Ed Rendell: GOP Welfare Attack Is Starting To Work

“If you repeat a lie enough times and put enough money behind it, then people start believing it.”

Image by Paul Kuehnel / AP

CONCORD, N.C. — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell warned Democrats today that the Republican attack alleging that President Barack Obama gutted the welfare work requirement is taking hold.

“It’s starting to resonate,” he told the Maryland delegation at a breakfast. “It’s starting to affect blue-collar white voters.”

Rendell predicted that pushing back on the widely criticized attack will be a central component of the last Democratic president’s speech.

“I think the man that will push back on it will be the man that pushed for it and signed it — President Bill Clinton,” Rendell said, “but he can’t do it alone.”

Rendell repeatedly leveled the “liar” charge at GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, beginning with his false claim that he ran a sub-3:00 marathon.

“That’s not a tiny little mistake folks,” Rendell said, turning it into a broader narrative about Ryan’s character. “Paul Ryan can’t seem to tell the truth about anything.”

“He can’t seem to stay out of trouble,” he added about Ryan.

Asked why the welfare attack is working, a concerned Rendell told BuzzFeed, “If you repeat a lie enough times and put enough money behind it, then people start believing it.”