Ed Rendell and Michael Nutter Join the Silly Season

Ed Rendell has long been known to play the same old same old political game of destruction. As such, I'm not a huge supporter. But he's a lame duck, so when he does it I don't get all that upset. But I am a huge supporter of Michael Nutter, even endorsing him for Mayor early in the campaign. Michael Nutter ran a good and honest campaign for mayor, standing above the usual ugliness of Philadelphia politics. I'm thinking he's going slightly off the rails with this stunt done in conjunction with Ed Rendell. Here's their silly whine in favor of Hillary Rodham Clinton from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter and two of Hillary Rodham Clinton's top aides yesterday blasted Barack Obama's campaign for allegedly diminishing and disrespecting Pennsylvania's presidential primary.
In a national conference call with reporters, the foursome pointed to a memorandum written by Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, that referred to Pennsylvania as "only one of ten remaining contests."

Rendell predicted that the description would be "off-putting" to the state's Democratic voters. Nutter called it "one of the silliest things I've seen in recent times."

Mark Penn, Clinton's top strategist, went on to praise the state - the largest yet to vote - as "incredibly vibrant and important" both in the nomination fight and the general election.

Obama's Pennsylvania spokesman, Sean Smith, said the controversy was much ado about nothing, that Obama had every intention of competing for the state's 158 pledged delegates in the voting on April 22.

Guys, Pennsylvania is in fact one of ten primaries left in this country. Both candidates should be focusing on all of those states. You are whining about a fact here. And there isn't any evidence that Obama is treating Pennsylvania with anything but respect. Rendell and Nutter are signing onto some stupid, whiney Hillary Clinton BS, and with Michael Nutter, at least, I am disappointed.

I've talked to Michael Nutter about this race and his endorsement of Hillary Clinton. I had breakfast with him the day after he made that appearance with her to endorse her candidacy here in Philadelphia. I came away thinking Michael Nutter endorsed Mrs. Clinton because of his beliefs, and I respected him for it even though I was leaning heavily to Obama at the time. I imagined Mr. Nutter would campaign for Hillary Clinton, but I was confident he would do so by focusing on the issues. This silly whine that he's signed onto disappoints me a great deal, especially since Mr. Nutter himself campaigned on a unity theme not unlike Barack Obama.

I am saddened Michael Nutter. You can do better.