Gov. Rendell takes a wacko at GOP

In this year of tea parties and resurgent Republicans, could anger be the answer for Democrats leery of losing big in November?

Gov. Rendell may have found out yesterday when he said that "the wacko wing" is taking over the Republican Party.

Rendell was warming up a crowd of about 150 people - mostly University of Pennsylvania students, along with some older union members - for Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine. The crowd at Penn responded with rote applause as Rendell and Kaine detailed President Obama's legislative record and efforts to fix the ailing economy.

But the biggest response came when Rendell lashed out at conservatives who question whether Obama was born in this country, claim that the laid-off prefer unemployment checks to new jobs and want to strike from the 14th Amendment to the Constitution the language granting citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.

"It's the party that's slowly but surely being taken over by wackos," Rendell said, drawing laughter and cheers from the crowd. "We're going to turn the reins of Congress over to the people who are more and more dominated by the wacko wing? Of course not. So we have a lot to sell. We haven't done a good job selling it."

The Kaine-Rendell rally was part of a nationwide effort yesterday to re-energize the generation of first-time voters who elected Obama in 2008 in time for the Nov. 2 general election .

The effort faces many challenges in a year when the "enthusiasm gap" favors Republicans.

The crowd stared blankly at Rendell when he asked if they had read a recent Time magazine cover story on federal stimulus spending. He later dropped a reference to an Inquirer editorial on health-care reform, saying he realized the students probably also did not read that.

Kaine told the crowd that Obama needs "good partners to work with" in Congress to succeed. He accused the Republicans of "only offering obstruction" to efforts to create jobs and extend tax breaks for small businesses.

"They are more interested in positioning themselves in the next election than they are in positioning the American people for success in the next generation," said Kaine, adding that Republicans want to "turn back the clock" on legislation to reform health care and Wall Street.

Kaine rattled off what he considered radical agendas for GOP candidates who want to privatize Social Security, close the U.S. Department of Education and pull out of the United Nations.