Ed Rendell Apologizes For 'More Ugly Women Than Attractive Women' Comment

By Natasha Brown

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Never one to mince words, Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was quick to offer up an apology following comments he made during a recent Washington Post interview.

"What I said was incredibly stupid and insensitive," Rendell said.

The former Governor was at 30th Street Station on Wednesday afternoon. The outspoken democrat found himself in a firestorm of controversy, after offering his thoughts on Donald Trump's prospects of success in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Rendell told the paper, "Will he have some appeal to working class Dems in Levittown or Bristol? Sure." Rendell goes on to say Trump's past comments about women will likely come back to haunt him.

"For every one, he'll lose one and a half, two republican women. Trump's comments like 'you can't be a 10 if you're flat-chested,' that'll come back to haunt him. There are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women. People take that stuff personally."

Rendell tried to clear up what he intended to say:

"When I read it in the article I said 'did I say that?' It was just dumb and stupid and insensitive and if I offended anybody, I apologize sincerely. What I was trying to say is we all have those sort of self image qualms or questions about ourselves and by attacking someone's looks, he was attacking an awful lot of people and that's the point I was trying to make, but I sure picked a lousy way to say it."

Shauna Shames is a political science professor at Rutgers University. She says while Rendell's choice of words were inappropriate, it's no coincidence that comments about women, women's issues and female voters are at the forefront of this election.

"He has a bit of foot in mouth disease," Shames said. "Women have been a key demographic in the last couple of elections and women can sway the electorate."

In:
• Ed Rendell
• Donald Trump
• Philadelphia