I like Elizabeth Warren. Too Bad She's a Hypocrite.

[peggysue2]

Ed Rendell, former Pennsylvania Governor, called out Elizabeth Warren this morning for her flip-flops on corporate funding. It's a fair assessment, made by someone who admires Senator Warren and has supported her in the past, politically and through fund-raising. In fact, I sense Rendell's biggest gripe is the fact that he put together fund-raising events for Warren, only to have the Senator turn around and criticize the same outreach for Joe Biden as:

. . . “a swanky private fund-raiser for wealthy donors,” a line from an email to supporters the next day.

Rendell goes on to say:

Warren didn’t seem to have any trouble taking our money in 2018, but suddenly we were power brokers and influence peddlers in 2019. The year before, we were wonderful. I co-chaired one of the events for the senator and received a glowing, handwritten thank-you letter from her for my hard work.


He also takes umbrage with this:

I also take issue with the notion, raised by Warren in her criticism of the Biden fundraiser in April, that people who give the maximum allowable individual donation of $2,800 to a presidential candidate are doing so because they believe it will get them a federal job, win their business a federal contract or even gain special access.


Rendell admits that some contributors may have ulterior motives but that most donate because they believe in a candidate, the positions he/she holds and in the leadership said candidate brings to the table.

From my read, this is less a hit piece than some advice from a friend: waving purity banners has a downside, as in getting tangled in your own threads.

Rendell concludes with this:

So, despite my feelings, Elizabeth, if you’re reading this and you win the Democratic nomination, I will be happy to support you and will campaign for you with all my heart. And, by the way, Philadelphia has a lot more swanky restaurants that you haven’t seen yet.


Because Ed Rendell is a loyal Democrat down to his tippy toes.


https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-like-elizabeth-warren-too-bad-shes-a-hypocrite/2019/09/11/409d5ed0-d4d3-11e9-86ac-0f250cc91758_story.html

[Nanjeanne]

1. Ed Rendell? Never been right on anything but still keeps spouting off.

[JaneQPublic]

6. "Often mistaken, never in doubt" (nt)

[BeyondGeography]

2. Yeah, Ed is loyal...calls out both Warren AND Obama in this petty piece

Why? Because he supports and supported their opponents.

We could do without more “loyal” Dems like these.

[BlueMississippi]

3. k&r nt

[dawg day]

4. Stop with the circular firing squad, dems!

Don't say anything that Trump could use in the General.

[DownriverDem]

5. Most of us know

that Biden is our best candidate to beat trump. DU leans more left then the country. Biden has a varied coalition and has deep support. Go Joe! I'm not against anyone, but we have to win.

[obamanut2012]

8. Well no, we don't know that, we know the opposite

Polls show Warren also beating him. I think she has a better chance of winning and would be a better President.

[redstateblues]

11. In WI Warren is tied with Trump, Biden up by 9. Warren is weak in the rust belt

[elocs]

16. "I'm not against anyone" I'm not against anyone who is a Democrat. n/t

[jcgoldie]

7. what a ridiculous title

Rendell

[Funtatlaguy]

9. Ed being loyal to his friend Joe and seeking attention.

[brooklynite]

10. "Hypocrite" is a little strong, but Rendell raises a valid point

The Senate campaign cash she transferred came in part from large dollar donors like me. I've been to several events with here where the wine a canapes flowed freely.

[highplainsdem]

21. You can probably understand how Rendell feels about this much better than most people here.

I didn't like Warren taking a swipe at Biden, as soon as he announced, for attending a "swanky" fundraiser. And I thought it was karma when word got out that she'd benefited from similar fundraisers, held by some of the same people, the year before.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287110075

[turbinetree]

12. Ed Rendell ..................Lets check out Opensecrets.org for Warren and Biden

Elizabeth Warren

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00033492

Joe Biden.......................


https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/contributors?id=N00001669

Rendell.....................

[BeyondGeography]

13. Lol...were those Wells Fargo donations made in memory of John Stumpf?

[DrToast]

14. Nice strawman

Rendell isn’t criticizing her for taking the money. He’s criticizing her for pretending she never did, or was too good for it.

It’s right there in the thread title. It’s the hypocrisy.

[peggysue2]

15. Exactly, Dr Toast

Interesting the level of howl this Op-Ed has produced on a mild criticism of Elizabeth Warren. Yet when Biden is criticized--regardless of how harshly--his supporters are told that it's all part of the vetting process

It's a 'what's good for the goose' moment. And more hypocrisy.

