that "Kerry in '04" marks the end of any hope that the Commonwealth might play and equal role in national affairs for at least a generation or longer.
The stats speak for themselves...since 1980 we've sent four candidates up to New Hampshire, Kennedy, Dukakis, Tsongas, and Kerry...two got the nod the other two were weeded out in the primaries...all of them lost though.
it is sad to think we live in a second class state but we do....it is worse because all we've really done wrong is to assume that our candidates deserve a fair hearing of their ideas...just like Texas or Wyoming.
Sadly this is not the case, Massachusetts is now as ever a pariah in the Federal Union, proud, alone, and disparaged.
Regionalism, factionalism, and bigoted parochialism are all powerful symbols in any close presidential race. Massachusetts just can't overcome that. Chimes at Midnight urges all earnest well meaning local pols to put aside their White House dreams for good.
They hate us, they just do.
Moreover Kerry's defeat will naught but exacerbate the local tendency to self loathing. One had hopes that between JK and the Red Sox that the Commonwealth might've turned a corner in it's self esteem...sadly this was not to be. I feel bad for Kerry no doubt the same shitstorm that broke over Dukakis when he lost is now headed for Junior Senator. One thing about frustrated liberals, they are not shy about turning on their own.
Nonetheless, there are still important contributions to be made by this Commonwealth, keeping Romney out of the White House being post election project #1 IMHO. I mean, for all you folks out there in the "values community" keep in mind, candidate Romney had three different positions on abortion in just one year's span. If he runs in 2008, he'll add a fourth to that list without fail.
Hey, if John can't have it I don't think Mitt should have it either.
:)
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
Y'know if someone ought to
whomp together a pro-stem cell research ballot initiative in Massachusetts like they just passed in California.
We couldn't pony up the three billion California allocated but i'm sure a nice chunk of change could be found for the research. I mean we are lousy with hospitals and laboratories in this state...who are we to eat California's dust?
This would be a nice thing to have on the ballot for 2006...something to drag folks to the polls and drive up our numbers in the next Governor's race.
Think about it...
We couldn't pony up the three billion California allocated but i'm sure a nice chunk of change could be found for the research. I mean we are lousy with hospitals and laboratories in this state...who are we to eat California's dust?
This would be a nice thing to have on the ballot for 2006...something to drag folks to the polls and drive up our numbers in the next Governor's race.
Think about it...
Ah mismanagement...
the irony is, Ohio is one of the most grossly misgoverned state's in the union thanks entirely to it's movement conservative leadership. The roads are in disrepair, jobs have fled the state like extras from Godzilla, and urban poverty is at an all time high. These are the malign consequences of sixteen years of activist conservative social experimentation...one of Bill Safire's so called "little laboratories of democracy".
And yet the answer to all these GOP catastrophes is even more mindlessly conservative governance and at the topmost level too.
Ah well....c'est la guerre.
And yet the answer to all these GOP catastrophes is even more mindlessly conservative governance and at the topmost level too.
Ah well....c'est la guerre.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
I think New Hampshire is trying to tell us something...
Normally I have little good to say about the Granite State of mind. Their most famous cottage industry, the dreaded New Hampshire primary is naught but a corrupt quadrennial cash cow. Where else but in NH are the voters are coddled and spoiled to an absurd degree for six long months-all broadcast in living color? New Hampshire remains the only state in the union where I got a beer bottle thrown at my head for carrying the wrong political sign in the fall of 1984. So there is some history there sad to say.
However, the locals do seem to prize personal honesty in their elected leaders. This is apparently why Craig Benson former CEO Romney-esque whiz kid technocrat got voted out of office on Tuesday. The man was a stiff, a hackocrat, and a boodler...a friend of the boyz in the back room. I have to admire Craig's speed as he managed in just two short years to flood the state bureaucracy with a regiment of gimps, loafers and laggards. Just for once, New Hampshire decided they'd had enough of "reform" and sent the whole overpaid undertalented rabble flying.
Good for them....the electorate up there has shown uncommon class and discernment.
So we can only hope that Governor Romney will take heed and reflect on the sorry fate of his corporate doppelganger to the north.
