Ed being Ed

Timothy McNulty | August 12, 2009

Ed Rendell had quite the day yesterday. First he joked to reporters in Harrisburg that he'd like to round up legislative leaders and gas them, Goldfinger-style, and then he went on MSNBC and called town hall protesters "absolutely nuts." From Politico:

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday that much of the outrage being demonstrated at town halls across the country comes from so-called birthers, whom he described as "absolutely nuts."

Responding to a question on the fury demonstrated at numerous town halls, the governor asserted that "many of these people are birthers."

"The birthers are a perfect slice of these people who have lost their rationality and they have become obsessed with certain things, and that obsession is hurting the democratic process," Rendell said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball," referring to the conspiracy theorists who believe President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

"The birthers are absolutely nuts," he said. "They won't believe the clear and credible evidence that President Obama was born in Hawaii."

"I've never seen ugliness and rage like this in all my years in office," the two-term governor and former Philadelphia mayor added.

After watching clips of Democratic Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Claire McCaskill of Missouri being shouted down by protesters at town hall events Tuesday, Rendell appealed to "the vast majority of Americans who are still good, honest, decent people ... to step up and say no to these crazies."