Mixing Sour Grapes And Humble Pie

I was curious to find out what spin Andy Warren would put on his Democratic primary defeat yesterday, so I went to his website to find out. The problem is that he hasn’t updated it yet, and I couldn’t find anything in his blog either (of course I couldn’t…that only has POSITIVE news, remember?). It’s possible that he may not update it at all, and he has the right not to do that; I’ll grant him that much.

Much more important, though, is the fact that PATRICK MURPHY WON by waging a hard-fought, intelligent, issues-oriented campaign.

Warren said that the reason he lost was because of low-voter turnout and the fact that he was a Republican until last summer (cue the tinny violin). I would add that it was also because his campaign “issues,” such as the supposed residency question and, to quote Mimi Reimel of his “brain trust,” what Murphy did as a “claims adjuster” in Iraq, which antagonized more than a voter or two around here.

I read that, by the way, in today’s Bucks County Courier Times which, as far as I’m concerned, is hard pressed at this moment to consider itself a serious newspaper after its editorial board endorsed Warren a few days ago, despite the fact that it published this accurate summation of Warren’s campaign last month:

The Warren campaign has yet to come up with an original idea or proposal to change the direction of our country-either at home, or abroad. Instead, he has chosen to run a "me too" campaign that adopts others' positions as his own and to engage in a purely negative campaign that focuses on trivial issues and divisive attacks. (The Bucks County Courier Times, 4/19/06)

Warren (quoting today's news report) said that “Patrick Murphy is the 8th district candidate, and we need to support the 8th district Democratic candidate.” Well, acknowledging reality is always a good start.

Now, finally, at least, we can take a bit – just a bit – of a break for now. And Andy can finally go back to Ed Rendell and beg, borrow, or steal for his old PennDOT job where he can do no more harm than to antagonize area motorists in the media every so often just to let us know he’s still alive.