Massachusetts looks like they are about to elect another Republican governor:
Republican Charlie Baker has opened up a 9-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley, 45 percent to 36 percent, according to a new Globe poll that depicts a far more comfortable advantage than either candidate for governor has enjoyed in months.
The poll reflects an October surge in independent voters toward Baker’s column. It was independents who provided Governor Deval Patrick with his margins of victory in 2006 and 2010.
Baker’s standing has improved from last week’s poll, which showed the two candidates dead even. It can be attributed largely to the gains he has made in voters’ perceptions of who would improve the economy and manage state government, areas that already were tilting his way. At the same time, Baker has offset the deficits he faced on issues such as education and health care, where Coakley still holds an edge, but a diminished one.
First things first- is there ANYTHING that can be done to make sure she never has a chance to blow another election for Democrats? Why do voters keep rejecting her for higher office? I watched a little clip of the debate between the two of them, and there were not any superficial reasons to vote against her, she seems smart, polite, competent and focused, which is exactly what you want from your governor. Is it all about taxes as the clip suggests?
Second, what is the deal with Charlie Baker? I read his wikipedia page, checked out his website, and he seems to be not a teahadist lunatic, but really, you can make a lot of crazy stuff sound reasonable on a website. Basically, is he an insane crazy person?
Something about Baker does remind me of William Weld.
The Moar You Know
She must be for Dems in Mass what Tea Partiers are for Republicans here in CA; will always win the primary, can never win a general.
Speaking of CA, I’m betting Kashkari gets 27% of the vote. Not one percent more.
chopper
I’m starting to think that Martha is a republican plant.
Watching her campaign, I’m thinking some form of ficus.
Currants
Cole–Google baker + blue mass group. (Our blue blog up here.). Not good enough to do this via phone but that blog has been writing about Baker for some time.
Alex S.
That poll is an outlier. Other polls have it as a toss-up, which of course is not that great for her either.
GregB
She supports Ebola!
big ole hound
No matter what is said New Englanders are conservative except for some cities where colleges are located. That makes polling risky so it is probably a little closer than thought even though rural voter tend to be more likely voters.
Betty Cracker
I want Coakley to win because I don’t want any Republican to win anywhere, ever. But yeah, it makes you wonder. Perhaps Coakley hasn’t lived down that “You expect me to stand out in the cold at Fenway to shake voters’ hands?!?” thing. Maybe she never will.
Belafon
I’m going with 1) she’s a lousy campaigner, and 2) Mass voters have not experienced crazy Republican.
JPL
She did mention during the debate, that she’s suppose to laugh more. I don’t think it’s her nature though. She’s bright, capable, and blah.
Cambridge Chuck
In 2010 when he ran against Deval Patrick, Baker was a climate change skeptic and wouldn’t commit to keeping Massachusetts in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This time around he’s downplaying it and sidestepping it, and the press has let him get away with it. But he’s bad news from a climate perspective.
catclub
@big ole hound:
They also said that Obama would not have been elected except for all the black and latino voters.
The cities are where the people are.
shortstop
@GregB: That made me snort.
2liberal
mass had repub governors from 1991 to 2007 and coakley isn’t going to motivate black and hispanic voters the way Patrick did
this happens in RI also – voters don’t like the corrupt and self interested democratic super majorities and elect republicans as an antidote
kindness
@2liberal: Don’t compare Rhode Island to Massachusetts. Night and day.
Phoebe
Baker has done a good job reinventing himself, with a lot of media support. It’s mostly a low-information-voter problem, compounded by the ugly fact that Martha Coakley is just a terrible campaigner. (Full disclosure: I volunteered for the Berwick campaign, in a part of WMass where we actually won the primary, so I’m not entirely unbiased.) She’s working hard and not taking the election for granted this time, but she doesn’t exactly inspire and connect with people on an emotional level the way the really great campaigners do — the way Maura Healey does, for example. And without that, it was always clear that she was going to struggle against any white Republican dude who could project an air of moderation and reasonableness. She’d likely have crushed Teahardist Charlie Baker, but this round we’re not getting Teahardist Charlie Baker.
