(In the Democratic Primary) For Secretary of State:

The Chimes at Midnight heartily endorses William Galvin for re-election.

Humble Elias doesn't agree with more than a few of Galvin's political views, but remains impressed with his populist credentials and his commitment to preserving a paper based balloting system here in Massachusetts. He is not a perfect ideological fit with the Chimes at Midnight, but he is a serious man and an able public servant to dispense with him now would be foolish & quixotic.

Currently Secretary Galvin is faced with a primary challenge by one Jon Bonifaz, who is running on a voting rights platform.
Fair enough, no balloting system is 100% foolproof and there is always room for improvement here in Massachusetts. However, the Office of Secretary of State handles more than election mechanics and there seems little in Bonifaz' resume to suggest that he is ready to step up in the areas of corporate licensing and regulation.
And the guy voted for Nader in 2000, that just rankles quite a bit on the personal level. If the state democratic party is now pulling the convention credentials of delegates who have endorsed republican candidates, then why should Humble Elias give Bonifaz a pass since he walked out on Al Gore?

No...I'm sticking with Billy he has done nothing to merit the withdrawl of my support or my vote. I urge my readers to vote for Galvin on September 19th in the democratic primary.

(In the Democratic Primary) For Lieutenant Governor:

The Chimes at Midnight is proudly endorsing Worcester Mayor Tim Murray for Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
This was not an easy decision for Humble Elias to make, Deb Goldberg and Andrea Silbert are both able and intelligent people in every respect.
However, Murray both an agenda for the Commonwealth with assets that will help get the ticket elected this fall and when you match that up with his record in Worcester well...The man becomes the natural choice.
Humble Elias also sees Murray as the best fit with all three potential gubernatorial nominees, in each case he brings some strong to the table. He is also an affable man of reasonably humble origins far outside the cloisters of Boston.

If Murray is our Lieutenant Governor nominee this fall he will have to face Reed Hillman in debate. Humble Elias predicts that Hillman as a former State Police Commander will come on like Wyatt Earp, raving about criminal coddling democrats and all that nonsense. We will need someone who has "stood the watch" so to speak and can refute and attack on the basis of experience.
Moreover, and this is where things get a bit morbid, two out of the last three Massachusetts' governors have come to office via succession...Murray is the best qualified candidate to assume the governorship with the least amount of "on the job training" if matters came to a head.

In short, we need Tim Murray.

On this humid Memorial Day...

a cold refreshing quote from the late Senator and Vice President, Hubert H. Humphrey:

"Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism."

Something to remember as we gring our way thru yet another gruesome election cycle.

Interesting codicil to the current illegal immigrant "debate"

Can be found here.
Humble Elias sez, if Superman really is an illegal immigrant & is here in American under patently false pretenses...Then those pressing the government for authentic immigration reform ought to campaign under Kal El's trusty "S Shield" icon.
It'll drive the praetorians and Warner Brothers frickin' crazy.

This is hilarious...

Dollar Bill Monahan once appointed by Mitt Romeny to head the State Civil Service Commission before allegations of canoodling with gangsters scotched the deal, is SUING the Commonwealth for back pay and damages!
Oh this is rich, the suit names Romney, Shawn Feddeman, Spencer Zwick and Eric Fehrnstrom as co-defendents...oh and Monahan wants to be restored to the chairmanship of the Commission.
HAR!
Where does the Viceroy find these guys? They are hilarious.

I mean, why stop there Bill, why not sue to be crowned King of Belmont or Emperor of Little Pond?

Well what of it? Dollar Bill will discover that "Romney in Twilight" is no more trustworthy than the grinning Mythical UberManager of 2003.

Item!

The word on the street is, he won't get the fifteen percent to get on the primary ballot in September.
Nevertheless a source in a rival gubernatorial campaign alleges our boy will get the coveted fifteen percent when all is said and done at the upcoming state democratic convention.

Hmmmmm....could there be an arrangement here? A quiet meeting of the minds? An artistic...deal mayhap?

We will find out.

One thing we know for sure, Humble Elias just loves his blind items...he just does.

Farmer Sam Kelley is dropping out of the Lt. Governor's Race...

well that was a bit premature, but I was pretty certain that he'd never leave the convention with the 15% endorsement to get on the democratic ballot.
The rumor is, that he is signing on as the Patrick Campaign's health care advisor.
once again I'd like to reiterate the notion that while Dr. Kelley probably wasn't ready to go statwide I do believe his is an intriguing skillset to bring to bear on some cabinet sinecure.
This leaves Goldberg, Silbert and Murray in the race for Lieutenant Governor all for a chance to go mano a mano with Reed Hillman from the GOP and whatever hobo Crazy Christy Mijos digs up to run on the Old Milk ticket.

