Hey Ed. I’ve been an enthusiasic and hard-working supporter of yours for many years. And now I’ve got a request:

Keep your mouth shut.

This entire effort to back up the campaign of an old, tired, mistake-prone Republican is embarrassing. And when you start lying about what Joe Sestak did on national television, it just sounds pathetic.

Everybody who watched yesterday or who has seen the clip online knows exactly what Joe Sestak said: He said he would not consider the possibility of losing. And he said nothing else. Good for him.

As for you and TJ Rooney, it seems you forgotten how to listen to your own party. Or is it that you’re just turning a deaf ear? At any rate, after Tuesday I hope that TJ Rooney does the right thing and steps down. That will be part of tomorrow’s message to our party leaders.

The governor sounds desperate. Panic reigns with so called party leaders.

This man has a few more months in office. Does anyone really care what he thinks?

What will Sestak do if he does lose?

Will he put on his hat with all the scrambled eggs on it, sulk in a corner & pretend he’s still an admiral?

Will he release the records surrounding the details of his separation from military service?

Will he finish out the 7 months left in his congressional term, or will he quit?

Will he go to work for one of the defense budget porkers he pals around with at NDIA meetings (perhaps XE, formerly Blackwater USA)?

Will he show up to vote in future elections, or will he revert to his pre-2006 pattern of sporadic voting?

If he finds himself in a supervisory position, will he pay those he supervises better than minimum wage?

Lastly, will he support ALL democrats running in Penna. in the fall?

I want all you Sestak fans to pay real close attention here. I have made no remark about anyone other than Sestak himself, and the remarks are fact-based, not out-of-context lines spliced into a political commercial.

Hey Dick –

I’m with Joe on this one. Losing is not an option.

I think a much-better question is what does a defeated Specter do with the Kagan nomination? Since Obama basically kissed him off by refusing to visit PA to rescue Specter’s failing campaign, does Specter then revert to form and start questioning Kagan like he did Anita Hill?

I think we’ll find out the answer to this hypothetical in the next few months.

Bruce-
Losing is always an option. It’s one you try to avoid, but it’s hard to avoid something if you refuse to see it.

It’s fine in the movies for Captain Kirk to refuse to accept the “no-win scenario”, but Sestak is no Captain Kirk (though they are both terrible actors who pause at the wrong times).

Hey fast Ed…don’t let the door hit ya in the a$%on the way out! See ya!

I will be real happy when Ed Rendell is no longer governor…He has no credibility. I will be casting a vote for Sestak, as will my family and friends. Take that Ed…wish I could take back the vote I gave you in 2002 and 2006…you have shown yourself to be a real jerk, Ed.

Some are losing sight of the big picture here.

Last night, the state Democrats issued a statement condemning Sestak. Chairman T.J. Rooney characterized Sestak’s refusal to commit as “appalling.” “If he can’t be trusted to endorse the Democratic nominee for US Senate in a race against an ultra-conservative Tea Party favorite like Pat Toomey, then how can he be trusted to represent the interests of Pennsylvanians in the Senate?” Rooney asserted. “Can we even be sure that he won’t endorse Toomey in the fall?”

Rather incendiary language for a Party Chairman, wouldn’t you agree? In fact, a rabblerouser (namely yours truly) made the very same observation about Sestak (“Can we even be sure that he won’t endorse Toomey in the fall?”) in this forum over the weekend, long before Rooney uttered these words. Quite a risk for the Chairman to incur, given that Sestak could be his nominee.

In view of the foregoing, how can the Democratic Party possibly rally around Sestak as the nominee? Comments of this sort make such an accommodation unfeasible and unattainable. Rooney earlier suggested that a Sestak victory would be “cataclysmic.” How could Rooney and others now voice support for Sestak as the nominee? They essentially couldn’t. So why have prominent Dems made these incendiary comments, realizing that Sestak could prevail? Given the (supposedly) close race, one would think that eminent Dems would refrain from making such remarks. Ordinarily, that would be the case. But that is not the case here. Their conduct is bewildering…

Unless they knew that something was going to transpire in the near future that would rid them of Sestak altogether. Something that would force him to withdraw from the political realm. Something Specter, Democratic Party officals and law enforcement were reluctant to divulge during the primary, for obvious reasons. Something that prompted Sestak’s Political Director, Communications Director, etc., to resign months before the primary. Something that the GOP would reveal eventually anyway, one way or another.

Face empirical reality, folks – high-profile Dems are already distancing themselves from Sestak. There has to be a legitimate reason for this. And there is…

Incidentally, for those who casually dismiss my musings, ask yourself this question: would the Chairman of the PA Democratic Party really lambaste a candidate who in 24 hours could emerge as the Democratic nominee? Really?

No, he would not. Unless he was absolutely certain that the candidate in question was GOIN’ DOWN one way or another. Goin’ down big time, in fact (vernacular – that’s a first).

Richard Saunders: If Sestak is soundly defeated (and he will be), he will be rendered utterly, completely powerless. He will be a lameduck congressman – one who has exhausted both the resources and the good will he once enjoyed. His war chest is now virtually empty. He has no allies in the PA Democratic Party upon whom he can depend. He has antagonized the Obama Administration and other powerful political actors. He will be more vulnerable, more exposed, more defenseless than he has ever been in his adult life.

And as a result, he will not survive the political and legal onslaught that awaits him.

Good.

While we’re at it, let’s put to rest another one of these tired talking points from Ed Rendell, TJ Rooney and rest of the top-down Specter backers:

Tomorrow’s defeat of Arlen Specter will have NOTHING to do with any national trend against incumbents. Nothing at all.