And Rendell's comments are not mean-spirited. It's a gentle rebuke at best.

[blm]

29. She didn't say she never did, she said she wouldn't for presidential primary

to keep it people driven. She has also acknowledged that she’ll be taking pac money for the general.

Where are you seeing that she has been pretending she never took it for her senate races?

[Thekaspervote]

34. Yes, it is!!

[Celerity]

18. this is the type of divisive post that makes Biden supporters' complaints of hit-pieces ring hollow

jus sayin'

Live by the sword................

[cwydro]

23. This.

[jberryhill]

24. Yup

[demmiblue]

25. True. n/t

[True Dough]

27. Truer words

have never been written!

[Politicub]

19. Just when I start to think that maybe I'm just not giving Biden supporters

the benefit of the doubt, and that maybe I could be more understanding, then. WHAM! WTF?

The first thing I see in gd:p is this garbage hit piece.

Carry on, Biden supporters.

[Vinca]

20. This really pisses me off. Democrats don't seem to be able to resist trashing other Democrats.

And that's why we lose. If we think we're that bad, why should anyone else think anything different? Let Biden and Harris hash it out amongst themselves and support whoever comes out on top in the end.

[demmiblue]

22. Go away, Ed.

[BlueMTexpat]

31. Love your gifs!

[customerserviceguy]

26. Politico called Rendell's remarks

a "stink bomb".

[cynatnite]

28. Sorry, Ed. You've been pretty irrelevant in my eyes for a while. n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

30. There are plenty who think that

Rendell is not only a hypocrite but one who throws the label around much too much.

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/09/12/elizabeth-warren-ed-rendell-hypocrite/

Here's another:

https://prospect.org/article/ed-rendells-sloppy-attempt-dislodge-elizabeth-warren-backfires-spectacularly

Snippets

...
In one of the more searing takes, entitled “Elizabeth Warren Is a Hypocrite, Says Hypocrite Ed Rendell,” Philadelphia magazine senior reporter Victor Fiorillo lays out Rendell’s penchant for calling people like Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump (OK, not going to argue with that one), well, hypocrites. He lines up a few examples of Rendell’s own two-facedness on safe-injection sites and his insistence that a former Philly congressman was to blame for failing to curb the powers of Philly’s notoriously powerful ward bosses. Pulitzer Prize winner Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer called the column a “total dirt bag move by Rendell and the Biden mafia.”

The problem with Rendell’s long track record is that it’s just too easy to dive in and unearth examples of his own hypocrisy, from lobbying for fracking companies to his role in shadiness associated with the 2016 Democratic Convention held in Philadelphia. None of these things bode well for Rendell going forward and, by extension, Biden.

The biggest rock that Rendell has turned over was his role in the 1985 bombing of the MOVE compound in West Philadelphia which leveled a city block and whose aftermath shook the community to its core for years. Rendell was district attorney at the time, and one of the key figures around Mayor Wilson Goode who approved the strike. There is probably a lot of love for Biden in Philadelphia, especially in black neighborhoods where you can still find faded Obama signs. But with his campaign HQ in the City of Brotherly Love, Biden should best beware of having this ignominious episode anywhere near his narrative.
...

NOT a good move. Not at all!

[Gothmog]

32. I like Ed Rendell-He is a good Democrat

[peggysue2]

35. Yes, Rendell is a good Democrat

He was a good governor and one of the better mayors in Philly.

[DrFunkenstein]

33. Elizabeth Warren Is a Hypocrite, Says Hypocrite Ed Rendell

Just last year, columnist Solomon Jones shined a light on Rendell’s own hypocrisy, wondering how Rendell could support safe-injection sites when he had such a strong record of incarcerating crack users back when he was district attorney of Philadelphia.

In 2010, after Obama appeared on The View, Rendell said that such appearances cheapened the office of the presidency. Thanks to Rendell’s ubiquitous appearances on a Philly-based NFL TV talk show, he was labeled a hypocrite for his remarks about Obama.

And Bob Brady, back when he was both a sitting congressman and the head of Philly’s Democratic Party, said that Rendell was a hypocrite after Rendell blasted Brady for not doing enough to curb the power of Philly’s ward leaders. He remarked that Rendell “liked the power of the ward leaders when they were endorsing him for governor and mayor.”

Not to mention the fact that Rendell’s candidate Biden has been blasted as a hypocrite on matters much more serious than anything Rendell could possibly throw at Warren. But who’s keeping score?

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/09/12/elizabeth-warren-ed-rendell-hypocrite/