Whoops!

Guess I was wrong, no sooner was I done commenting on the current lack on fireworks in the democratic gubernatorial primary than Messr's Gabrieli, Patrick & Reilly started mixing it up old school at the latest debate.

Well, what of it?

Humble Elias didn't major in soothsaying at "The Friendly College at Menotomy Rocks Park".

Romney in Baghdad

His Viceregal majesty flew to Iraq for a quick resume polishing visit with his future vassals.
Mitt Romney also had the insolence to warn against "cutting and running" in Iraq before the job is done.
One must give The Viceroy his due, his mastery of vapid cliches is almost admirable.
Of course Romney ought to know all about "cutting and running" he abandoned Massachusetts by the roadside like a sick pup long ago.

Mitt had better re-think this Augustan performance style of his. The President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense and the leadership in Congress are all arrogran insolent assholes of one type or another.
By 2008, I think the nation may just weary of that campaign style just a bit.

If they are gonna smear Deval Patrick

then they will probably start with the old "quota king" routine derived from his stint in Bill Clinton's Justice Department. Its a nice emotional type issue around which a great deal of mindless hysteria can be whipped up.
It also dovetails however vaguely with the current pseudo-debate on immigration, giving the opposition two witch hunts for the price of one.
Purists will no doubt insist that Patrick's links to corporate America could well be a sizable chink in his armor however Romney chiseled for years at Bain Capital Group and none of it slowed him down in 2002. Allegations of corporate malfeasance can be troubling but they are also unsexy and hard to boil down to a sharp sound bite.
No...it'll be quotas I think.
So maybe Patrick better start sharpening his jibes and counterstrokes.
Cause' believe me, there is nothing worse than a democrat who just isn't ready and willing to retaliate.

***
Meanwhile is it Humble Elias or does the current democratic gubernatorial campaign seem oddly muted so far?
There has been hardly any fireworks. I suspect everyone is holding fire until after the convention, which proves that huge unwieldly archaic institute, the state democratic conventions still has some postive role to play.

A Thousand and One Posts

If Blogger.com is to be believed, Humble Elias has acculmulated a thousand posts on this blog since 2003.
Wow...who'd a thunk it.
Not bad for a vengeful spiteful blog full of sarcasm and unfiltered hostility.

Or as I like to call it "Ideological warfare".

I started this blog out of mounting sense of frustration with national and state politics, it has been hard though since then to maintain that outrage what with John Kerry getting elected President and Shannon O'Brien winning the governorship.

Oh wait...my bad.
:)

So therefore given the current circumstances, nothing seems more fitting than to rededicate this blog to its core and coarse values.

So let Humble Elias firmly assert once again that the President is a stupid malevolent little geek with a psychotic sense of grievance and the Governor of Massachusetts is a oleaginous chronic self pleasurer.

There... Now let the adventure continue!

The Lowell Democrats/Blogger Ltd. Governor's Forum...

