Ed Rendell

Halperin: After Criticizing Hillary 'Not Saying Rendell Woke Up With Horse Head in Bed, But'
By Mark Finkelstein | August 28, 2015 | 9:49 AM EDT

So who's Hillary's enforcer? Last week we asked "who got to Donny Deutsch?" when he suddenly became supportive of Hillary whereas just the week before he had been very critical of her.

The same thing has happened with Ed Rendell.  Just yesterday, the former DNC Chairman and Pennsylvania governor was quoted in the New York Times saying Hillary has handled the email scandal "poorly, maybe atrociously, certainly horribly." But on today's Morning Joe, Ed was suddenly singing a different tune, claiming Hillary is doing everything right and plaintively suggesting that there is no problem. That led Mark Halperin to observe "I'm not saying he woke up with a horse head in bed with him," but "he was contacted . . . by what we like to call Clinton associates."  

Rendell: 'Tough Cookie' Hillary Will Put Republicans In 'Short Pants'
By Mark Finkelstein | May 22, 2015 | 7:19 PM EDT

On Al Sharpton's MSNBC show today, former DNC Chairman Ed Rendell dared congressional Republicans to recall Hillary Clinton to testify about Benghazi. Calling Clinton a "tough cookie," Rendell vowed that "Hillary will put them in short pants."

Paging Camille Paglia . . . Rendell surely thought he was paying Hillary a compliment.  But is this really the Hillary persona that Dems want to project: that of a woman who makes little boys out of grown men?

CNN, CNBC and MSNBC Push Infrastructure Funding After Amtrak Accident
By Joseph Rossell | May 13, 2015 | 1:28 PM EDT

At least six people died and many more were injured in a terrible Amtrak accident on the night of May 12, and before the cause had been discovered, multiple cable news networks used the tragedy to make a political point.

Programming on CNN, CNBC and MSNBC all used the accident to claim the government needed to spent more on infrastructure all before National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators made an assessment to determine the cause of the crash.

4 Of 5 Top Papers Call For Federal Gas Tax Hike
By Joseph Rossell | January 12, 2015 | 11:27 AM EST

Four out of five top U.S. newspapers have called for federal gas tax hikes on the editorial page since oil and gas prices began falling significantly June 19, 2014.

In spite of polls that show most Americans oppose it, The Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times newspapers have all published editorials that called for increasing the gas tax.  Gas prices fell from $3.675 on June 19, 2014, to $2.168 on January 9, 2015, according to AAA. The Wall Street Journal was the only publication not to editorialize in favor of higher gas taxes of the five national newspapers.

Unhinged Chris Matthews Fumes Over Ted Cruz's 'McCarthyism'
By Connor Williams | July 25, 2014 | 11:20 AM EDT

In his never-ending obsession with Ted Cruz, Hardball’s Chris Matthews devoted the start and close of his program to rants against the supposed "McCarthyism" of the Texas Senator. Matthews objected to Cruz’s belief that the FAA’s short lived ban on air travel to Israel was political in nature.

On the July 24 edition of Matthews’ program, the host wondered if Cruz was “trying to mimic the headline grabbing of the bad old days, or is he just so ignorant of what those tactics have done to this country that he's not aware of what he’s committing: the horror of McCarthyism all over again.” The former Tip O’Neill staffer was far from finished with the junior Senator from Texas, however. Matthews continued: [MP3 audio here; video below]

MSNBC Panel: Republicans are Like 'Terrorists,' 'Threatening to Bomb the Stadium'
By Andrew Lautz | July 25, 2013 | 5:28 PM EDT

Former Governor Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) drifted a bit too far off MSNBC’s pro-Obama message on Thursday’s Now with Alex Wagner, receiving a strong left-wing rebuke after suggesting that President Obama should be willing to compromise with Republicans on upcoming budgetary battles.

MSNBC contributor Joy Reid likened Republicans to terrorists, claiming that the president’s situation is like “when somebody is threatening to bomb the stadium.” Reid rejected Rendell’s call for bipartisanship, instead pushing her offensive analogy even further:

Bob Herbert: There Would Be Tons of Outrage on Left if Bush-Cheney Pursued Obama’s Policies
By Noel Sheppard | June 18, 2013 | 4:45 PM EDT

It’s becoming rather commonplace for a liberal so-called “journalist” to point out the double standard by which media members are in general quite accepting of domestic surveillance under the current administration.