Instead, votes for Sestak and against Specter will be votes cast by Democrats, for a true Democratic candidate. If Arlen Specter had really been a Democratic Senator for the past 30 years, if he had fought with us side by side against the Administrations of Ronald Reagan and the Bushes, against conservative Republican judges, against McCain & Palin in 2008…well, I don’t think we’d have a contested primary this year. We’d love that kind of incumbent.

Instead, Arlen is a Republican incumbent, elected as a Republican five times and a party switcher just to save his seat. His first comment upon switching? “I never said I’d be a loyal Democrat.” We have been voting against him for 30 years, and tomorrow will be no different.

But don’t lump PA voters in with the Tea-baggers and the malcontents in other states. This primary is about Arlen Specter, Republican, not Arlen Specter, Incumbent.

Senator Sestak: The Governor is desperate…because a Sestak victory would be a catastrophe for the Democratic Party, and an almost immediate boon to the GOP. No prominent Democrat wants to be saddled with a scandal-plagued nominee. That is the scenario that Rendell and others are dreading.

Richard Saunders – you are exactly, exactly right. I agree it’s close, and the Obama administration is preparing for any contingency, but Specter will squeak out a win of between 2-4 points.

Sestak’s conduct will be most revealing after his loss, and I expect that it will be much along the lines of what you’ve intimated. He will disappear from the 7th district, ignore the lower candidates, sell his condo in Edgmont, and return full time to Virginia. My guess is he’ll have his job with Blackwater, or whomever else, lined up before the end of the summer.

After this concludes, I hope my fellow Democrats in the 7th district learn from this massive four-year mistake we made with this man. He was only a hair breadth’s better than Curt Weldon, and I maintain that Lentz could have done just as fine a job against Weldon in 2006 as Sestak did. What a shame.

Bruce, incorrect.

This primary is about two Democrats – Sestak, a Democrat since 2006, and Specter, a Democrat since 2009. If you tack on Specter’s period as a Democrat from 1952-1966, he’s actually been a Democrat in Pennsylvania longer than Joe Sestak has.

Specter switched parties, a largely meaningless ideological label in today’s politics, after his stimulus vote, when he knew he could no longer in good conscience associate himself with the Republican Party. Electorally, it would have been better for him to stay with the GOP and coast to easy re-election. Instead he displayed courage and independent-mindedness. That’s why President Obama welcomed him into the party.

I really wish you lifelong-Arlen haters could move beyond these petty old habits and appreciate what Specter did for the nation in breaking ranks and supporting the Economic Recovery Act of 2009.

Do you really see Joe Sestak doing something independently courageous like that? After all, he twice passed up Candy Crowley’s offer to reaffirm himself as the “true Democrat.” “True autocrat” is more appropriate.

David Diano,

I have always allowed you great latitude in your comments.

But when you insult William Shatner, you simply go too far

Hope everyone is having as much fun in the closing hours as I am. Keep your browsers here tomorrow night!

Dan Hirschhorn

Hey Matt M. – Go peddle your propaganda someplace else, buddy. Maybe Diano’s silly little website. It doesn’t wash here.

Since I am a Democrat — not a “largely meaningless ideological label” by any means — I am looking for a candidate that will be a standard bearer for my party. I’m not looking for somebody who touts his independence, I’m looking for somebody who proclaims that the Democratic Party presents the clearest and best vision for what this nation should be. Not somebody who has supported and endorsed candidates who think the exact opposite of that for the past 30 years.

Do you really think that what Arlen did to support Adlai Stevenson (since there’s no record, you have to take his word on that — hah!) has any bearing on tomorrow’s election? Really?

The history of Arlen Specter is a history of self-importance, self-preservation and a complete lack of core beliefs. Arlen helps those who help Arlen.

Like I said, you need to go play in the kiddie pool. It’s pretty obvious you can’t hold your own in deep water. But that’s OK, I’m sure Dave Diano will dive in to try and help save you.

Right Dave?

Dan-
I… don’t… know… what…I…was… thinking

Bruce-
Thanks for advertising my silly website!

I’m not worried about Matt. I’m hoping you can still be saved after Tuesday.

So Specter’s most potent closing argument to the voters is that they should vote for him because Sestak thinks that Sestak will win. If that’s the best he could come up with, it’s a very good sign for Sestak.

Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhuru and Sulu are supporting Sestak.

Finally, Sestak clearly shows what a self-serving egotistical #$^*^%$ that he is. He’s not a “true democrat” at all. If he was, he wouldn’t have hesitated to support Specter if he was the party’s nominee.

Instead if Specter wins tomorrow, Sestak may support Toomey. Sestak is a party of one – he doesn’t care about the Dem Party or anyone else – ONLY HIMSELF. ‘Nuff said.

Captain Picard rules.

Seriously, though, I enjoy Shatner. His version of “Rocket Man” is something special. I’m just part of the “Next Generation” generation.

RE: Gov. Ed Rendell, during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” took Sestak to task for not echoing Specter’s pledge of support during the candidates’ back-to-back interviews Sunday on CNN.

You can’t “echo” something if you are the first speaker. Sestak was on first, then Specter. The blatant lack of decency from the governor, TJ Rooney and Mary Isenhower all indicate it is time for them to go.

What is it about Republicans and Specter supporters they just refuse to look at the facts

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak expressed confidence Sunday that he would win the Senate Democratic nomination, but vowed to do all he can to defeat the likely Republican nominee if he fails to beat Sen. Arlen Specter in the Tuesday primary.

“As I said, I come from a background in the military where the prospect of winning is the only, only option you have,” Sestak told CNN in an interview after addressing the congregation at the Mount Ephraim Baptist Church. “But I’ll do anything to make sure that Pat Toomey doesn’t win. But we’re gonna win. Pat Toomey is gonna lose.”

Ed Rendell, YOU have lost credibility by backing a LOSER!!!!!!