14. phil says:

    Kahn,

    At least as it relates to the Bush Administration and the dear departed Republican Congressional Majority I can agree with your statement on Republicans as long as you complete your sentence as follows: “Republicans tend to see people as individuals to be exploited”

    And since we liberals are so eager to put people into groups, which group are you in? My guess is that you are in the group that loves stem cells (except for the gay ones), or perhaps the group that endorses the Bush energy policy of giving Exxon Mobil a $2 billion tax cut in a year that they generated a $40 Billion profit while the rest of us get screwed. Am I close?

  15. Casper says:

    Kahn,

    “I agree with you 100% Someone who wouldn’t vote for someone because he’s black is stupid.

    Is voting for someone because he’s black equally as stupid? Yes.”

    I agree that voting or not voting for someone because of race or is equally stupid.

  16. Casper says:

    “Anyone out there know of an even stupider statement in campaign ‘08?”

    I’d have to say it makes the top ten so far.

  17. Mark Noonan says:

    John,

    What is stupid about it is saying it at all – and this is still the primary season and Pennsylvania’s primary is still to come…his statement can only be in reference to the upcoming primary, not the general election; ergo, Obama’s problem, per Rendell, is conservative, white Democrats who might not vote for him because he’s black. But still – just to say it is stupid.

    There were 10,000 other things Rendell could have said, but he had to pull out the one idiot thing which will actually harm his chosen candidate…

  18. Ricorun says:

    Mark: his statement can only be in reference to the upcoming primary, not the general election

    Then explain his reference to his run against Lynn Swann, which was a general election. That, plus the fact that he also referred to “conservative whites”, indicates that he was referring to the general election. However, like you said, his comment it isn’t likely to help Clinton in the primary.

  19. phnx says:

    Sara is correct, Rendell’s comments may offend, but they are true. Anyone who thinks otherwise is being naive. The statement applies to republicans, democrats, and independents.

    Sunny chimes in:
    “You have some posters right on this board that are very disprespectful to Barack Obama, using names to describe him that are truly racist.”

    An interesting comment given the fact that politicians on both sides of the isle are routinely excoriated in the most graphic and obscene ways bloggers on BFV of all political persuasions.

    President Bush has been routinely referred to as Hitler, Chimpie, Shrubya, Frat boy, stupid, a drunk, a coke head, etc.

    Will equal treatment of Obama ibe viewed as racist?

    Sunny’s comment begs the question: “Will criticism of Obama be automatically considered racist, by the African American community?”

    As has been said before “politics is a contact sport”. Criticism can be brutal, unvarnished and unfair. Does this mean that Obama will or should be exempt?

    Unless Obama supporters are willing to accept the same level of abuse for their candidate, without raising the spectre of racism, they risk splitting the country along racial lines, even more than it already is.

  20. Christian Wright says:

    I cannot disagree with you on that one.
    He is claiming that a segment of his population is racist.

    It is one thing to know that every state has racists, but to advertise it as a reason Obama should not be the nominee. What he did was not just racist, but racist with a political agenda.

    BTW: Saying McCain is too old to run is age discrimination.

  21. js says:

    Obama’s church (trinity united church of Christ) adheres to a black values system.

    This is what this values system is if I replace black with white;

    Commitment to God
    Commitment to the White Community
    Commitment to the White Family
    Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
    Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
    Adherence to the White Work Ethic
    Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
    Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness”
    Pledge to make the fruits of all developing
    and acquired skills available to the White Community
    Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
    Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System
    Personal commitment to embracement of
    the White Value System.

    Sound familiar? These “values” could have been core elements of White Supremacy, or the KKK. This is the Christianity that Obama represents.

    Is this who should be elected as President of the United States?

    I dont think so.