That said, we’re not giving up on the governor’s race here. And polls like this one may be helpful on one level: they’re a useful wake-up call for those of us who may not love Coakley for herself alone, but understand that there’s no universe in which Baker is an acceptable alternative.
gvg
I have heard something about when she was attorney general or something. Apparently she did actually do something, prosecute the innocent?. I read about it awhile back but not in depth enough to really clue me in. So even people whi know about the need to get democrats in, have problems with her. I don’t think it was normal not good enough purity politics, I think it was something pretty serious, but the Mass writers knew too much and didn’t give enough background for an out of stater looking in
Another Holocene Human
Cole, after all this time, are you still wondering why Mass voters refuse to pull the lever for that vile shitbag?
Google AMIRAULT
And be advised, that was NOT an aberration. That’s just the most infamous example.
She is a vile human being, and the Mass gov is not that powerful. Most of the GOP govs before Romney managed to do almost nothing in office (state treasurer is another matter of course … if you’re really curious google Trixie Trischetta and the Unpaid Check Fund). Although William Weld DID fund Gay Straight Alliances in high schools. One point of good karma against his privatization of state services bullshit.
Tenar Darell
I think it’s something like “It’s her turn, but she’s not one of the boys….” The state party just seems to have limply supported her. And there may also be guilt from not having fought for her well in 2010.
My impression of Baker is he’s an upper class insider, who is borrowing parts of Scott Brown’s playbook. (There’s a lot of people who remember Weld, Romney etc. with fondness for their pushback against our very Democratic legislature. They forget the absentee Governor-ing).
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker:
You’re catching on.
More than can be said for certain others.
Tree With Water
Governor Grey Davis of California ended up being unjustly recalled in large part because he had the personality of a plate of mash potatoes. Twenty years before that, Tom Bradley lost his race for governor in large part because he was also personality deprived. No doubt the color of Bradley’s skin was the determining factor in his defeat, but I also believe Californians would have elected another black candidate, if that candidate had some pizzaz in his/her personality. I even remember when Pete Wilson was considered bona fide presidential timber by the national press- that is, until he opened his mouth and put them to sleep.
srv
DFW crowd takes down angry white man
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: Coakley hasn’t lived down that “You expect me to stand out in the cold at Fenway to shake voters’ hands?!?” thing.
That was one of the most egregious own-goals I can think of in politics, anywhere. That she’s too dumb to know it permanently disqualified her from political office is another strike agaisnt her, as if another was needed.
Cervantes
@Tree With Water:
Say, whatever happened to Willie Brown?
Gin & Tonic
@kindness: Curious which you consider the night, and which the day?
J.W. Hamner
Misogyny. A lot of old liberals still can’t stomach a woman being in charge. Before Warren we hadn’t elected a single woman to statewide office… and we’ve had 4 women in Congress ever… and simply electing Warren does not erase all that baggage.
Which is not to say Coakley is a great candidate… she’s not… but she is fighting a more uphill battle than you think.
Another Holocene Human
@The Moar You Know: Not really, she wins the primary because there is a machine. The CA GOP could only dream of such riches.
The MA Dem party is deeply troubled. It has this very illiberal, corrupt machine which controls Da Money and a lot of fucking votes. This is why voters above a certain social class, especially males who have less at stake, have a tendency to flip to GOP for governor elections … they’re all for the D POTUS, love unabashed, but feel completely righteous shutting down another shitty machine pic for gov. And they’re all shitty, pretty much. Deval Patrick had sort of machiney bonafides but he was okay. I would argue he actually won because being a Clinton admin alum is a net positive in Massachusetts especially with the geriatric voters and because he was an outsider and therefore less suspect. But now that he’s gone the party’s back to their usual garbage.
Part of the whole Green Party insurgency several years ago (that put Romney in office, you have to realize, for a GOP candidate, Romney was terrible AND the last accidental GOP gov had been a disaster, so him winning was not at all guaranteed) was pent up frustration by inner ring suburban voters tired of taking up the ass all the time, tired of the Southie bullying, tired of the reactionary politics, tired of the mockery of democracy, tired of being used. Unfortunately their figurehead candidate, while really smaaaht, was not any kind of politician and it showed. Jill Stein’s biggest accomplishment in life was to inadvertantly–and I truly believe this was inadvertant–pants Machine D gubernatorial candidate Shannon O’Brien. But O’Brien and the machine did it to themselves. They were prepared for Empty Suit Romney but not for somebody who (appealing to the scads of college and college-plus educated Boston metro residents) could actually read a fucking spreadsheet and understand it. It’s too bad actually because I think O’Brien probably would have been a good custodian, goofing off while the Lege did its thing and not fucking around and pissing on all of the shrubbery like Romney did in office IT’S MDC GOD DAMNIT, NOT DPR! Romney’s campaign yard signs had a broom on them.