Boy what a fine old time it was, all Humble Elias missed was the traditional bottle of whiskey in the middle of the table in the blogger bullpen.
Kudos to Lynne Lupien and Susan M. from the Route 495 Blog for their sterling work setting this event up.
The candidates, Deb Goldberg, Sam Kelley, Andrea Silbert and Tim Murray were all in fine form, they are universally a well informed serious bunch of people.
With the except of some hedging about the MCAS and the Cape Wind Farm all and sundry sounded pretty definite about the range of issues under discussion.
Which sort of leads me to my big impression that at this stage in the game very little seems to separate all four candidates ideologically. They are all for free WiFi, better commuter rail links, paid maternity leave etc etc. Some are maybe MORE skeptical of the MCAS' utility some LESS enamored with gay marriage but for the most part there is consensus on the issues and how to address them.
So where the differences and contradictions creep in is largely in the area of electability, political skills, poise and stamina.
It is also interesting to note that other than Worcester Mayor Tim Murray the only other elected official in this race is Deb Goldberg a selectperson from Brookline.
Silbert and Kelley are activists in their statewide electoral debut.
Deb Goldberg is somewhat handicapped by being from Brookline, a city that if the democrats lose in November then that portends national catastrophe. She is though, an immensely well informed candidate and passionate about her issues.
Sam Kelley is a game fellow with a reedy, stuffy tentative voice and a long rapsheet mostly in the field of child psychiatry. He is pro-gay marriage or at least he seemed pro-gay marriage. Humble Elias wouldn't call him passionate on that or any other topic so Kelley will have to settle for earnest. One is intrigued at skill set he'd bring to the executive department.
However is he ready to run statewide in a contentious campaign?
Probably not.
Nonetheless he might make a very interesting and able cabinet officer, he seems to have a strong desire and get in there and start doin' stuff.
Humble Elias wonders though, if he'll get past the 15% mark at next week's convention. If not maybe Tom, Chris or Deval can tuck this post away for future reference when it comes time to start looking for department heads.
Deb Goldberg is a scion of the Stop-n-Shop fortune, she can't make much electoral wampum out of the board of Selectmen in Brookline but lord knows she tries. Deb Goldberg is therfore handicapped by being a greater Bostonian, what new constituency she brings to the table is a question mark. She is though, an immensely well informed candidate and passionate about her issues. Goldberg seemed to be the most critical of the MCAS of the four, but then she hails from a high income community that probably rightly regards the MCAS as a classroom impediment.
I like her sass but can't see her getting over the finish line in the primary.
Andrea Silbert is telegenic, articulate even a teensy but charismatic but she is straight out of non-profitopia a record she lauds at almost every opportunity. Truly if her record is that good why leave the non-profit sector at all? On the other hand, she scored some points on the persistent feminization of poverty a formulation you won't hear too much about locally or nationally this year.
Tim Murray is a bluff hearty avuncular shiny politician from a traditional factory city in the beating heart of New England. He brings self evident electoral strengths and a successful record as mayor to the table. If that is ALL we want then Tim is your guy. I wouldn't say he is the most sophisticated guy in the room but he is no-one's dummy either. Murray seems quite alert to the political possibilities behind Romney-Healey's endless fee increases...That alone is an issue with resonance for the fall campaign.
If I had to call this race right now, I think Kelley might be out of the running by next week with the whole thing devolving into a race between Silbert and Murray by September. I think Goldberg can hang in there, but she has to hope for a tight three way split on a rainy primary day...Those are to say the least long odds.
Silbert, Kelley and Goldberg seem to be thwarted candidates for the state legislature, smart but untested. Only in Blue State Massachusetts could "starting at the bottom" come to mean"taking a flyer in the Lt Governor's Primary".
If all four have a central flaw, it is their earnest and repetitive attempts to weave their personal history into a larger political context for the state.
Even Murray with a long political resume relies too much on this line of reasoning.
We have three activists in this race with short rapsheets, even with the Mayor of Worcester in the fight it makes it hard for these people to mix it up.
And anyway, its the nominee that determines what issues will be brought forward, everyone can debate and talk but everything hinges on the decisions made by the gubernatorial candidate.
But anyway it was a very informative event, Humble Elias thinks we oughta go for the gold and try to get a blgger-centric gubernatorial forum up and running.

Sigh....

I suppose that noting that democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Andrea Silbert is as cute as a button over a TV monitor or up close will branded me down as a frivolous sexist oinker.
So be it, this is a blog that transcends orthodoxy, which is a very pompous way of saying that the Chimes at Midnight is as tasteful as your average "Mad TV" episode.

Spiteful Joanie has a good one today...

Vennochi's column in today's Globe details her fatigue with the current round of Bush Bashing.
She sighs, rolls her eyes, sets down her tea-cup and asserts that kicking the President when he is down has gotten so-oo tiresome.

Now don't worry, this is Spiteful Joanie Vennochi we are talkin' about. A week from now she will be desperate to plunge her nasty little letter opener into John Kerry back for the crime of being aloof, a coward, a bully, a bullying coward, unfriendly to McCain, too friendly to McCain, sitting at the wrong cafeteria table with like all the band geeks...the exact motive will vary and remain meaningless.

Joanie will never tire of trying to bring down our Junior Senator...her efforts are unintentionally laughable, occasionally unpleasant, usually incoherent and always unsuccessful.
But give her credit Vennochi just won't quit...on that.

On last bit of hype on behalf of...

the Democratic Lieutenant Governor's Candidate Forum tommorrow (sponsored in part by the Lowell Democrats and masterminded by Lynne Lupien of Left in Lowell Fame. It'll be a fun time for all starting at 2pm at the Lowell Telecommunications TV Studio 246 Market Street Lowell Ma.
I''ve heard if there is overflow then a simulcast screening via local cable access will be arranged in a local pub.
Either way, works for me.

Tough Enough.Org is still doing the lord's work

questioning Saint John McCain's overall fitness for high office and his questionable ideological quirks.

This is a vital thing they are doing over there. McCain is vastly over-rated politician in every way kept aloft by the sheer worship of everyone from Tim Russert to Chris Matthews.

The reality is of John McCain's candidacy is stark, he may have been tough enough to stand up to North Vietnamese torture and interrogation...but does he have the stones to stand up to fanatics like Jerry Falwell?
The answer to that question is....no.

Peter Viereck is dead.

