Reply #37: If I blow a dog whistle... [View All]

[VolcanoJen]

... that doesn't make me a dog.

I think you're missing the point, here. Rendell didn't need to say what he said, because his assertion couldn't be applied to his candidate, either. White conservatives are unlikely to vote Democratic, let alone for a female or an African-American Democrat. I can't think of any "on-message" reason he'd have for throwing that out there.

But you know what else? I think the rest of Rendell's quote is where the real dogwhistle can be found:

You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate, ...I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann <2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate> been the identical candidate that he was — well-spoken, charismatic, good-looking — but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so.

Regardless of all of this, I'm certainly not making any kind of assertion that Obama or Clinton can pick up hard red states... far from it. I think it's easier than all that. Just win every state Kerry won in 2004, and win Ohio, too.