CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Just up the escalator from the baggage claim at the Charlotte airport Sunday, sat former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, signing copies of his book “A Nation of Wusses” at the Paradies Book Shop.
Following the speeches at last week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Rendell said he thought vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan came out looking like the top GOP wuss. “Well, it’s always an act of blatant wussiness to tell things you know are untrue,” Rendell told reporters who were lucky enough to find him deep within the loins of the airport book and magazine shop. “And Paul Ryan obviously steals the show.”
The MSNBC contributor added that actor Clint Eastwood, who on Thursday night pretended an empty chair was President Obama, was simply “an embarrassment.” “Can you imagine if we had, at this convention, a Democratic Hollywood star came in and trashed a sitting Republican president and said, and implied that the president said, ‘go f— yourself,’ or something like that? Can you imagine the outrage on the other side?” Rendell asked. “They would have acted as if it was an act of treason.”
Rendell said it was too early to tell if there would be a Democratic wuss equivalent to Ryan, but he hoped there weren’t any liars. “I hope everyone talks and tells the truth, and I hope the president speaks with some detail about the things he wants to do, and the leadership he wants to undertake in the second term and I hope he talks about doing Simpson-Bowles [deficit reduction] and trying to bring everyone together to make difficult choices.”