Ironically enough the poet, historian and conservative deep thinker shuffled off this mortal coil in South Hadley Massachusetts on May 13th of this year.
well...maybe not so ironically, we are told he loved the landscape of the Commonwealth's "empire lands".
Viereck is nigh forgotten today, but in the 1940's he was one of the conservative movements first serious intellectuals and an eloquent defender of said ideology.
He was agin' socialism and an opponent of revolution in nearly all its forms.
Serious liberals need to read his book "Conservatism Revisited", his case is elegantly Argued sans recourse to shamanism or bombast.
If Viereck had a flaw though, it was embedded in his refusal to become a praetorian.
A critic of McCarthyism who had the bad taste to say some nice things about Adlai Stevenson, Viereck was quietly set aside as modern conservatism fell into the hands of bumptious polemicists like William F. Buckley and bumbling adventurers like Barry Goldwater.
Those were men dedicated to breaking completely with the past and so in some ways they shared ambitions with the Abbie Hoffmans of the world.
Viereck though, would have none of that.
He'd defined conservatism in a way repellent to all modern praetorians...ergo that the irony of conservatism is that is can only justify its existence by conserving and "normalizing" the gains made by liberals.
The Grover Norquists and Karl Roves of 2006 will have none of this, they misidentify themselves as conservative when their real goal is to stage a revolt against past practice in the name of some delusional recreation of 1925.
Ah but Peter Viereck was a man who wrote clearly and made his arguments with skill...ultimately there would never be a place for him in a movement whose rhetoric is defined by ugly pseudo revolutionaries like Michael Savage and grimacing prigs like Bill O' Reilly.

The location of Sunday's Democratic Lt. Governor's Forum in Lowell

has been changed.
It is a very blog friendly event under the aegis of the Lowell Democrats and Lynne Lupien's very fine Left in Lowell blog.
Humble Elias will be there in any event, he will be the one dressed very very very nondescriptly.
Meanwhile everyone who can attend ought to, as this is an early testament to the power of blogging in general and progressive blogging in particular.

One more gem from Brian McGrory

(and then I promise to start blogging about the weather)...
This item did not pass un-noticed from yesterday's column:

"Enough of this governor who spends 90 percent of his time running around any state but ours, smiling that vapid smile, telling everyone within earshot about the gay-loving tax-and-spend liberals back home who can't tell the difference between values and McDonald's value meals."

"What did we ever do to the guy, besides elect him?"

What is this "we" shit white man?

YOU tried to puff Mitt Romney up into an awe inspired moderate republic zeppelin on the order of the now vanished Bill Weld.
YOU alibi'd for Romney's lack of experience and his fatal detachment from civic affairs.
YOU squealed like a stuck suckling pig at the thought of a democratic legislature working with a democratic governor.
And now...
YOU are one who is desperately trying to slip over the side of the Mitt Romney bandwagon.
It is a sad spectacle to watch from my perspective.
No no it isn't that is a lie, its all so terribly terribly funny.
Ah but don't worry Brian, if you wish and rub that magic lantern hard enough Crazy Christy Mihos or Kerry Healey is BOUND to turn into someone you can back.

It worked before, why shouldn't it work again?

Adlai Stevenson, Graduation Blogger:

"Men must be born free; they cannot be born wise; and it is the duty of the university to make free men wise"

Happy days to all graduates!

Whinin' Brian...

Oh My Sweet Merciful Ghod...run don't walk to your nearest and driest newsdealer, you HAVE to read Brian McGrory's column in today's Globe.
It is a Napoleonic TRIUMPH of punditarian self pity and self absorption!
Apparently, Brian has gazed out the window and realized it just isn't gonna stop raining anytime soon.
This moves him to a transport of whining:

"Here's the problem: I'm fragile. I can't afford to lose May. You want to meteorologically maul me in January and February, that's fine. You want to throw in a snowstorm in March and put April underwater, knock yourself out.
But not May. I allow myself a little bit of optimism in May."

And there is the crippling losses on the springtime girl-watching front:

"But despite it all, despite the naysaying, despite the fact that the female population wraps itself from head to foot in Gore-Tex for half the year, we always knew we had one true thing: A stretch of gorgeous weather from May through September."

This would be funny if it wasn't so grim.
Downtown Methuen is under what four feet of water and all Brian can do is wail, wring his hands and complain about how the damp air is making his hair frizz?
Yipes!
Thousands of his fellow citizens are temporarily homeless or facing bankruptcy from flood losses, the Commonwealth is paralyzed and the North Shore has become an inland sea.
Yet all Brian can do is sigh and speculate that our current disaster is a consequence of some form of hubris discernable only to a city beat columnist...it might be the World Series win or John Kerry's loss, McGrory isn't sure.