Alas this IS The Kolobian Viceroy we are talking about, no doubt, even as I write this, he is desperately trying to shoe-horn the "Magnificent One Hundred and Thirty One" onto the payroll at the Department of Revenue.
Sick
Demented
Typical...
However, the locals do seem to prize personal honesty in their elected leaders. This is apparently why Craig Benson former CEO Romney-esque whiz kid technocrat got voted out of office on Tuesday. The man was a stiff, a hackocrat, and a boodler...a friend of the boyz in the back room. I have to admire Craig's speed as he managed in just two short years to flood the state bureaucracy with a regiment of gimps, loafers and laggards. Just for once, New Hampshire decided they'd had enough of "reform" and sent the whole overpaid undertalented rabble flying.
Good for them....the electorate up there has shown uncommon class and discernment.
So we can only hope that Governor Romney will take heed and reflect on the sorry fate of his corporate doppelganger to the north.
Alas this IS The Kolobian Viceroy we are talking about, no doubt, even as I write this, he is desperately trying to shoe-horn the "Magnificent One Hundred and Thirty One" onto the payroll at the Department of Revenue.
Sick
Demented
Typical...
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
On the other hand...
It wasn’t quite Romney’s Waterloo last night…it was more akin to his “Battle of Leipzig”.
Napoleonic purists will recall that at Leipzig the allies finally demonstrated their ability to best Bonaparte in open combat thus foreshadowing the downfall of the First Empire.
One hundred and thirty odd candidates for the Great and General Court and three million large…and it was like watching the Imperial Guard mount the fabled slopes at La Haye Saint…useless tragic and inevitable. Good grief if this is how he wastes his own money imagine what tomfoolery he indulges with our tax dollars!
Kolob recruited a mighty host of chimps, wimps, gimps, and weirdos and LOST three more seats in the state legislature!
Oh I heard him last night, bravely purring away that this was naught but the offshoot of the Kerry tide in the Bay State. Stuff and nonsense sez Elias, most of those target legislators were campaigning with one hand tied behind their backs; if they weren’t up in NH moving heaven and earth for the national ticket they were off in Ohio doing their all. Romney has yet to see any of these targeted democrats get truly serious and focused on re-election.
Decaf was hinting around that the “next time” they’d do better…there ain’t gonna be a next time because this year’s beat down will scare off anyone with a lick of common sense.
What is worse, Mitt has earned the undying enmity of that much maligned bunch, the democratic majority on Beacon Hill. For years our GOP governors had a “gentleman’s agreement” with the House and Senate, no party building in return for fair consideration of the gubernatorial program. Since these were conservative men in the lege, it was a good arrangement-for them. Romney capriciously busted up that little deal and got no results in the bargain.
Now, I yield to no one when it comes to criticizing our leadership in the state legislature, with one or two exceptions they are a vain, greedy, indolent, sneaky bunch. However they are one and all great believers in the protocols of raw vengeance. I think Mitt is about to find out just how vengeful the democrats can be…it is not gonna be pretty.
Any believing republican in Massachusetts has to be asking themselves one question right now “just whose side is Mitt Romney on”?
He whomped together this polyglot army of candidates, seemingly at the behest of Ed Gillespie (who wanted to tie down our legislators in the Presidential campaign) and proceeded to waste big money and good will to accomplish exactly nothing! The state GOP is three million dollars lighter and shorter by three seats in the legislature. He could’ve chosen his races more carefully, he could’ve run less divisive campaigns, he could’ve done a lot of stuff instead he went right off a cliff singing all the way.
If I were a republican I’d be wondering about the Governor’s basic political saavy or the lack thereof. Supposedly, Kerry’s defeat opens up possibilities in DC for Decaf…far from the scene of his many many mistakes. Is this the kind of judgement we can expect from the next Secretary of Homeland Security?
I do fear for the nation my friends.