Cervantes
Massachusetts has a history of electing non-wingnut Republican governors vs. a veto-proof Democratic legislature. And no, Baker is not a wingnut, he’s pretty much a standard issue archaic New England Republican, talks about keeping taxes down and efficient government, steers clear of the social issues. He’s basically running as a good manager, and he does have some cred for that. Voters are looking at a few recent debacles, Department of Public Health and Children, Youth and Families; could have happened under any governor’s watch I suppose but they don’t see Coakley as the technocrat. Mass. voters don’t mind Republican governors because they know they won’t really have any policy making power. Also, the Democratic establishment doesn’t work hard for Democratic gubernatorial candidates because they want to keep the power center in the legislative leadership. It’s a familiar dynamic in Massachusetts, Coakley just isn’t inspiring enough to overcome it.
SatanicPanic
@Cervantes: I think he just got old. Kamala Harris will probably be governor at some point, unless she runs for Senate
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
I think that’s about right.
Plus it gainsays a lot of other theorizing about Massachusetts politics.
Cervantes
@Cervantes: Fancy meeting you here.
Another Holocene Human
@gvg: Some Massachusientis and their families have personally been on the receiving end of her careerist excess, also, too.
She’s got huge support (yuuuge support?) among white females d’un certain age but that demo is not enough to win a general.
TriassicSands
I suspect the problem is less with Coakley than with the voters. Yeah, it’s Massachusetts, but it more significant that it’s the United States, where voters are ignorant, lazy, and a danger to themselves and others.
celticdragonchick
Coakley has a very troubling record as a prosecuter.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31413_Page2.html
On going after chronic pain patiants (like me)…
Sorry, but there is not way in hell I could vote for a woman who might come after me for being in pain managment and who kept people in prison for satanic sex fantasy abuse stories derived from debunked repressed memory testimony (like in the McMartin preschool case in orange County, California)
I’m a human being before being a Democrat.
SatanicPanic
@TriassicSands: Some voters. If we don’t think of the majority as perfectly capable of picking good candidates then we might as well quit democracy altogether
Suffern ACE
We talk of turning red states purple and blue, but Republicans are more likely to someday retake New York long before there’s another Democratic governor in Texas.
Another Holocene Human
@Tenar Darell: They forget Paul “Bumbles” Cellucci, who did whatever the Speaker of the House told him to do … that was the deal, the Speaker stabbed Harshbarger in the back (a Dem, but one who *gasp* investigated corruption by other Dems as AG, not just Republicans), and then Cellucci was his boy.
Here’s the godawful truth about Massachusetts–the Speaker of the House is way more powerful than the Governor. The exburbs and even the closer in burbs have figured out that they can exert at least leverage in this one election by swinging away from the machine, although it’s not clear that the GOPers they put in charge do much for them … hell, I think the last one who actually did something for them was Weld, when he beat Silber, kind of an ugly choice, that election. Btw, Silber is an extremely horrible person. He may be worse than Romney.
kc
Good news! There’s gonna be an “open carry” demonstration in St. Louis this weekend.
Link: http://www.stltoday.com/news/open-carry-firearm-walk-scheduled-for-saturday-afternoon-in-downtown/article_0f8e198f-8271-536d-b74d-a2652c16b972.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
dave
@Another Holocene Human: That’s probably similar to why I will not be voting for Cuomo. Can’t stand him not really a liberal and NY state can do much better. Of course he will win and I would if it was close. Won’t be voting for Astorino either, because forget that I refuse to vote for an R until the party finds sanity then it will only be highly unlikely I will. So the Green candidate or somesuch it is for me.
the Conster
She’s a terrible campaigner. I’ve gone to her rallies, and she doesn’t engage at all. She’s by nature diffident, and she looks like she’d rather be doing anything else than meeting people. Charlie Baker looks like he’s enjoying himself, and acts and speaks confidently. When people think about leadership, that’s what they want to see.
cokane
I wouldn’t sweat an R in Mass… Dems have a super majority in the leg
Trollhattan
@Tree With Water:
And ironically, Davis was recalled solely because Pete Wilson’s electricity deregulation gift to the utilities blew up on Davis’ watch. Oh, the irony….
