The Boston Globe endorses Jim Marzilli for state senate...

the whole text can be found here:

Well this is certainly a leg up for Rep. Marzilli, up until now the Globe hardly seemed to pay attention to the 4th Middlesex state senate race.
There is one endorsement though, that seems to have gone a-beggin'...that would be the coveted imprimatur of the seat's former incumbent, Robert Havern. Bob has remained decorously and strangely silent through-out this campaign. Humble Elias can understand even if he doesn't quite approve of Jay Kaufman's studied neutrality in this contest, after all no matter who wins Jay might have to work with anywhere from two to three embittered colleagues. But Bob has officially quit the game and can throw his support to pretty much anyone. To date though, he has not...this is not to say he hasn't made some moves behind the scenes allegedlyhe told Arlington Selectperson Diane Mahon to steer clear of the special election...did he have a candidate in mind at that time? Did anyone talk him out of an endorsement?
Who can say?

Dick Cheney apparently told Congressman Armey

in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq in 2002 that:

"We have great information. They’re going to welcome us. It’ll be like the American Army going through the streets of Paris. They’re sitting there ready to form a new government. The people will be so happy with their freedoms that we’ll probably back ourselves out of there within a month or two.”

If nothing else this warrants calling for Cheney's resignation, either the man is a malevolent liar or too stupid to handle the job, whatever the explanation "he hath tarried too long for the good he hath done and so he must go"...to quote Oliver Cromwell.

"Lets you and him fight"

So opined Joanie Vennochi in today's Globe who is just pantin' for a morning drive time radio chat show matchup between Howie Carr on WTKK and Former House Speaker Tom Finneran, two men she has somehow mistaken for a pair of ideological titans.
If there is a notion that more perfectly illustrates the intellectual torpor of the Globe's op-ed page, then I'd like to see it.
Finneran is a nice pleasant monotonal conservative democrat with a deserved rep for backroom hardball.
Howie Carr on the other hand is a genial sociopathic demogogue who'd probably be Finneran's friend if Tom wasn't a democrat and all.
Building up this rivalry is like booking an aged Muhammed Ali in the ring with UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson...in sort it's a bizarre mismatch that only a columnist rife with false consciousness could love.
How exactly any of this serves the cause of diversity on the radio is beyond me.
Joanie however thinks this is a great and ultimate debate waiting to happen.
I wouldn't listen to either man if you put a gun to my head, ideologically they are peas in a pod, they diverge only in their personal style.
Humble Elias couldn't care less if Howie Carr gets back on the air in Boston ever again, it's not like their aren't ten more like him desperate for his slot. Hell, Howie is nothing but a tired old media freak whose career path is the secret envy of every local columnist.
And Tom FInneran is a sharp fanged bore in extremis...the idea that the two of them on opposing radio stations have anything to teach the rest of us is laughable.

There is a debate coming up in the 4th Middlesex special state senate election:

4th Middlesex Special Senate Election
Environmental Candidate Forum
Tuesday, November 6 , 7-8 pm
Lexington Depot, 3 Depot Square, Lexington

Global warming, gas prices, deteriorating parks, toxic pollution - come
learn more about the candidates for the 4th Middlesex Senate Seat
(Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, Lexington, and Woburn) and their
environmental positions. All candidates are confirmed (Donnelly,
Marzilli, Murphy, Natale). This race, which inludes Arlington, Billerica,
Lexington, and Woburn is to fill the seat of former Sen. Robert Havern. Sponsored
by Clean Water Action and the Mass Climate Action Network. Event is free
and open to the public. For more information, (617) 338-8131 ext 211 or
bostoncwa@cleanwater.org

Senator Clinton's supporters are critical of...

the unctuous patronizing treatment meted out to their candidate by NBC's own Tim Russert at the last democratic presidential debate.
However this is nothing new from Tim, he and Mitt Romney basically ganged up on democratic gubernatorial nominee Shannon O'Brien at the last debate before the 2002 election.
Tim has always been a lackey for the GOP, his definition of "journalist objectivity" nothing more than the eternal quest to humiliate and degrade liberal candidates. It is just that when that candidate is female, we get the extra benefit of Tim's misogyny.
And that smile of his? Merely the smug leer of a wingnut pimp who thinks he has penetrated a bastion of liberalism.

Size is Destiny Part 2

A pic of the big-ass Charlie Murphy for State Senate sign mounted on Summer Street in Arlington, can be seen here:

***
In other news a reliable source tells Humble Elias that Bob Peters has endorsed Jim Marzilli in the upcoming 4th Middlesex State Senate special election.
As yet no word yet from his townsman, State Representative Jay Kaufman.

I'll bet that if

the Senate Judiciary Committee routinely used waterboarding to vet nominees to the Justice Department then Michael Mukasey would come out loudly against all kinds of torture practices involving simulated drowning.
Hell, I think the Senate Judiciary Committee ought to think about this...a few scary dunkings and all these judicial nominees will sing like canaries about their dubious investments and crazy "professional" associations. It will vastly speed up up the process at the very least.