It is inane and tasteless junk like this that almost makes me nostalgic for the bumptious pseudo populism of Mike Barnicle. Hell at the first sign of rain, Mike wouldn't drove hell bent for leather to Lowell to find some poor Cambodian storekeepers whose broken english and quiet sobs bespeak the loss of a lifetime of hard work.
And if he couldn't find them, he'd damn well bring em' to life like a sort of journalistic mad scientist.

Okay maybe I'm not so nostalgic.
I hope my readers are keeping dry (all seven of you)...and if you need a bitter laugh then really Brian McGrory is your boy today.

Whoops

I made a mistake, the text of the Iranian's President's letter to GWB was in released to the public on Monday.
I said it wasn't available, my bad.
I'd link to it, but blogger isn't fully compatible with the Mac OS.

Its full of the usual drivel, however the real story out there is the alleged conciliatory diplomatic moves from the Iranian Mullahs.
A letter has been sent to "Time Magazine" of all things and it is seen as a diplomatic opening to Washington.
The Mullahs occupy a position akin to the Central Committee and the Politburo, ergo they are the real power in Iran.
They may wanna negotiate.
At the moment we do have something like a strong hand against them, the threat of force and de facto sovereignty over Iraq, a nations' whose final status is uppermost on the minds of the Iranian elite.
So there may be a sort of deal out there, they give up their nukes...we recognize their interests in Iraq.
Sordid?
Yes.
Practical....maybe.

Anyway all speculation aside, my original thesis still stands, if a exchange of harsh words between DC and Tehran can drive the price of crude up over $70 a barrel, wait til the ten kiloton bunker busters start going off.

Meanwhile, the President is still speaking tonight, trying to get everyone het up over Rosita the Maid's uppity attitude.
However, there are rumors out there, mere rumors, that the President might be trying to direct the public's attention away from a breaking scandal.
Rumors though...

The President speaks to the nation tomorrow night

Apparently he is gonna federalize a number of National Guard troops and send them to the border with Mexico to interdict illegal immigrants.
Gas is surging past three bucks a gallon, we are in hock to the Peoples Republic of China for our money AND our consumer goods, Bush's terrorism policy lies in ruins all over the middle east and some slap happy West Wingnuts wanna nuke Iran.

Meanwhile, the President wants to get tough, chiefly with Rosita the maid and Carlos the poolman.

And just who is gonna pay for this giant pre-election photo-op anyway? The Chinese I guess, they are snapping up the bonds that pay for boondoggle stunts like this...at least they are for now.
The irony is hard to escape, Chinese yuan are being recycled as US dollars to pay for National Guardsmen to keep the Hispanics out.

Until after the fall elections at least...

My only question is, will Bush take time out of his screed tomorrow night to signal his support for any sensible immigration policy? Or is this all a cave in to the deny-n-deport crowd?

Condi Rice disparages the contents of a letter

received from the President of Iran.
According to "administration sources" said letter was full of holocaust denial, pious lectures about religion and a request for negotiations.
We must take this summary on faith, as the letter itself has not been released to the public...nor will it be given GWB's mania for secrecy, deception & manipulation.
On the strength of the Secretary of State's dismissal though, crude oil prices have shot up over $72 a barrel.
Gasoline here in the Magickal Suburb of Menotomy is creeping towards three bucks a gallon for regular.

Now imagine to what stratospheric heights the price of crude oil will shoot IF we start bombing Iran or initiate the use of tactical nuclear weapons against that country?
$100 a barrel?
$150 a barrel?
Granted a nuclear armed Iran is a thing to be avoided, but can we take a moment to assess the probable effects of gas rationing here at home and five bucks a gallon for regular?
And is George Bush Jr so sure that the American people will suck it all up like good and loyal serfs?

The current Harris Poll sez

the President's approval rating has hit a robust 29%.
One more teensy point and GWB is officially over the county line in Nixonville USA.
If gas plateaus at three bucks a gallon I say Bush may well bottom out at a 25% approval rating.

And stay there.

The hour is drawing nigh, action is needed not shopworn cliches my friends, can any decent citizen truly revel in the ghastly state of the nation today?

Since we lack a military with an appropriate sense of the theatrical, I say it is time to form a new government under Glorious Adorable ME, Elias J. Nugator Jr. Thoroughly National Man!
The baubles of executive leadership in this nation are easily collected, the Military Officer with the nuclear football (an entirely ceremonial sinecure), a band that can play "Hail to the Chief" in the proper key, enough money and extras for an august looking motorcade, buffet table for the working press....easy assed stuff really.
I am saying that politics in this republic have degenerated to such a degree that I, a mere blogger with a rap sheet as long as Silver Line, can draft a sensible national program and gather some 40% of the nation behind it!
40% is hardly a majority, but it is enough to govern and if I play my cards right, maybe I can build up the coalition.
At least this would be movement forward, sans recourse to payoffs, media whores and the usual suspects in congress.
The American People are hungry for leadership, not cliches, shibboleths, bribes, tantrums and the mudslinging that GWB substitutes for leadership on a daily basis.
And that 29% approval rating is composed of pretty flimsy stuff, the residents of the nation's padded cells, some old men on the AM dial and the die hards out in the parking lot of the Calhoun County Blabtist Church.
Not much there for Bush to hide behind.