In the meantime up in Maine, actual sociopath LePage might be reelected because the ticket is being split three ways.
Stav
It’s that she is a craven, terrible person who has always punched down and kissed up. People in MA pay very close attention to our pols. This “me, me, me” thing has been around since her first run for state rep. It became very visible as Middlesex DA where she followed Tom Rielly who was just as craven and disgusting (and also went on to AG before failing at Gov). Martha wins the primary because a huge number of women were ready to overlook or defend her horrible flaws for the excitement of our first female governor which should have been somewhat easy against the also dislikable Charlie Baker. Unfortunately you cannot find a Democrat who wants to vote for her. I promised one of her bundlers I’d send a check because I like him. A day later I called and said “I just can’t do it, I’m gonna have a hard time even pulling the lever for her.” His response: “I totally get it.”
pseudonymous in nc
And Charlie Pierce has talked about the WEEI demographic before: blue-collar, conservative working class, willing to vote for Scott Brown or Romney / Weld / this guy over the machine option. Part of it is Massholes being Massholes, part of it is the anti-establishment vote.
A different variety of this gives you Andrew Cuomo.
Another Holocene Human
@TriassicSands: Yes, I’m sure that’s it, the same electorate that voted for Barack Obama by a spread of 23 points, which might as well be the grand canyon, the state where 39% of adult residents had a bachelor’s degree or higher, the highest ratio in the entire country in 2011, yup, that electorate is just lazy, ignorant, and has no idea what side their bread is buttered on. I’m sure that’s it.
Boring lefty troll is boring.
Another Holocene Human
@celticdragonchick:
Infuriating — she gets her box top medical degree from listening to WBZ and that settles it.
I do remember when pharmacies were getting knocked down left and right in Mass for Oxycontin … I was there, fuck, I was at the other end of a CVS working when someone pulled a smash in grab at the pharmacy counter at the other end … this tells you everything and too much about how Coakley’s mind works. She — and I know some people may find this hard to swallow — is a wingnut. A Democratic wingnut. Because in Massachusetts you can be a raging-amygdala wingnut and a Democrat. It’s true.
(Perhaps “authoritarian” would be the accurate technical term here.)
Another Holocene Human
damn it, you trolled me with Oxy into typing the forbidden world, celticdragonchick
also I am OMG so pissed now
Trollhattan
@SatanicPanic:
Suspect Willie wanted to go and make some real money, which I’m sure he has. Have always belived we passed term limits because Brwon had been so successful making assembly speaker into a very powerful position Term limits have really watered down state government, and not to its betterment.
Fellow Californians should keep an eye on the state controller race. If Ashley Swearengin wins you’re going to see her groomed for much bigger things. Haven’t seen a candidate with her perfect Stepford Wife vibe in many, many years. She’s a Fox anchor with an actual vocabulary.
Another Holocene Human
@SatanicPanic: Pure lefties do not believe in democracy. They do, however, believe in violent revolution. The relative success throughout history of these two approaches apparently is only persuasive to sellouts, fools, and counterrevolutionaries, amirite?
Cervantes
@Trollhattan:
True, and true enough.
Cervantes
@Stav: For what it’s worth, I agree with you but sent the check regardless.
lgerard
MA Democrats have a history of nominating gubernatorial duds ( John Silber anyone?), but it makes no difference as the state is run by a small band of legislative insiders, and Republican governors have to make peace with them. Weld did it by making their jobs full time (and doubling their salaries), Mitt did it by signing off on health care reform and Cellucci did it by being invisible.
The last really effective governor of MA was, believe it or not, Dukakis.
Baker is a less greedy version of Mitt in that he will perhaps publicly espouse some Republican positions and talking points, but will end up trying to be an efficient manager, because that is what MA is really about.
Tree With Water
@kindness: In what sense is it night and day? Does human nature vary that much between the citizens of the two states?
Cervantes
@celticdragonchick:
I agree.
@2liberal:
And not only then, either.
@Another Holocene Human:
Worse than The Inner Romney, you mean? (Assuming there is such a thing.)
Another Holocene Human
@pseudonymous in nc: I’d be really interested to see if there was a demographic breakdown of Weld voters in the Silber race. That race really frightened a lot of D women and I also recall that union members HATED Weld. I don’t know about his second race where he (in my mind, unjustly) coasted to victory, but the first one that fractured the D supermajority. It was all about abortion rights but that was just the outer edge as Silber is just a deeply, deeply misogynistic person.
