PA Pundit

Constrasting Campaigns July 31, 2006

The Philadelphia Inquirer offers the following “contrast” in its On the Campaign Trail feature (my bolds):

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann traveled across Southwest Pennsylvania over the weekend to campaign at an assortment of quintessential small-town summertime events – carnivals, jamborees and picnics.

Gov. Rendell, by contrast, plunged into a political maelstrom to show his support of two minority groups under fire from state Republicans.

Rendell was to attend Harrisburg’s first-ever gay pride parade Saturday – his third gay pride event of the summer – and two Latino festivals in the Northeast on Sunday.

Let’s see, so Swann went to rural carnivals, jamborees, and picnics, while Rendell went to urban parades and festivals.  Carnivals, festivals, where’s the contrast?  I guess you have to be an enlightened journalist to know the difference.

Oh wait, Rendell was going to gay pride events.  So these days a Democrat politician going to a gay pride parade is “plunging into a political maelstrom”?  Actually, I think the correct word is “pandering.”  Maybe the reporter can clear this up:

Before the General Assembly broke for the summer, Republican lawmakers pushed hard, without success, for passage of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. This month House Republicans turned their attention to illegal immigration – the subject of a series of heated House committee hearings this month.

“Ed Rendell’s Democratic Party is the party of inclusion,” said his campaign spokesman Dan Fee. “He not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.”

Yep, pandering sounds about right.  Let me propose a slightly less biased alternative to this column:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann blazed trails through the Southwest backroads of Pennsylvania over the weekend to show his support at quintessential small-town summertime events – carnivals, jamborees and picnics – that rarely draw the attention of big-city pols.

Gov. Rendell, by contrast, stayed close to home – both physically and ideologically – to attend his third gay pride event of the summer.  He also attended two Latino festivals in the Northeast on Sunday, showing implicit support for illegal immigrants.

“Ed Rendell’s Democratic Party is the party of inclusion,” said his campaign spokesman Dan Fee. “He not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.”