Count former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert amongst those willing to acknowledge this, for on MSNBC’s Now Tuesday, Herbert said, "There would be just tons of outrage on the left if Bush, Cheney or any Republican were pursuing the same policies that Obama is pursuing in the war against terror" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC Panel Members Slam Bachmann and GOP 'Haters'
By Brad Wilmouth | May 30, 2013 | 3:25 PM EDT

As MSNBC's Al Sharpton hosted a panel on Wednesday's PoliticsNation to discuss Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann's retirement, MSNBC analyst Karen Finney claimed that Bachmann never had an idea "that wasn't about hate or wasn't about being against something," while MSNBC analyst and former Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Ed Rendell similarly charged that historians will put her "in a group of people during this era who were just haters, who breeded hate and discontent."

After Sharpton introduced the panel by asking how history would treat Bachmann, Rendell replied:

Chris Matthews Shrieks: NRA Is Doing a 'Dance of Death' Over Obama
By Scott Whitlock | May 3, 2013 | 6:18 PM EDT

The staunchly pro-gun control Chris Matthews on Friday sneered that the National Rifle Association is doing a "dance of death" in celebration of their victory over Barack Obama. Regarding senators who voted with the gun group, the Hardball host mocked, "These are the guys who took the easiest vote in American political history. They backed the NRA." He added that "it was almost a religious experience for these clowns." (Couldn't that last part be said of journalists in relation to Obama?)

Regarding speakers at the NRA conference in Texas, Matthews snarled, "I think it might be a dance of death over the President's political grave, is what it really is. " [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Former Democratic governor Ed Rendell appeared on the program and blamed the organization for future horrors: "Imagine the blood on the hands of the people who voted against this common sense bill."

Morning Joe Covers Gosnell Trial—But Ex-Gov. Rendell Claims He Knew Nothing
By Mark Finkelstein | April 15, 2013 | 8:42 AM EDT

Credit Joe Scarborough not just for devoting a significant Morning Joe segment to the Gosnell abortion-murder trial today--but for declaring that he will have a reporter covering the trial--Joe Slobodzian of the Philadelphia Inquirer--back again tomorrow and throughout the week.

Ed Rendell—who was governor of Pennsylvania from 2003-10 while many of the horrors unfolded and the clinic went uninspected—was on today's Morning Joe panel.  Scarborough questioned Rendell as to how this could have happened on his watch. Rendell claimed he knew nothing of the goings-on in the abortion clinic, that it was a question of bureaucratic bungling, and that he came under no pressure from abortion advocates to look the other way.  View the video after the jump.

MSNBC Brings On Former Pa. Gov. Rendell To Discuss Abortion, Doesn’t Ask About Philly Abortionist Gosnell
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 12, 2013 | 3:53 PM EDT

One of the most blatant and disgusting blackouts of the Kermit Gosnell murder trial occurred on MSNBC on April 11.  Appearing on Jansing & Co. on Friday morning, former Governor Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) appeared with Republican strategist Chip Saltsman to discuss changing trends in support for abortion, yet host Chris Jansing did not ask the former governor (and former Philadelphia mayor) about the murder trial for the notorious abortionist in his state. 

Gosnell is currently on trial, charged with murdering seven babies and a female patient at his abortion clinic in Philadelphia.  If convicted, he could face the death penalty.  Despite the horrific nature of the crimes Gosnell is accused of committing, including forcing women to endure labor and then deliver live babies that were killed by staff with scissors, the liberal media all but ignored the story altogether, although that may be changing with CNN's Anderson Cooper pledging to delve into the trial tonight.

Andrea Mitchell: Hillary Has Done 'Such a Job by Everyone’s Account' as Secretary of State
By Paul Bremmer | January 30, 2013 | 10:18 AM EST

The liberal media's lovefest for Hillary Clinton continues apace. Andrea Mitchell’s  interview with the outgoing secretary of state will air today, but don’t expect to see many tough questions. We already know what Mitchell thinks about Clinton, based on a comment she made on Tuesday’s Andrea Mitchell Reports. Talking with MSNBC political analyst Ed Rendell, Mitchell declared of Clinton, “She has done such a job by everyone’s account as secretary of state.”

Except, of course, for that little Benghazi thing, which Mitchell acknowledged is Hillary’s major regret. And it’s a pretty big blight for someone who has done “such a job.” Such a job covering up the facts, maybe? Such a job misleading the American public about the nature of the attack? [See video below. MP3 audio here.]