You'll Never Go Wrong Politically By Doing The Opposite Of Whatever Ed Rendell Tells You To Do

They've had their turn running the place-- and they screwed it up

Ed Rendell is the apotheosis of the Democratic Party Establishment Hack. He was a Philly tough-on-crime D.A. for 2 terms, Philly Mayor for 2 terms and Pennsylvania Governor for 2 terms, pleasing Republicans by slashing items that helped poor people and working families from the state budget. He is widely thought to have fueled Pennsylvania's opioid epidemic by eliminating and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. He was also chairman of the DNC and of the National Governors Association. In 2008 he was a top Hillary Clinton supporter against Obama who went on Fox & Friends to kiss their ass for the Clinton campaign: "I think during this entire primary coverage, starting in Iowa and up to the present, Fox has done the fairest job, has remained the most objective of all the cable networks," he told Steve Doocy. "You actually have done a very balanced job of reporting the news, and some of the other stations are just caught up with Senator Obama, who is a great guy, but Senator Obama can do no wrong, and Senator Clinton can do no right." After his second term of governor he became an effective fracking lobbyist and is one of the top fracking proponents in the upper ranks of the Democratic Party.

He is the personification of the self-loathing anti-progressive Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Last year, just before election day, he wrote an OpEd for The Hill warning how the Democratic Party is going too far left. "One trend," he wrote, "that has taken hold is quite alarming: our swing to the far left. That trend has been exemplified by almost all of our putative presidential candidates. The two clearest examples of trying to appeal to our base by being as progressive as possible were the rush to embrace a “single-payer” health care system after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) publicly endorsed it, and the stampede to call for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan really was not unexpected; he talked about single-payer during the 2016 campaign. But when he reiterated it, loudly and clearly, his words brought a rapid endorsements from almost all other Democrats who are hinting at presidential aspirations... Regardless of your opinion on its merits, single-payer is not a reasonable solution to the challenge of making health care accessible and affordable; it will never get the 60 votes necessary in the Senate, even if Democrats were to win back the chamber on Nov. 6. Our candidates should work for solutions that are politically achievable, and not appeal to voters with a plan they know cannot become reality. (That’s like saying, 'Mexico would pay for the wall.') I would respect our wannabes more if they would make realistic proposals for reform."

Quintessential Ed Rendell-- and why conservatives always say no progress is ever achievable. He urged his readers to back conservative corporate whores-- calling them "solid left-of-center candidates"-- Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar or John Delaney. This graphic was created as a reminder to political hacks with no vision-- like Ed Rendell:

Yesterday, Rendell was back on the radio with reactionary Republican billionaire and major Trump backer John Catsimatidis, spewing the inevitability argument for Biden. "I think Joe Biden is baked in. People say, 'oh well, he makes gaffes.' Well, the American people have followed him for 40 years, and they know he makes gaffes. It’s part of his charm."

Political elites have followed him for 40 years. Most Americans have no idea who he was before Obama picked him to balance his ticket. Few Democrats Biden was a corporate suck-up for his entire career and a virulent racist for the first half of it. As for the "gaffes"... half of them are lies meant to mislead and the other half are indicative of a brain malfunction increasingly common when old people are sinking deeper into senility-- like Trump... and Biden. Rendell then launched into the carefully crafted Biden campaign talking points he surrogates use to excuse his deteriorating mind:

"But it’s baked in. No one seems to hold it against him. They believe he’s a smart, decent guy. He’s got a good heart. And he’s effective at government. I think in the end, Joe Biden will prevail. But you can’t be sure of that. Elizabeth Warren is coming on very strong. She’s a good campaigner. Bernie has a resolute following...You just don’t know how this is going to shake out."