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PA-Gov: MSNBC Scolds McCord for Race Ad

Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball became the latest to pile on the Rob McCord race ad that attempts to link York Mayor Charlie Robertson to gubernatorial frontrunner Tom Wolf.

“The charge of racism is in the air in Pennsylvania,” Matthews starts the segment. “The frontrunner Tom Wolf is leading his opponents by 25 points which explains a lot of what’s going on here.”

Matthews then outlines the facts: Robertson was acquitted of second degree murder and Wolf helped convince him to withdraw from the race after he was charged.

mccord msnbc“I’m crying foul and I’m not the only one,” Matthews said, and then brought on former Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell.

“You become obsessed with winning, but decency has to prevail,” Rendell said on the segment. “Never put something on that you know isn’t true.”

But Rendell doesn’t come to this issue with a spotless record himself. He, too, was accused of running misleading and inflammatory ads in the 1987 mayoral race. He aired an ad showing burning houses and suggests that MOVE is the only thing Mayor Wilson Goode would be remembered for. Police bombed a house the killed 11 people including the leader of MOVE, an African American organization. That ad was not mentioned in the MSNBC segment.

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele joined Matthews on Hardball to critique McCord’s ad.

“I think you’re right Chris, this is a form of racial opportunism,” Steele, who is African American, said.

“I don’t understand why you foul this late in the game,” Matthews mused. “I think Bugs Bunny can beat Tom Corbett.”

McCord was invited but declined to be interviewed on the segment.

He’s received quite a bit of flak for this ad, including statements from Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Senator Bob Casey, asking him to take down the ad.

Bradford County Commissioner and Lt. Gov. candidate Mark Smith also jumped into the debate, denouncing the ad.

“As Democrats, we are looking forward to defeating Tom Corbett in November”, said Smith. “The best way to do that is to show voters that we as Democrats can offer them a better alternative; better policies and better politics. We need to show Democrats and Republicans across the commonwealth that we can offer Pennsylvanians a brighter and more hopeful future. It’s hard to do that when in our own primary there is an ad representing the absolute lowest of political attacks”.

15 Responses

  1. One of my favorite words is inuendo, which I think was also one of Spiro Agnew’s favorite words. Having said that who would you rather have as Governor: “filthy” Fast Eddie or One Term Tommy?? Straight talk or inuendo??

  2. The recent debate on the airwaves in the Philadelphia area this Ssturday and Sunday is very telling and will reach a lot of voters.

    For those who can watch or pull up online will decide for themselves who stepped up…

  3. Wolf is so far ahead that he will win by more than all 160,000 dem votes out of Philly.

  4. Philadelphia Gay News endorsing McCord is a very big deal. The city has a sizeable population and few big ticket candidates get through an election successfully without that papers or the community’s backing.

    Wolf and team will really have to work to get enough votes between Schwartz and McCord to win Philly or SEPa now. Can’t say he won’t win, but it just got much tougher.

  5. The irony here is that McCord was just using the same tactics that Matthews and MSNBC continually use against Republicans.

  6. Who would join tweety for a reasonable conversation? Did the ad give him a thrill up his leg? Was he all a tingle?

    The guy is a bit of a buffoon – can anyone forget his having to apologize for saying he was glad for hurricane Sandy?

    Or his classic race comment about the President:

    “You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. You know, he’s gone a long way to become a leader of this country and passed so much history in just a year or two. I mean, it’s something we don’t even think about.
    I was watching, I said, Wait a minute, he’s an African-American guy in front of a bunch of other white people.”

    Who wouldn’t want to discuss the issue before this idjit?

    Sure, Melisa Harris Perry, Chris Hayes, Rev Sharpton – lot’s of others there would be up to the task – but – leave tweety to the …uh…less challenging stories.

  7. Of course MSNBC does not see anything wrong with Tom Wolf’s actions when it comes to Robertson. After all, MSNBC has no problem airing a segment that paints Mexicans as drunks on Cinco de Mayo (http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/06/us/msnbc-apology/).

    I applaud Rob McCord for questioning Tom Wolf’s ability to lead on race and equality related issues. Mr. Wolf’s actions speak for themselves. Good job Mr. McCord and I am glad you are taking a stand on this!!!!!!

  8. And since this board is all about Politics: Wolf and his campaign should just step up, be a man, and get this issue out of the way. Does Wolf think Corbett would not do the same thing to him in October? That shows me his campaign is not ready to play hardball against the Koch Brothers and Mellon Scaife money in the fall. These ads now are tiddly-winks compared to what is coming in the general election. It has now become more about a weak campaigner and poor judgment and less about his back room deals in York. Wolf WILL be outspent by Corbett, there is no doubt about that. If he looks weak and indecisive now – how will he be painted in the fall?

  9. To paraphrase the always-wrong Diano, “If you want to be Gov of a state like PA, then you should be able to” explain why you are buddy-buddy with an avowed racist. But no, Wolf keeps trotting out all his surrogates to keep deflecting the heat – like Rendell-appendage Matthews, who naturally failed to point out what a completely filthy politician Fast Eddie was when he ran for any office. I throw up in my mouth whenever I see Eddie tell people to run a “clean” campaign.

    Shall we also tell Allyson to pull that nasty nasty ad pointing out what a vulture capitalist Mr. Sensitive Wolf is? Wouldn’t want him crying in his beard…

  10. Uh-oh. Now the Democrats are really getting scared that they’ll have to defend questions from their neighbors in November about their honor.

  11. I too thought the Axis Philly piece to be interesting it takes the unpopular but no less valid part of the argument

  12. Is there anything else Wilson Goode is remembered for besides MOVE bombing? I can’t think of anything else he did.

    “McCord was invited but declined to be interviewed on the segment”

    If you want to be Gov of a state like PA, then you should be able to go on Hardball and defend your attack ad and statements.

    I suspect McCord would get a “softball” interview on FoxNews, and they’d find his “questions” about Wolf interesting and worthy of answers. But, that’s the place where they think Obama is a Muslim who pals around with terrorists.

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