I think if you’re going to blame the “WEEI” set for anything, it was that when the labor councils were endorsing a gubernatorial candidate, they didn’t give a SHIT about Silber’s record on women’s reproductive rights.
And it STILL doesn’t DQ you for a labor endorsement in Boston to this day–Stephen fucking cheated the government but don’t you try it Lynch got labor endorsements–even from unions with a lot of women in them, non Catholic women at that, omg I was pissed–despite being openly anti-abortion but thankfully the suburban men turned out with their wives to shut that whole thing down. I bet machine-town was fuming that a dyed in the wool suburbanite got that seat that shoulda been theirs. Motherfuckers.
SatanicPanic
@Another Holocene Human: Of course! I’m not joining the capitalist-roaders and voting
Arclite
@Cervantes:
How do failures like the Big Dig factor into this election?
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: Hm, I don’t know if he’s worse than the private life Romney that was whispered about in 2012, actually. You know, the critiquing his family members till they cry, torturing dogs, running with scissors to bully other students Romney. That Romney is really, really bad. Food for thought.
But politically, binders of women Romney was into political expedience whereas Silber’s beef with women and girls just seems personal.
Another Holocene Human
@Arclite: I’m curious as to others’ responses who still live in Boston. To me the Big Dig was eons ago in political time. Also, so many high profile GOP pols had their fingers in fucking up portions of that project that it’s hard for Mass GOP to point fingers and blame Dems as I’m sure they wanted to back when it was a giant issue for the state. (Weld gave out an important engineering design contract to his buddies from California, who proceeded to fuck up and waste time and money, Kerasiotes tried to hide cost overages by raiding the MBTA budget, Cellucci was Cellucci, I mean it was a cluster.)
I feel like Mass has moved on. They are funding a north side Green line extension and working on Connecticut Valley commuter rail, the sort of stuff that was deep-sixed or put on hold while the Project That Ate The Budget was still raging.
The Moar You Know
@Another Holocene Human: So, she was behind the Mass version of McMartin? I always felt that everyone behind the persecution of McMartin should be been publicly executed.
I doubt that’s why Mass voters have suddenly turned their backs on her en masse but if I’d ever found out a politician was involved in those kinds of shenanigans I’d go to the wall to get their opponent elected, Republican or no. Some things can just not be forgiven.
Tree With Water
@Cervantes: Willie wielded more power as Speaker than he ever would have as governor. Besides, back then his act wore a little thin on people outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. California’s republican party had yet to commit suicide and was still a formidable force, while everything south of Monterey was Nixon/Reagan country.
Tenar Darell
@Another Holocene Human: Re: Silber, my mother disliked that man. He made lots if enemies at BU. I vaguely remember that lots came out during the election. As for the Boston centric nature of our state government, well, I cannot argue with that. That’s been a problem going back at least to the 1870’s, and I suspect even earlier. It’s why “The Hub” is so apt, it’s both aspirational, and descriptive. /joke
The Moar You Know
@srv: What is truly terrifying about that video is the way the TSA guys just sit there with their thumbs in their asses and then as soon as the drunk dipshit starts swinging, they vanish. Completely. The crowd has to take him down; which they do with some admirable efficiency. The cops are much nicer to him than I might have been, so good on them for that as well.
Every TSA “officer” that can be identified in that video should be fired immediately.
The Moar You Know
@Cervantes: He went blind. Sorry to say that’s not a joke.
shortstop
@Another Holocene Human:
And yet a lot of the Brown voters were white males below a certain social class.
Another Holocene Human
@Tenar Darell: Worcester (in Central Mass, and for the uninitiated it’s “wooster” but not rhyming with rooster if you catch my drift, oh, and the Central and Eastern Mass ways of pronouncing it are subtly different) used to be one of the largest cities in New England. Of course lots of places used to be one of the biggest cities (or biggest ports) in New England at one time or another. For Worcester I think it was right around after 1900. Lots of 20’s vintage construction. And it’s walkable. If cheesy.
