Boston Globe: Deval Patrick for Saint!
Boston Globe endorses St. Deval Patrick:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/10/29/patrick_for_governor/
The endorsement reads like something between a Patrick campaign press release and a canonization. Here are the Globe's three reasons to vote for Patrick:
1) The sappy life-story bit that we've heard a thousand times-- "I grew up on the South side of Chicago..." (He omits the fact that he went to Milton Academy and Harvard...and, more importantly, how is any of that relevant to his candidacy for Governor?)
"His personal history resonates with chords in the American anthem that seem almost too corny to sing out loud: opportunity, hard work, community, justice."
I'm going to throw up...
2) The opaque descriptions of beautiful-sounding plans ("achievable plan for continued improvements in education"..."investments in new technologies"..."open, balanced approach to problem solving") with no specifics whatsoever. It's the second-coming of Mike Dukakis; after 16 years of Republican Governors, Patrick'll restore "hope". He'll bring a "new kind of politics", whatever the hell that means... Oh, sorry if my criticism is too MEAN...
3) Kerry Healey is bitchy. They don't say it, but that's what they mean. She's "polarizing", she "demeans", her campaign was "mudslinging"... The subtle sexism here is particularly amusing for this supposedly liberal newspaper; a man who runs a campaign pointing out his opponent's flaws, both policy and personal, is called "tough". But when a Republican does it, and particularly a woman, she's "lowering the tone".
It wasn't lowering the tone, though, when the State Democratic Party Chairman basically called Healey a racist for opposing drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. Only those MEAN MEAN Republicans can do that.
The dishonesty of the editorial is astounding. The Globe makes it sound as though Healey hasn't done anything as Lt. Gov or proposed anything new in the campaign. They completely ignore the fact that Healey is the only candidate to provide a specific plan to do solve any of the Commonwealth's problems: reforming state pensions, reducing the tax and regulation burden, implementing the new health care law. She is also the only candidate who will uphold the voters' rights to make laws by initiative, a part of the Constitution the legislature wants to let quietly die.
We should expect more from the State's biggest newspaper. Even if they don't endorse Kerry Healey, she is a smart, articulate, and accomplished woman with real proposals; the least they can do is treat her fairly.
The Globe also either ignores the accomplishments of the Romney-Healey administration (turning around a fiscal crisis in 2002-03 into budget surpluses this year, opposed by the legislature the whole way), or it somehow manages to use them to support...Patrick? Patrick, apparently, "wants to implement the state's landmark universal healthcare law" -- forget about the fact that, if Mitt Romney hadn't been Governor, the law would never have been passed at all -- "slowly and carefully, without drama".
....what?
His "continued improvements in education"? Those would be the improvements we've seen through Republican initiatives like MCAS and Adams Scholarships implemented by Republican Boards of Education over the screams and yells of the Mass. Teacher's Association and the Democrats in the legislature who they hold in their pockets. The MTA, by the way, endorsed Patrick, of course, and has poured thousands of dollars into ads against Kerry Healey.
The Globe is kidding itself if it thinks that Deval Patrick will "change the dynamic" on Beacon Hill. He will become a creature of Beacon Hill, a rubber-stamp Sal DiMasi, Sen. Travaglini and the rest of the legislature; just another smooth-talking say-nothing politician.
***********
But hell, what do I know? I'm just an angry white guy, I hate Deval because he's black, I'm mired in the "talk-radio political culture" that they look down on so much at the Globe because I listen to Howie Carr and read the Boston Herald (how lower class!) I just too cynical to get it, I guess. If I were smaahht like the Globe Editahs, I would.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/10/29/patrick_for_governor/
The endorsement reads like something between a Patrick campaign press release and a canonization. Here are the Globe's three reasons to vote for Patrick:
1) The sappy life-story bit that we've heard a thousand times-- "I grew up on the South side of Chicago..." (He omits the fact that he went to Milton Academy and Harvard...and, more importantly, how is any of that relevant to his candidacy for Governor?)
"His personal history resonates with chords in the American anthem that seem almost too corny to sing out loud: opportunity, hard work, community, justice."
I'm going to throw up...
2) The opaque descriptions of beautiful-sounding plans ("achievable plan for continued improvements in education"..."investments in new technologies"..."open, balanced approach to problem solving") with no specifics whatsoever. It's the second-coming of Mike Dukakis; after 16 years of Republican Governors, Patrick'll restore "hope". He'll bring a "new kind of politics", whatever the hell that means... Oh, sorry if my criticism is too MEAN...
3) Kerry Healey is bitchy. They don't say it, but that's what they mean. She's "polarizing", she "demeans", her campaign was "mudslinging"... The subtle sexism here is particularly amusing for this supposedly liberal newspaper; a man who runs a campaign pointing out his opponent's flaws, both policy and personal, is called "tough". But when a Republican does it, and particularly a woman, she's "lowering the tone".
It wasn't lowering the tone, though, when the State Democratic Party Chairman basically called Healey a racist for opposing drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. Only those MEAN MEAN Republicans can do that.
The dishonesty of the editorial is astounding. The Globe makes it sound as though Healey hasn't done anything as Lt. Gov or proposed anything new in the campaign. They completely ignore the fact that Healey is the only candidate to provide a specific plan to do solve any of the Commonwealth's problems: reforming state pensions, reducing the tax and regulation burden, implementing the new health care law. She is also the only candidate who will uphold the voters' rights to make laws by initiative, a part of the Constitution the legislature wants to let quietly die.
We should expect more from the State's biggest newspaper. Even if they don't endorse Kerry Healey, she is a smart, articulate, and accomplished woman with real proposals; the least they can do is treat her fairly.
The Globe also either ignores the accomplishments of the Romney-Healey administration (turning around a fiscal crisis in 2002-03 into budget surpluses this year, opposed by the legislature the whole way), or it somehow manages to use them to support...Patrick? Patrick, apparently, "wants to implement the state's landmark universal healthcare law" -- forget about the fact that, if Mitt Romney hadn't been Governor, the law would never have been passed at all -- "slowly and carefully, without drama".
....what?
His "continued improvements in education"? Those would be the improvements we've seen through Republican initiatives like MCAS and Adams Scholarships implemented by Republican Boards of Education over the screams and yells of the Mass. Teacher's Association and the Democrats in the legislature who they hold in their pockets. The MTA, by the way, endorsed Patrick, of course, and has poured thousands of dollars into ads against Kerry Healey.
The Globe is kidding itself if it thinks that Deval Patrick will "change the dynamic" on Beacon Hill. He will become a creature of Beacon Hill, a rubber-stamp Sal DiMasi, Sen. Travaglini and the rest of the legislature; just another smooth-talking say-nothing politician.
***********
But hell, what do I know? I'm just an angry white guy, I hate Deval because he's black, I'm mired in the "talk-radio political culture" that they look down on so much at the Globe because I listen to Howie Carr and read the Boston Herald (how lower class!) I just too cynical to get it, I guess. If I were smaahht like the Globe Editahs, I would.