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Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Rendell as Gov. Goldfinger: jokes about gassing legislators

Note to Gov. Rendell: When trying to negotiate a final budget with legislative leaders, it’s perhaps not a good thing to utter publicly that you have daydreamed about killing a roomful of them.

You might think it, governor. Just don’t say it out loud.

But he did just that this morning.

Rendell told reporters that he was frustrated with the way the conference committee of legislative leaders charged with finalizing a budget bill was progressing.

The initial two committee meetings were held in public with Democrats and Republicans spending most of the time bickering about procedure and making little if any progress toward a handshake.

Rendell said it all reminded him of a scene from Goldfinger, the 1960s James Bond classic in which the villain kills a room filled with gangsters in one fell swoop.

“He just filled the room with poison gas and knocked them all off,” Rendell said with a snap of his fingers. “You might have thought after watching those two (conference committee) days that that would have been a good idea.”

Sure, Rendell was joking, but not everyone found it funny.

“No one has every said that the governor’s sense of humor is one of his strong suits,” said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware).
 

“There’s no comment to make,” added Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Minority Leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson). “He’s obviously losing it.”

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Posted by Mario Cattabiani @ 12:59 PM  Permalink | 12 comments
Comments   
Posted 01:52 PM, 08/11/2009
CleanupPhilly
All he has to do is break wind.
Posted 01:54 PM, 08/11/2009
CleanupPhilly
It's this kind of hard partisanship that Pileggi is talking about that will delay things.
Posted 01:57 PM, 08/11/2009
stop2think
The Governor puts everyone at risk when he opens his mouth. He poisons the air everytime he opens that gasbag of a mouth.
Comment removed.
Posted 02:22 PM, 08/11/2009
Politburo
Rendell joked about the leaders of both parties. I don't see any evidence of 'hard partisanship'.
Posted 02:26 PM, 08/11/2009
reddog44
I guess the legislature does not realize that his first installment of Eagles Post Game Live is this Thursday night and that takes precident over the state's economy. I love Democrats the past few months - just pass what I tell you to pass and do not raise any question, just open wide and swallow it whole.
Posted 03:38 PM, 08/11/2009
riceboy
if they keep on with the nonsense, the voters will gas 'em next election.
Posted 04:06 PM, 08/11/2009
thomasg
The Eagles should use FAT FAST EDDIE as a tackling dummy. hang him by the goal post and keep hitting and hitting him. Maybe knock some sense into him.
Posted 04:12 PM, 08/11/2009
PaulDeon
If you can't beat them.....belittle them...thats the ticket
Posted 04:24 PM, 08/11/2009
pj katauskas
There should be a match someday pitting Joe Biden against Ed Rendell to see who wins the foot-in-mouth award. I have no favorite but it'd be hilarious.
Posted 05:00 PM, 08/11/2009
oakster
Thats part of the problem-its all fantasy land BS to these characters. Just one,big friggin joke.
Posted 05:28 PM, 08/11/2009
WWTDD
So would Rendell's Lt. Gov be considered Odd Job?
12 comments
About Commonwealth Confidential
Commonwealth Confidential gives you regularly updated coverage of the state legislature, the governor and the workings of the state bureaucracy. It is written by the political reporters in the Inquirer's Harrisburg bureau, based right in the statehouse.

Mario F. Cattabiani (left) has covered state government and politics from Harrisburg since 1994, the last six years for the Inquirer. In July, he was ranked by PolitickerPa.com as No. 1 among the "Most Powerful Political Reporters" in Pennsylvania.

Angela Couloumbis (center) joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998, and has covered government and politics in New Jersey, Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania, including Gov. Rendell’s 2006 race against former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann.

Amy Worden (right) joined the Inquirer in 2000 and has covered governors, gubernatorial races, U.S. Senate races and three presidential campaigns. When not covering politics she can be found filing dispatches from disaster scenes or digging into local stories of national import.
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