Ed Rendell, former Pennsylvania Governor, called out Elizabeth Warren this morning for her flip-flops on corporate funding. It's a fair assessment, made by someone who admires Senator Warren and has supported her in the past, politically and through fund-raising. In fact, I sense Rendell's biggest gripe is the fact that he put together fund-raising events for Warren, only to have the Senator turn around and criticize the same outreach for Joe Biden as:

. . . “a swanky private fund-raiser for wealthy donors,” a line from an email to supporters the next day.

Rendell goes on to say:

Warren didn’t seem to have any trouble taking our money in 2018, but suddenly we were power brokers and influence peddlers in 2019. The year before, we were wonderful. I co-chaired one of the events for the senator and received a glowing, handwritten thank-you letter from her for my hard work.


He also takes umbrage with this:

I also take issue with the notion, raised by Warren in her criticism of the Biden fundraiser in April, that people who give the maximum allowable individual donation of $2,800 to a presidential candidate are doing so because they believe it will get them a federal job, win their business a federal contract or even gain special access.


Rendell admits that some contributors may have ulterior motives but that most donate because they believe in a candidate, the positions he/she holds and in the leadership said candidate brings to the table.

From my read, this is less a hit piece than some advice from a friend: waving purity banners has a downside, as in getting tangled in your own threads.

Rendell concludes with this:

So, despite my feelings, Elizabeth, if you’re reading this and you win the Democratic nomination, I will be happy to support you and will campaign for you with all my heart. And, by the way, Philadelphia has a lot more swanky restaurants that you haven’t seen yet.


Because Ed Rendell is a loyal Democrat down to his tippy toes.


https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-like-elizabeth-warren-too-bad-shes-a-hypocrite/2019/09/11/409d5ed0-d4d3-11e9-86ac-0f250cc91758_story.html

Interesting Op-Ed over at TPM by Josh Marshall. From Marshall's concluding remarks, I think he sees (as I do) a head-to-head primary match ultimately between Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. This from the beginning of the piece:

For months now I’ve been in a back and forth with readers over what many have wrongly interpreted as support for Joe Biden. That’s not really right. It’s more like Biden Realism, which I’d describe as a focus on Biden’s apparent strengths despite many people’s wish that they weren’t strengths. The primary polls themselves are inherently volatile and heavily driven by perceptions of electability. That’s not the case with general election polls, which focus on voters who by definition don’t care about “electability.” Those polls have been very, very consistent all year. Specifically, Joe Biden is the only Democrat who consistently bests President Trump by big margins. Most of the others are closer to a tie. The exception is Bernie Sanders who has usually been between Biden and the rest of the pack.

Some people claim those numbers mean next to nothing more than a year from the general election. They’re wrong. When one candidate consistently does significantly better, it suggests they pull an electoral coalition that is different and larger than the others. The fact that things can change does not mean they will change or (more importantly) that they will change to conform to your hopes. But something has shifted over the last month.

Biden Realism. I like that. Seems spot on, too.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/the-2020-dynamic-is-shifting

According to former State Sen. Jim Rosapepe and former U.S. ambassador to Romania from 1998-2001, the answer is simple:

Because He's Already Proven It.

This writeup was in the Baltimore Sun, adapted from an article published in Wall St. Journal in 2008. It underscores Joe Biden's hands-on experience in foreign policy and international affairs, something none of our other candidates bring to the table. And it speaks to Biden's in-depth knowledge regarding geopolitics. The op-ed is a behind the scenes peek from someone who was there and was able to observe Biden in action. Particularly fascinating (for me at least) was this scene:

In most of our meetings, Romanian leaders reiterated their strong interest in joining NATO. At lunch in my house with opposition party leaders, one of them said that NATO membership was important to their country for a reason I’d never heard before.

"If we’re in NATO, we won’t have to worry about NATO attacking Romania over our relations with our Hungarian minority the way you attacked Serbia," he said. "Since Turkey has been in NATO for decades, you let them do what they want with the Kurdish minority."

Mr. Biden, visibly angry, rose from his chair, leaned across the table and said: "If that’s why you want to get into NATO, I’ll make sure you never do!"

As it turned--despite what the opposition party member had blurted out--the Romanians were honest brokers committed to good relations with their Hungarian minority. They were admitted to NATO in 2004. Having proven themselves, Joe Biden supported their membership.

Rosapepe goes on to say:

What struck me was the frankness and passion Mr. Biden brought to U.S. foreign policy. He knew when to say the right thing in the right way. And the Romanians respected him for it.


Wouldn't it be grand to have an American President respected on the world stage? Rather than hated and ridiculed. Our standing in the world, the relationship with allies and adversaries, our ability to offer carrot or stick, has a lot to do with our own national security. This is an arena in which Donald Trump has proven himself completely incompetent.

Joe Biden's been there. He can turn it around for everyone because he understands that domestic and foreign policy is linked. We lead by example or we do not lead at all. Which is the position we're in right now, flailing in all directions.

More at the link:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-biden-rosapepe-20190829-7dbmwz4u3bbghl77mdemowr2re-story.html