Silber at BU was no less vile after
winningETA: WTF? LOSING the election. I had kind of a ringside seat to a lot of it … I feel bad for all the girls who were raped precisely because of his shit policies … and all the girls who were raped and couldn’t get a modicum of justice, because ditto … and all the girls who got academically sanctioned because of circumstances out of their control, like the girl who stayed in a boy’s dorm overnight WITH THE FLU who got dinged. But of course it was great for getting rich kids foreign students from autocratic countries or at least parents because of their “reputation”! Oh, your child is more likely to get raped here but we promise to go over and above in slut shaming.Tree With Water
@The Moar You Know: I don’t think so. Willie writes a Sunday column for the San Francisco Chronicle, which often includes a movie review.
Another Holocene Human
@shortstop: There is a bit of discorrelation here between “lack of class” and “income”. Drive around the exurbs some day. (You’ll have to drive, because there is no bus.)
Another Holocene Human
Also, some people might be under the illusion that Red Sox fan = working class, struggling, alcoholic yob.
You would be wrong.
Red Sox fan = entitled asshat professional salaried foul-mouthed douchebag.
You’re welcome.
ETA: working class –> Pats fans
The Moar You Know
@Tree With Water: I know. But he’s had macular degeneration for over twenty years. He’s very good at hiding it – but he really can’t see anymore.
Another Holocene Human
@The Moar You Know:
Shit, you and I both know they’re not paid enough for that crap, nor are they trained for it*, nor do their bosses want to pay the workers’ comp claims.
TSA are flunkies. Also blue shirt means they are the flunkiest of flunkies. I didn’t see any white shirt supervisors around.
Should someone have intervened? Arguably, one of the airline employees should have done something, imo, but they didn’t–thankfully this guy didn’t take a swing out of nowhere, he had an audience and the audience took him down.
*-if you have ever had to sit through TSA trainings, which I have, not for airport obviously, it’s immediately glaring how little they train you for ordinary criminal situations that happen 100s of times a year, while they have you looking for one in a million bomb plots and crap
Cervantes
@Cervantes: I’m the real Cervantes.
Cervantes
@Arclite: Long forgotten. And not exactly a failure, just way over budget.
Tenar Darell
@Another Holocene Human: I wasn’t paying much attention (not living here) at the time, but weren’t the first bids really too low? There was a lot of horse trading about the airport tunnel because it was first, right? Weren’t there necessary slowdowns due to finding cool archeological stuff? Didn’t the mitigation efforts run into lots of NIMBY delays… Or am I misremembering?
As for successful, how do you judge that… Real estate on the water is now significantly more lucrative, people want to come and visit downtown, etc. I remember visiting Faneuil Hall in the 70’s, just when the first plans began towards arranging for the Big Dig. Crossing under the highway to get to the North End for dessert or to the Aquarium was not pleasant. Just like the disneyfication of Times Square, it has been successful if that definition includes money, tourists, and real estate values. The sucking sound of most transportation money being directed to the Dig for years, well that’s just Boston Jake.
Another Holocene Human
@Tenar Darell:
What happened with Weld was that his Cali patronage pic first of all didn’t fucking understand Boston geology, which cost them a lot of time/money and they didn’t understand Boston politics either. They proposed a massive mixing bowl on Somerville’s doorstep and Somerville, which has a chip about being dumped on anyway, went fucking apeshit. As well they should have. I wouldn’t call that NIMBYism although I’m sure there was the usual share of NIMBYs out there (and Somerville and Cambridge have plenty).
The result, after a humbling withdrawal of the old proposal, was the Zakim Bridge, which is great, except for that FHWA rule about not allowing ped access on designated interstates, dunno if they ever got a waiver on that. (I did walk the bridge when it opened.)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Another Holocene Human: This is what I’ve heard too, from a guy who works for Deval Patrick. I think Patrick was essentially outside the machine (that’s the way my friend tells it anyway) but won a 3 way primary and, being a gifted politician, didn’t screw his chance up. But…from what my friend, who has considered a run for Congress in Massachusetts, tells me…you have to be plugged in to the machine to get anywhere, as a general rule. The machine he talked about is based in Brookline, a tony suburb of Boston. You gotta kiss their ring to get support.The problem is that the machine picks unlikeable candidates because they don’t like the people normal people like.
Another Holocene Human
@Tenar Darell: The causeway was literally crumbling by the time the project started. So successful, yes. Visionary.
Problems: unnecessary cost overruns due to patronage, loss of the federal funding (which may have had little to do with local politics, more of a national spite thing), chunks of concrete falling from the tunnel ceiling and killing people due to lousy project management.
