Did Ed Rendell Just Make Dangerous Wingnut Pat Toomey A U.S. Senator?

I really don't want to sound as paranoid as a tea partier but sometimes I almost wonder if largely conservative Democratic insiders want Republicans, more reliably conservative than Democrats, to be able to hold an effective veto over... well, everything. Yesterday, as Mike Stark illustrated so poignantly, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party just about handed a far worse Republican than Scott Brown a Senate seat.

Arlen Specter is a Republican who changed the color of his team jersey from red to blue after polls showed that radical right extremist Pat Toomey would kick his ass in the closed Republican primary. Now it looks just as likely that Toomey will kick his ass in the general election as well. Joe Sestak offered the Democrats a way out-- which plenty of grassroots Democrats are taking him up on-- in the form of a primary. Specter is senile, incredibly corrupt, well known as the most mean-spirited and personally vicious member of the Senate, and conservative. Why should thinking grassroots Democrats even consider voting for him? Especially when they have someone like Joe Sestak as an alternative-- who isn't senile, isn't corrupt or vicious, and isn't conservative. Here's what Sestak's campaign had to say about the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee, firmly controlled by Gov. Ed Rendell, endorsing Specter:

"The establishment has long made it known that it struck a deal to anoint the long-time Republican Senator. But as we have visited 26 counties with more than 230 events in a month-plus, we have found that Pennsylvanians are tired of business as usual and are ready to turn the page on a generation of deal-making done to maintain the status quo. This is another event in the hundreds more we will have in the campaign and we do want to gain the votes of those in attendance for the primary and the general election.

"At the debate last night, Senator Specter said he supports the 'basic values of the Democratic Party' after he spent the last 30 years voting against them. Joe Sestak actually believes in our Democratic principles because he believes in our working families. We look forward to continuing to spread a message of accountability for the working family and integrity as a public servant while campaigning across the state in the months to come."