Friday, September 15, 2006
Mysteries
With only a few days left to go in the Commonwealth's Gubernatorial Democratic Primary -- which Deval Patrick will win -- we're still mulling over the same questions that have dogged us for weeks.
1. What the hell was Chris Gabrielli thinking the last few years? As O'Brien's running mate he was perfectly positioned to set himself up as "The Candidate" of 2006. But apart from a few emails that trickled in from his office after the election, he disappeared from the radar screen only to appear too late in this election to make a difference.
Could someone so rich and smart simply be lazy? Or is he temperamentally above the party he longs to represent? His performance at the debate on Wednesday demonstrated that he's a brilliant man with a firm grasp on the realities of Massachusetts' economic, um, reality. So why didn't he spend the last four years doing the legwork to shore up some kind of ground support for a run at the job?
His campaign has been an air-war from the start, with little to no troop movement -- i.e., the people who will actually show up at the polls to vote in the primary. As such he's the classic candidate who polls better than he'll do on election day -- and that's a shame for the Democratic Party, because he's a guy Kerry Healey flat-out can't beat. He's for the tax cut -- and how -- and can't be tagged by any of the usual GOP smear tactics. But we suspect that on election day he'll place third at best, unless Reilly looks at the numbers and pulls out, and his people go to Gabrielli.
2. What is up with the Deval Patrick religion that has taken over the great bulk of the party? Look -- 201k would like nothing more than for Deval Patrick to win and actually embark upon the mission he apparently holds in his heart. But Patrick is the dream GOP opponent. As the only candidate who opposes the tax cut he is a gift from heaven for a GOP struggling with very little else to work with. If Gabrielli can make him squirm in a debate by asking for economic specifics, just imagine what the GOP will do to him.
We've seen too many progressive candidates march proudly off a cliff at the polls (Scott Harshbarger and Robert Reich, anyone?) because they just don't get the realities of the electorate here. We're doubly concerned when we see scores of recent arrivals to our state go all high-hat on the rank and file, denigrating them as "party lifers", etc. -- which, let's face it, is a class thing -- in total ignorance of history and reality. It's also shamefully disrespectful to the working-class roots of the party.
Memo to the true-believers: Mitt Romney won a lot of blue collar neighborhoods here last time. That's the reality we're dealing with. Yeah, it shocked and bummed us out, too. But that's WHAT HAPPENED. And here we are.
Maybe Patrick will be the exception. Maybe the Globe's endorsement (and the push over the top it gave Patrick) will do the trick. That would be great. But if history repeats itself, and the "ideal progressive candidate" goes down to defeat -- again -- in Massachusetts, we hope the true-believers will have more than just bitter recriminations to offer before they head off to Washington to work for a lobbying group and leave us with yet another gadfly Republican governor -- which would be five in a row.
3. What the hell is Tom Reilly doing? While the left -- especially the Phoenix -- attributes his bizarre decision-making to cynical calculation or secret right-wing sympathies, it just isn't that simple.
This is the guy that had it all. It was right there for him to take, in every city and town across the Commonwealth. He's the other guy Kerry Healey just can't beat. The Herald-endorsed Reilly is tough on crime, in favor of the tax cut, and squarer than Dudley Dooright. His only vulnerability -- beside his campaign's inability to put out grammatically correct literature -- is the Big Dig, which Kerry Healey won't touch with a ten-foot pole.
So why, oh why, is he opposed to repealing the 1913 anti-miscegenation law? Why does he support capital punishment? Why did he go after Billy Bulger? It's not as simple as painting him as a DINO or as a calculating cynic. Those just don't add up.
Moralist? Idiot? WTF, Tom? WTF have you been thinking?
A Gabrielli or Reilly win clinched the race for the Democratic party. Kerry Healey simply could not beat either of them. A Patrick win -- inevitable now -- makes for a race that the Dems can lose despite all indications to the contrary, especially once the national media rolls in shilling for the GOP and gunning for Patrick. We find ourselves hoping for a Murray win in the Lt. race mostly because his western roots -- and name, race, and gender -- will help Patrick.
Again, we'd like nothing more than for Patrick to win and carry-through on his promises to make Massachusetts the progressive beacon it should be. But progressives should not kid themselves: by nominating Deval Patrick they have made the most challenging strategic decision, giving life to the GOP and making the task of electing a Democratic governor much harder than it had to be.