"Elias J. NUGATOR FOR DECIDER"

I'll put my program before the nation sans demure, Bush can do likewise and we will let the people choose as to whos platform can best salvage the nation.
:)

29% Good God and believe me, it will go even lower!

Jeb versus Al

Bush Junior and his father, the ex-President, are talking up Florida Governor Jeb Bush's candidacy for President at an undisclosed future date.
Well, I predicted as much as year or so ago, although the fawning National Review cover "Why Not Jeb?" hasn't come thru yet.
The Bush Dynasty, is the electoral equivalent of comfort food...bad for you in every way but unavoidable.
The secret of la Famiglia Arbusto's electoral success is two fold:
1.) They are willing to sling mud from the gutter and have mastered the art of defamation of character whilst conversely wallowing in their own sanctimony.

2.) They will pretend to agree with almost any collection of crackpots in order to win. If necessary they will even implement the policy demands of said crackpots in order to maintain their coalition.

There is no reason to believe that Jeb will not pursue this same strategy come 2008 or 2012. He is plump, serene, utterly self righteous, more than a little humorless and prefectly willing to sell out the nation to achieve high office.
In that regard he is, the perfect GOP candidate for President.
Moreoever, in the murky political underworld that is discussing the whole notion of "who can stop McCain" you know Jeb's name comes up...a lot.
There is also good anecdotal evidence to suggest that Jeb himself wants to run, he has resisted all desperate entreaties to shove the increasingly demented Katherine Harris aside and run for the US Senate this year. No interest that office clearly suggests a desire for another sinecure...and when you are a dues paying member of the Arbusto Syndicate that can only mean the White House.

Meanwhile, over on our side of the fence, a disparate collection of liberals and earnest bloggers have been sporadically talking up Al Gore for President in 2008.
It seems that more than a few democrats and progressives are having big second thoughts about Hilary Clinton's notional candidacy ever since she started canoodling with Rupert Murdoch and catching bouquets from jerks like David Brooks.
So of course, suddenly Al, with his Clinton Aufklarung bona fides and sincere environmentalism suddenly looks good.
These would be the same drowsy surly liberals who had to be practically flogged down to the polls to vote for Al circa November 2000 and who begged the Former Vice President NOT to run in '04.

If Al or Hilary goes down for the count in 2008, will this fuel a revival of John Kerry's fortunes?
I doubt it, he is from Massachusetts, nationally the Commonwealth is still dead center in a rhetorical free fire zone.
Still there is something vaguely silly about the likes of Eric Alterman talking up Al Gore given the way they dismissed his "terrible campaign and many mistakes" in the 2001 thru 2005 period.
This is a futile sort of activity in my humble opinion, I had no brief for the Deaniacs in 2004, but at least they coalesced around someone new. The whole "Al in '08" thing bespeaks a sort of equivocation and mental exhaustion.
I don't think because someone loses a presidential election they ought to be cast aside and reviled, but that is a vice deeply imbedded within liberal political culture.
Alas no single blog or blogger is every gonna make a dent in it.
I am still with John Kerry til he says otherwise, I do that out of loyalty to the man, his policies and to the Commonwealth he represents. I didn't back down on him in December of 2003 and I didn't back down on him in December of 2004.

Others have taken a different path, so be it.

Meanwhile, the blunt truth is, that presidential politics as of 5-12-06 9:36am EST largely revolves around John McCain, Hilary Clinton and a vast subculture of money and activists who are desperate to find alternatives to both those candidacies.
Al Gore's name has cropped up, but who knows maybe next week it'll be Jeanne Shaheen or Bernie Sanders.

Eliminate the gas tax for three months?

thats a proposal being talked up on Beacon Hill. Predictably, Lt. Governor Healey has glommed onto it as a means of polishing her pseudo-populist bona fides. There are however some democrats who are interested in the idea as well though.
Oddly enough, Romney is cool to the idea...or he was as of this morning, Grover Norquist may well get to him by noontime.