The airport tunnel was a big success. There was a lot of stupidity around mitigation, because the cronied up assholes at Fan Pier (I think it was Fan Pier) in the BRA didn’t want to see trolley wires so they bought these hyper-expensive dual mode vehicles because they were told on no uncertain terms that they weren’t running diesel in the tunnel. That was bullshit.
But I’m still angry about Silver Line, probably always will be.
Another Holocene Human
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Oh yeah, Brookline. Your friend probably knows better than I do at this point. There was a power base in Southie, though, still is but probably not what it once was. They closed the Gillette factory for one thing.
Captain C
@Gin & Tonic: About the only thing worse would have been if she had worn a Yankee jersey with Aaron Boone’s number while campaigning.
Tenar Darell
@Another Holocene Human: Makes sense. NIMBY is probably not right the term to use. Based on the history of what happened when state government tried to strong arm local communities on the original I-95 extension, the absolute necessity for making sure all the many stakeholders were accommodated was not only perfectly rational, but frickin’ brilliant. (I forgot all about those California contractor issues).
Tree With Water
@The Moar You Know: I’m truly sorry to hear that. You’re sure right in saying has low keyed the fact he is afflicted. I know from experience with members of my family what a rotten, horribly frustrating thing it is to deal with on a daily basis.
Another Holocene Human
@Captain C: She wouldn’t have made it out of Boston alive.
shortstop
@Another Holocene Human: I have no idea what your own parameters are, but I’m talking about economic class. A not inconsiderable number of not-wealthy white guys who are at least nominally Democrats voted for Scott Brown.
rikyrah
Been trying to understand this. You know that she was going to NOT debate this clown last week? Maddow said so. She was going to have a ‘ scheduling conflict’, until someone slapped her upside the head about it. Her political instincts seem to SUCK.
Cervantes
@Tree With Water: He has retinitis pigmentosa.
The Moar You Know
@Another Holocene Human: Point taken, but then what are they there for? I don’t wanna be “that guy” but those folks are the walking definition of “useless government employee” if there ever was one, and there’s a lot of them and they cost a hell of a lot of money in the bargain.
The civs weren’t trained for it, either, and they got paid nothing. Drunk Young Captain America was going to beat up a (possibly queer) guy three times his age, half his weight and six inches shorter. You don’t walk away from that. No props to the camera guy either, who let a bunch of folks older and frailer than him do the dirty work. Shoulda handed the cam off to his mother and stepped up to help. Best I can give him is that his video will absolutely land that teatard fucker in jail for a while.
Gotta give the victim props for doing absolutely the right thing when the guy took a kick at him; grabbed the leg, put his head down, and tried to dump him on his ass. Kept him from getting his jaw or nose broke at the very least.
Feel bad for the pink shirt guy who broke his ankle (you can hear it about 1:20) but at least that’s an injury you can be proud of. He and the cowboy hat guy – both in their fifties at least – did the lion’s share of the work at taking that asshole down.
JR in WV
@chopper:
Where would you like your intertubes delivered? ‘Cause you just won for the best short snark of the day!
“Some form of Ficus!”
Another Holocene Human
@shortstop: I thought we were talking about the governor’s races?
Another Holocene Human
@The Moar You Know: Of course the TSA is useless. That’s what happens with you get all-hat-no-competence neocon power humpers who rule through fear in charge of anything. TSA has been a joke since day one.
I also took note that the most recent push to get rid of them came from a group that had a financial stake in outsourcing TSA plus some conservative activists who were hella pissed that the TSA workers were unionizing.
It’s Homeland Security and the whole idea of Homeland Security that’s wrong, not the low level wage slaves who took the best job they could get at the time.
ETA: how do you know the civs weren’t trained for it, they looked pretty muscular, they could be ex-mil, ex-cop, off-duty cop, bouncers, roughnecks, martial arts enthusiasts, ex-football players, ex-college wrestlers, I mean “the public” encompasses multitudes here
Another Holocene Human
a lot of my coworkers are ex-mil, ex-cop, ex-college wrestler, ex-street brawler, ex-prison guard, lifetime redneck …
pick a fight in public, it’s like that box o’ chocolates – ya never know what you’re gonna get
Bobby Thomson
@Cervantes: I’m Brian and so’s my wife.
