Ed Rendell says DNC chair shouldn't take the stage at Democratic convention
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who was once DNC chairman himself, said Monday he doesn't see the merit in allowing Debbie Wasserman Schultz to gavel in the party's convention amid an email scandal that has rocked the hearts of Bernie Sanders supporters.
"It's wrong for her and it's wrong for us," Rendell said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" about allowing Wasserman Schultz even a minimal role after she submitted her official resignation on Sunday.
Schultz said Sunday she will officially step down from her position as DNC chairwoman after the convention concludes on Thursday, but in the meantime, Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, an avid Clinton supporter, is predicted to become the official chairwoman for the convention.
Her leadership was called into question after WikiLeaks published 20,000 emails last Friday, revealing that multiple DNC staff members, including Wasserman Schultz, showed bias against Bernie Sanders during the primary campaign.
"Well, let me preface it by saying I really like Debbie, but I wouldn't," Rendell said about the embroiled chairwoman. "I wouldn't, number one, for her own good because it's going to get messy when she gets up there."
Things have already turned messy. When Wasserman Schultz addressed Florida delegates Monday morning at a breakfast meeting, a boisterous crowd, many of them Sanders supporters, booed the outgoing chair throughout her speech.
Some protesters stood close to the stage holding up Sanders signs and sheets of paper that read: "E-mails" and "No!"
One leaked set of emails from early May suggested Sanders might be an atheist, and that could be used by Hillary Clinton's campaign in helping sway Christian voters towards her side in West Virginia and Kentucky.
Rendell was also offended by the "religious tests" found in the leaked DNC emails.
"I am Jewish -- I am a non-practicing Jew. I was highly offended by that," Rendell said. "To question a guy's faith is just extremely low in politics. I couldn't believe that when I read it."
But although Rendell criticized the DNC, he insisted that bias was not what lost Sanders the primary race.
"The DNC is ineffectual during a primary," Rendell said. "There's not much they do."
Wasserman Schultz faces Sanders-backed Tim Canova in a Democratic primary in Florida on August 30.