Dunno if this is a good idea though, as the price of gas edges closer to three bucks a gallon for regular, the net savings of a twenty one cent three month rollback seems pretty puny.
And it could cost the state plenty in terms of funds earmarked for public transportation. If that three dollar a gallon spike becomes a price-plateau then there will be additional performance pressures on public transport. Keep in mind, the MBTA and the local transportation franchises have to buy gasoline for their buses at the going rate like everyone else.
All this seems to illustrate the impotence of state government when it comes to influencing the price of a critical commodity.

Me?
I'd spend the twenty billion on train track upgrades in the northeast and push for better more reliable trains and schedules. Hell we'll already flushed away a comparable amount of money for warlord payola in Iraq and Afganistan.

Sean Healey has bootstrapped himself

up and into a Federal Panel that will advise the Secretary of Commerce on export policy.
Not much there really to work with, other than this is a golden opportunity for Sean Healey to network and build up new business contacts over the long term.
Since he is trying to buy the governorship for his undertalented, indecisive & innocuous wife the Lt. Governor, Sean is gonna need to replenish the family fortune at some point or another.

Idle thought for a rainy Tuesday...

Just who is Crazy Christy Mihos gonna take on for a running mate in his 3rd party bid for the Governorship?
James Rappaport has been making diresome noises at Kerry Healey but is he personally ready to break with the State GOP?
Humble Elias sez no, but stranger things have happened.
Anyway, Rappaport is a shopworn atavistic character, he came of age as one of those wealthy pseudopopulist conservative rage candidates back in 1990 in his race against John Kerry. Of course, he got his ass kicked that year and since then an unmemorable stint as State GOP Chairman and a abortive run for Lt. Governor in 2002 have done nothing to beef up his resume.
Well who will be Lt. Governor nominee of Mihos and his "Old Milk" party?
The problem is, GOP ranks in this state are sorely depleted, its tough enough to hang on as republican without taking off on some wacky political road trip with Chisty Mihos.
And the ranks of the independents contain no-one of obvious stature or even name recognition.
Maybe Ayla Brown can be convinced to defer entry into BC or if push comes to shove, "Reagan" Christy's dog might do.
After all is there anything in the state constitution that bars a dog from high political office?

Springtime for Roundheads

A faction within the House of Representatives GOP caucus wants to eliminate bilingual ballots and translation assistance as part of the renewal package for the 1965 Voter Rights Act.
They claim with the usual arrogance that bilingual ballots increase the prospects of voter fraud and place an undue burden on local government.
Well shee-it, why stop there? Why not simply eliminate all balloting and declare this congress a New Long Parliament, annoint themselves with Texas Crude Oil and strut around like Cromwell's puritan grandees?
These people are utterly corrupt and completely prideful which is a bad combination for the public good my friends.
It is also a pretty unsubtle indicator as to where they think the hispanic vote is gonna go this fall.

My god we are far far away from the California GOP's ardent attempts to court hispanics in the 1980's aren't we?

Breaking Wind Farm

In today's Boston Sunday Globe Jeff Jacoby sneers at the "power grab" used by Senator Kennedy to sink the Cape Cod Wind Farm.
Well, it is a fair cop, small resource poor states' like Massachusetts need to think in terms of energy efficiency and diversity.
Of course, we wouldn't need a wind farm if crude oil wasn't topping seventy bucks a barrel thanks to Jeff and his President's splendid little war in the desert.
ah but we are all slaves in the empire of circumstances, Jeff, Humble Elias and numberless others.
on the other hand, small states with high population density seem to suffer from higher levels of NIMBYism.
Humble Elias doubts there is a single community with Route 495 or south of Randolph that hasn't recoiled from some allegedly public spirited project in the past forty years.
Maybe thats is where the debate should begin, what are we to do with this pervasive "Not In My Back yard" spirit that afflicts the Commonwealth?

Barbaro carries the Day...

took off down that track like a MX Missile...
You'd think I'd would be happy, but at the last minute I switched to "A.P. Warrior" and watched as my horse took one look at the field and cabbed it to the Louisville Airport.
But at least I called the winner yesterday even if I didn't follow thru like a damn fool!

Still you have to love the Kentucky Derby, those horses KNOW when they win! Barbaro fairly bobbed his head in glee after crossing the finish line.
That nodding head thing is horse-language for "Yo, I'll race all you feebs again right now and without the little man on my back too!"

Can't make a lick of sense out of the Kentucky Derby today...

the line up as of this morning is some twenty horses all told, a veritable cavalry charge.
Today's ponies are raised up as better speedsters but don't have the stamina to grab off the Triple Crown...this robs the run for the roses of some of it's excitement IMHO.
This also makes it difficult to find an eager mid-carder to lay some long green upon, although occasionally an utter mediocrity like Giacomo can seize the day like a champ.
All that aside, I'm leaning towards Barbaro as of 3pm EST, but that can change.
By way of disclosure, I should not I haven't picked a Kentcuky Derby winner in ten years.
But 2006 could be different, ya never know.