Fred Fnord
@celticdragonchick: Alas, that’s not a disqualification. In fact, in the main, that’s a requirement. “Sure, people are innocent until proven guilty, but this is a child sex abuse case, and child sex abusers aren’t people, so the person accused must be guilty, right?”
The Moar You Know
@Another Holocene Human: Truth. I’m just seeing guys that look like me, and I ride a computer network for a living. If I hadn’t played in bars for twenty years previous, where you will learn some things about fights whether you want to or not, I’d be as useless in that situation as a pillow.
Totally agree. Look, it’s make-work. I get that (both my father and my father in law were lifelong military/commercial pilots, I know WAY too much about just how useless TSA is). It’s a slightly better job than fast-food, still plenty shitty with more abuse and lots of body odor on top. I wouldn’t want to do it. But dealing with this sort of thing absolutely should be a part of their jobs, and if it isn’t, I see no point in those jobs continuing to exist.
Did they unionize? I hope so.
joel hanes
@The Moar You Know:
but then what are [rank-and-file TSA blue-shirts] there for?
Political theater. They’re there to make you feel attacked and afraid so you’ll vote Republican.
Mike E
Apparently there’s no such thing as Peak Coakley either, also. Too.
Marc
And more importantly, why do Dems keep nominating her? Did they not learn their lesson after Scott Brown?
This is the one race in the country where I won’t be pissed if a Republican wins. Coffee is for closers, Massholes.
Vlad
IIRC, Coakley was one of the people responsible for this moment of supreme idiocy. I wouldn’t hire anyone involved in the government response to that to run a popsicle stand, so I can understand why the voters don’t seem to want to trust her, either.
Bystander
I never realized Coakley’s role in the railroading of the Amiraults. That “I’ll show them how tough I am” b/s stems from the fear that doing the right thing will result in Repub smears about wussiness.
I’m afraid of the possibility of a streak of that in HRC. I never believed that she actually believed Bush Jr. about aluminum tubes. I don’t have that feeling in the cases of Warren and Gilibrand.
scuffletuffle
@srv: Awesome video, but …Do not read the comments.
Don K
@celticdragonchick:
Amen, sister. Luckily, here in MI, we need actual Republican AGs (like our present AG Schuette, who opposed the medical marijuana initiative, which was approved 63-37 and was approved in every county in the state, and did his damnedest to try to ensure it wasn’t implemented) to go on these kinds of jihads. IIRC, Scott Harshbarger, Coakley’s predecessor as Middlesex prosecutor who actually prosecuted the Amirault case, also became AG, so I suppose MA voters eat this kind of shit up. I can see the TV ads about how Harshbarger “put dangerous sexual predators in day-care centers behind bars” now. I guess it’s what happens when Dems try to out law-and-order the Reps. My husband relies on Oxycontin to try to keep the pain from his MS to a manageable level, and I’d really hate it if an AG on an ideological bender sent the state cops after us.
Kerry Reid
I phone banked for Coakley in her Senate race because I knew she’d be a fairly reliable Dem vote, despite my HUGE problems with her record as Massachusetts AG. But I too can’t get too worked up over her losing the governor’s race. (By the way, apparently a lot of papers have stopped using “gubernatorial.” Just when we have more goobers than ever in state office.)
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
She’s blah? But she looks why in all her pictures.
shortstop
@Another Holocene Human: Is it your assertion that a lot of non-wealthy Democrat-identifying white guys who declined to vote for Coakley in a Senate race will get her back in a gubernatorial race?
ellennellee
@Belafon: um, really? scott brown not crazy enough?
Regnad Kcin
@Another Holocene Human: Musta passed you on the bridge that day.
I also walked the central artery tunnel when they opened that up to pedestrian traffic.
goblue72
@Another Holocene Human: As a former Masshole – this is so spot on its scary.
goblue72
@Another Holocene Human: Well the airport tunnel was the whole point of the entire project – but Salvucci couldn’t sell anyone on just an airport tunnel.
Ya don’t like the Silvah Line?
goblue72
@Another Holocene Human: That and the yuppies have completed invaded half of Southie. And the rest of the City could give two squats. Most of the City probably cheered the yuppies pushing the townies into the harbor.
pluky
@Another Holocene Human: I’ve lived in Massachusetts since 1981. In that time I’ve only voted for two Republicans, one of them was Bill Weld over John Silber. Four of the 11 people I shared a house with in Allston were either current or former BU students. To a one, they loathed John Silber, and could in great detail explain why.