Joining Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) at the annual Philadelphia banquet of the Saudi-funded radical Islamic front group CAIR: none other than Democrat Governor Edward Rendell. CAIR is crowing over this one, with a press release on PR Newswire:

PHILADELPHIA, April 8 /USNewswire-PRNewswire/ — The Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-PA) today thanked that state’s governor for taking part in its first annual banquet Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Gov. Edward G. Rendell joined Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) in addressing a sold- out crowd of some 500 people who attended the event.

CAIR-PA thanked Rep. Sestak for refusing to back out of speaking at the dinner after facing rhetorical attacks from Islamophobic Internet bloggers who objected to his decision to address hundreds of local Muslims.

Sestak told dinner attendees: “CAIR does such important and necessary work in a difficult environment to change such perceptions and wrongs — from racial profiling and civil rights to promoting justice and mutual understanding — at a time when it is challenging to be an American-Muslim.”

“We need to claim our values, not betray them, by ensuring there is not a psychology that pulls out of the rich fabric of our American community those who look like ‘one of them.’ We are better than that,” said Sestak.

Other speakers at the dinner included Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center.

During the banquet, CAIR’s National Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed praised Sestak for having the moral fiber to speak to his Muslim constituents despite being “demonized and vilified by the right-wing media and pro-Israel extremists.”

Interesting choice of words: “pro-Israel extremists.” To Islamists, of course, being pro-Israel at all is considered extremism; after all, CAIR and their ilk would like to see Israel wiped out.