Gov. Rendell questions whether a white voter in PA will vote for a black candidate, MSNBC says it COULD have been taken out of context

I had read Gov. Rendell's comments in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last Friday and was wondering when the outrage would come... or as they say... when "things" would hit the fan. A number of people I came across in town had said the same thing. However, on Monday, Tony Norman's was the first column to address the lunacy of the statement. Just by his saying it, it became a racial issue.

Governor Rendell never said "I don't think the middle of the state will vote for a woman," unless I wasn't privy to some unreported comments. No, it was "I don't think some of the whites in this state will vote for a black candidate" - to paraphrase. (The actual quote is in a separate section of this blog.) He could have said (and in retrospect maybe should have said) nothing, rather than that. However, he is also one of Hillary Clinton's superdelegates - declared before the popular election has even taken place.

I noticed it came up last night on MSNBC election coverage... at first by Chris Matthews in terms of what a shocking comment it seemed to be. However... after about an hour Chris was trying to tone down Rendell's remarks as off the cuff and not so bad. It felt like the time various well-known sports figures were trying to stick up for "Jimmy the Greek" . Sorry, Chris, I often agree with you, but not here.

Congratulations to Tony Norman (who happened to be the only African-American reporter present at the meeting) of the P-G on bringing it to the forefront and NOT letting those remarks pass as we get nearer our state's election. They were said to reporters and meant to be reported. And I wonder if Chris, who now SEEMS to be defending Governor Rendell's remarks as "probably out of context", would be bold enough to have Tony Norman... or any of the other staff who were present at the meeting and Governor Rendell on together to clear the air. Or perhaps another show might want to do so. It would give both an opportunity to re-state their claims.

It sounded from Mr. Norman's article as though Gov. Rendell made the comment to make it, not as the result of a question. Tony stated it was "dropped" before the start of the actual purpose of the meeting... the state budget.

I would appreciate it if some of the national pundits giving Governor Rendell a pass on the remarks, would have the Governor and Tony or others from the P-G, who were present for those remarks, appear on their shows to define what was said and how. Otherwise, the national pundits are gossiping without the real details. Congratulations to Tony again on bringing it forward.

And perhaps Senator Clinton may want to distance herself from the remarks made by one of her supporters in a run up to that state's election, just as she's asked MSNBC to do with their reporter's "inadvertent" remarks about her daughter.