Moreover, does anyone out there truly think that Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey can carry the day in 2006 for the increasingly impotent state GOP? I suppose they will hold auditions for some new chump, DA Sullivan or perhaps Boss Christy Mihos will come out from hiding but these are pretty much a bunch of unknowns and second raters. I think the Governor has put the state GOP on the low road to disintegration, they’ve got no bench and no prospects in coming up in the minors.
Napoleonic purists will recall that at Leipzig the allies finally demonstrated their ability to best Bonaparte in open combat thus foreshadowing the downfall of the First Empire.
One hundred and thirty odd candidates for the Great and General Court and three million large…and it was like watching the Imperial Guard mount the fabled slopes at La Haye Saint…useless tragic and inevitable. Good grief if this is how he wastes his own money imagine what tomfoolery he indulges with our tax dollars!
Kolob recruited a mighty host of chimps, wimps, gimps, and weirdos and LOST three more seats in the state legislature!
Oh I heard him last night, bravely purring away that this was naught but the offshoot of the Kerry tide in the Bay State. Stuff and nonsense sez Elias, most of those target legislators were campaigning with one hand tied behind their backs; if they weren’t up in NH moving heaven and earth for the national ticket they were off in Ohio doing their all. Romney has yet to see any of these targeted democrats get truly serious and focused on re-election.
Decaf was hinting around that the “next time” they’d do better…there ain’t gonna be a next time because this year’s beat down will scare off anyone with a lick of common sense.
What is worse, Mitt has earned the undying enmity of that much maligned bunch, the democratic majority on Beacon Hill. For years our GOP governors had a “gentleman’s agreement” with the House and Senate, no party building in return for fair consideration of the gubernatorial program. Since these were conservative men in the lege, it was a good arrangement-for them. Romney capriciously busted up that little deal and got no results in the bargain.
Now, I yield to no one when it comes to criticizing our leadership in the state legislature, with one or two exceptions they are a vain, greedy, indolent, sneaky bunch. However they are one and all great believers in the protocols of raw vengeance. I think Mitt is about to find out just how vengeful the democrats can be…it is not gonna be pretty.
Any believing republican in Massachusetts has to be asking themselves one question right now “just whose side is Mitt Romney on”?
He whomped together this polyglot army of candidates, seemingly at the behest of Ed Gillespie (who wanted to tie down our legislators in the Presidential campaign) and proceeded to waste big money and good will to accomplish exactly nothing! The state GOP is three million dollars lighter and shorter by three seats in the legislature. He could’ve chosen his races more carefully, he could’ve run less divisive campaigns, he could’ve done a lot of stuff instead he went right off a cliff singing all the way.
If I were a republican I’d be wondering about the Governor’s basic political saavy or the lack thereof. Supposedly, Kerry’s defeat opens up possibilities in DC for Decaf…far from the scene of his many many mistakes. Is this the kind of judgement we can expect from the next Secretary of Homeland Security?
I do fear for the nation my friends.
Moreover, does anyone out there truly think that Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey can carry the day in 2006 for the increasingly impotent state GOP? I suppose they will hold auditions for some new chump, DA Sullivan or perhaps Boss Christy Mihos will come out from hiding but these are pretty much a bunch of unknowns and second raters. I think the Governor has put the state GOP on the low road to disintegration, they’ve got no bench and no prospects in coming up in the minors.
Times like this...
I reflect on the life and times of the late lamented Senator Paul E. Tsongas.
Poor Paul, I'm perversely glad he didn't live to see how bitterly divided the nation has become.
I remember with the simplest nostalgia working on his Presidential campaign back in 1992.
Ah Paul Tsongas, he was smart, humble, and honest...three deadly strikes against you in the grand presidential reckoning.
***
I'd train in to headquarters downtown and perform menial intellectual tasks in the campaign's issue's office.
Nothing important really...but it was reasonably necessary work.
However when the big hammer came down and it all went to smash, I couldn't help feeling guilty that I hadn't done more.
Like I hadn't gone door to door for him in Manchester or donated money or organized a phone bank.
So I had regrets you see.
At the time I consoled myself that Paul might again run state wide for office...there were rumors of a gubernatorial run.
Sadly a revival of his cancer took him from us and I was never able to make good on that pledge.