Item!

He is in, now he is out.
A suspiciously short short tenure for such an important job, but what all of Washington really wants to know is, "did he party with hookers on the lobbyist dime?"

And if he did what does this really say about his boss and the allegedly puritanical victorian values he embodies?

The U.S. House has passed a law

penalizing US Oil Companies for instances of price gouging with a fine of up to a one hundred and fifty million smackers.
Like I said the other day, dumber and dumber ideas are bound to gush out of congress as the the price of gasoline creeps upward.
Otherwise, we can take this notion as a good benchmark to measure the sheer panic and intellectual bankruptcy that infects Capitol Hill.
Even if the president signs the measure, you can bet his own patently illegal 'signing statements" will eviscerate the law and render it a cypher. Why have a failed oilman in the White House if he can't protect the energy industries that elected him?
Moreover, the Department of Justice under La Famiglia Arbusto's guidance hasn't racked up much of a record when it comes to enforcement in the public interest.
Do your eally think a servile courtier like Alberto Gonzalez can be relied upon to investigate Sunoco impartially?
And anyway, what is one hundred and fifty million bucks to an company like Exxon that just made thirty BILLION in the last year off of spiraling crude oil prices?
Shit, one hundred and fifty million is barely hooker money to that crowd, they can pay the fine and write it off as the cost of doing business with nervous GOP shysters in congress.

The $100 Gas Rebate Payola Plan has...

apparently fizzled out under a deluge of voter invective and abuse.
Well...this being a bribe driven GOP congress, then you have to admit they know a chump change pay off when they see one.
Ah but then, this frees up their moldy little imaginations to generate new even more idiotic proposals...like abolishing the gas tax or drilling for oil on the White House lawn.
As the price of regular goes up, look for dumber and more malevolent ideas from out of congress....especially as we get closer to election day.

So let me get this straight?

Kerry Healey denied advocating lowering the consent age to sixteen then the Boston Herald procured video footage of her strenuously defending that same proposal back in 2002?
HAW
HAW
HAW!!
This couldn't be better if she drunkenly peppered a friend and supporter with birdshot!
I mean, its perfect in everyway, first she says yes, then says no, then denies ever saying yes and then is outed as hypocrite by the Herald. And all over an issue that gives the GOP Base the screaming bedspins.
Oh yes, Kerry Healey IS the candidate we all need to fear per Joan Vennochi...she just is.

A late kick in the backside for Time Magazine Columnist Joe Klein:

On or about April 11th 2006 Joe Klein was quoted as saying the predicting doom for the democratic party this fall for the following reason:
"if their message is that they hate America -- which is what has been the message of the liberal wing of the party for the past twenty years."

Well, as liberal I am as patriotic as the next guy....I love America with all the fulsome sincerity of one of Richard Nixon's Cuban manservants.
But Humble Elias freely admits to hating Joe Klein with a genial ferocity.
And in truth, there is much there to hate.
The smugness, the cliches tarted up as lonely iconoclasm and the tendency to conflate lackeydom with heroism...all regualr features of the Kleinian bibliography.
Joe calls himself with swinging iconoclasm, a "radical moderate", but as Humble Elias has pointed out before, moderation is broken because movement conservatism is broken beyong repair.
This hasn't prevented the conservative movement from ruthlessly organizing Washington DC like a 19th century factory town, indeed a hallmark of conservative declinism is it's ability to continually acculmulate power even as it airly tramples all over it's own sacred tenets.
One of movement conservatism's singular triumphs has been the complete political isolation of American Liberalism...leaving the alleged moderates to negotiate national policy alone and without recourse.
Faced with an unfavorable situation and reluctant to seek recourse electorally, Klein's radical moderation has opted for six long years of toadying capitulationism.
There is no middle, the middle has become the captive of the right.
Klein keeps insisting there is a happy mean in US politics but without countervailing pressure from the left, the moderate course is naught but a certain pleading tone of voice.
Klein doesn't understand that, he like so many others thinks it is still 1997 where real bargains could still be struck. Six years of unlimited power though has made unfaithful negotiating partners of movement conservatism.

It is an axiom on this blog that we in the USA are on the brink of something Humble Elias like to call "post conservative civilization" wherein the forms & symbols of conservative governance will go on whilst the movement's principles will be sent to a hospice to expire in peace.
This is not a political situation that can be sustained over the long run neither is this is a Schlesingerian prediction of the coming liberal eschaton. We may play no part in what happens next, that depends though on our own ideas and our own willingness to play a very rough game indeed.
As for Joe Klein?
He'll be forgotten by then, he is too spineless and too chained to past to rise to the challenge.

Okay good, got that one done...