It's a mystery. We shall see.
1. What the hell was Chris Gabrielli thinking the last few years? As O'Brien's running mate he was perfectly positioned to set himself up as "The Candidate" of 2006. But apart from a few emails that trickled in from his office after the election, he disappeared from the radar screen only to appear too late in this election to make a difference.
Could someone so rich and smart simply be lazy? Or is he temperamentally above the party he longs to represent? His performance at the debate on Wednesday demonstrated that he's a brilliant man with a firm grasp on the realities of Massachusetts' economic, um, reality. So why didn't he spend the last four years doing the legwork to shore up some kind of ground support for a run at the job?
His campaign has been an air-war from the start, with little to no troop movement -- i.e., the people who will actually show up at the polls to vote in the primary. As such he's the classic candidate who polls better than he'll do on election day -- and that's a shame for the Democratic Party, because he's a guy Kerry Healey flat-out can't beat. He's for the tax cut -- and how -- and can't be tagged by any of the usual GOP smear tactics. But we suspect that on election day he'll place third at best, unless Reilly looks at the numbers and pulls out, and his people go to Gabrielli.
2. What is up with the Deval Patrick religion that has taken over the great bulk of the party? Look -- 201k would like nothing more than for Deval Patrick to win and actually embark upon the mission he apparently holds in his heart. But Patrick is the dream GOP opponent. As the only candidate who opposes the tax cut he is a gift from heaven for a GOP struggling with very little else to work with. If Gabrielli can make him squirm in a debate by asking for economic specifics, just imagine what the GOP will do to him.
We've seen too many progressive candidates march proudly off a cliff at the polls (Scott Harshbarger and Robert Reich, anyone?) because they just don't get the realities of the electorate here. We're doubly concerned when we see scores of recent arrivals to our state go all high-hat on the rank and file, denigrating them as "party lifers", etc. -- which, let's face it, is a class thing -- in total ignorance of history and reality. It's also shamefully disrespectful to the working-class roots of the party.
Memo to the true-believers: Mitt Romney won a lot of blue collar neighborhoods here last time. That's the reality we're dealing with. Yeah, it shocked and bummed us out, too. But that's WHAT HAPPENED. And here we are.
Maybe Patrick will be the exception. Maybe the Globe's endorsement (and the push over the top it gave Patrick) will do the trick. That would be great. But if history repeats itself, and the "ideal progressive candidate" goes down to defeat -- again -- in Massachusetts, we hope the true-believers will have more than just bitter recriminations to offer before they head off to Washington to work for a lobbying group and leave us with yet another gadfly Republican governor -- which would be five in a row.
3. What the hell is Tom Reilly doing? While the left -- especially the Phoenix -- attributes his bizarre decision-making to cynical calculation or secret right-wing sympathies, it just isn't that simple.
This is the guy that had it all. It was right there for him to take, in every city and town across the Commonwealth. He's the other guy Kerry Healey just can't beat. The Herald-endorsed Reilly is tough on crime, in favor of the tax cut, and squarer than Dudley Dooright. His only vulnerability -- beside his campaign's inability to put out grammatically correct literature -- is the Big Dig, which Kerry Healey won't touch with a ten-foot pole.
So why, oh why, is he opposed to repealing the 1913 anti-miscegenation law? Why does he support capital punishment? Why did he go after Billy Bulger? It's not as simple as painting him as a DINO or as a calculating cynic. Those just don't add up.
Moralist? Idiot? WTF, Tom? WTF have you been thinking?
A Gabrielli or Reilly win clinched the race for the Democratic party. Kerry Healey simply could not beat either of them. A Patrick win -- inevitable now -- makes for a race that the Dems can lose despite all indications to the contrary, especially once the national media rolls in shilling for the GOP and gunning for Patrick. We find ourselves hoping for a Murray win in the Lt. race mostly because his western roots -- and name, race, and gender -- will help Patrick.
Again, we'd like nothing more than for Patrick to win and carry-through on his promises to make Massachusetts the progressive beacon it should be. But progressives should not kid themselves: by nominating Deval Patrick they have made the most challenging strategic decision, giving life to the GOP and making the task of electing a Democratic governor much harder than it had to be.
It's a mystery. We shall see.