However...with everything that happened yesterday both good and bad (mostly bad I know) I don't have those same regrets with Kerry.
Cause' by Ghod I did work hard for him back when he was twenty five points down in the polls last December and running behind Al Sharpton.
I regret nothing, I did my duty to the uttermost to the last ballot to the last voter.
Other men are responsible for the shameful state of the nation, let the record show that.
Let them be judged for their vanity, dishonesty, and ineptitude.
In time things will turn our way again, much though, will have to be endured until then.
Thank You Senator Kerry, you have made me proud of being a Massachusetts Democrat...which is in my books to be liken unto a King among men.
Poor Paul, I'm perversely glad he didn't live to see how bitterly divided the nation has become.
I remember with the simplest nostalgia working on his Presidential campaign back in 1992.
Ah Paul Tsongas, he was smart, humble, and honest...three deadly strikes against you in the grand presidential reckoning.
***
I'd train in to headquarters downtown and perform menial intellectual tasks in the campaign's issue's office.
Nothing important really...but it was reasonably necessary work.
However when the big hammer came down and it all went to smash, I couldn't help feeling guilty that I hadn't done more.
Like I hadn't gone door to door for him in Manchester or donated money or organized a phone bank.
So I had regrets you see.
At the time I consoled myself that Paul might again run state wide for office...there were rumors of a gubernatorial run.
Sadly a revival of his cancer took him from us and I was never able to make good on that pledge.
However...with everything that happened yesterday both good and bad (mostly bad I know) I don't have those same regrets with Kerry.
Cause' by Ghod I did work hard for him back when he was twenty five points down in the polls last December and running behind Al Sharpton.
I regret nothing, I did my duty to the uttermost to the last ballot to the last voter.
Other men are responsible for the shameful state of the nation, let the record show that.
Let them be judged for their vanity, dishonesty, and ineptitude.
In time things will turn our way again, much though, will have to be endured until then.
Thank You Senator Kerry, you have made me proud of being a Massachusetts Democrat...which is in my books to be liken unto a King among men.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Alterman speaks for me...
On Eric Alterman's blog Altercation the following entirely sane quote can be found:
"This cannot continue. We need a democratic revival to temper the current religious revival. A sound defeat of George W. Bush at the polls (barring a judicial coup d’etat ) is not enough. We need a reinvigoration of passion, honesty, and élan into our public sphere. We need openness, confidence, and patience."
Indeed Eric we are in desperate need of a little Jacksonian truculence to counter the current junta, composed as it is of preachers and screechers, the dumb, the proud, and the mean.
I wish John Kerry well tomorrow, if there is justice, luck, or a pure spirit of vengeance in Heaven Above then he will win. If he loses so be it, this blog and millions of like minded citizens will simply go on piling the up the bodies on the battlements. We have no other choice, failure is not an option.
Nevertheless, if Kerry does win, it will be a sweet thing indeed. in my life I doubt I will ever again ride a candidate from out the Commonwealth through the primaries to the nomination and thence to the White House.
So for God's sake let us go forward tomorrow no matter what the cost...and if all else fails let us resolve to"die on our feet".
"This cannot continue. We need a democratic revival to temper the current religious revival. A sound defeat of George W. Bush at the polls (barring a judicial coup d’etat ) is not enough. We need a reinvigoration of passion, honesty, and élan into our public sphere. We need openness, confidence, and patience."
Indeed Eric we are in desperate need of a little Jacksonian truculence to counter the current junta, composed as it is of preachers and screechers, the dumb, the proud, and the mean.
I wish John Kerry well tomorrow, if there is justice, luck, or a pure spirit of vengeance in Heaven Above then he will win. If he loses so be it, this blog and millions of like minded citizens will simply go on piling the up the bodies on the battlements. We have no other choice, failure is not an option.
Nevertheless, if Kerry does win, it will be a sweet thing indeed. in my life I doubt I will ever again ride a candidate from out the Commonwealth through the primaries to the nomination and thence to the White House.
So for God's sake let us go forward tomorrow no matter what the cost...and if all else fails let us resolve to"die on our feet".
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)