Blue Mass Group

Not to be out done by Deval’s rally and following up on her incredibly successful book tour, rumor has it that Kerry is planning a rally of her own. A Night for Fright – “because you have to get out the fear before you get out the vote” promises to be a one to remember. When you say? Would you believe October 31! All Hallows Eve. That date just feels right doesn’t it. There are lots of details to be hashed out but we have a few: Mitt Romney will make a rare appearance in the state and will be decked out as Lord Dark Helmet. Reed Hillman will come dressed as a Storm Trooper. Kerry Healey will get down with her criminologist self and appear as the Evil Emperor. Please, no Dick Cheney costumes. Kerry doesn’t want her picture taken with Dick Cheney real or not. Prizes will be awarded for the best Willie Horton costume. We also hear our friends at Hub Politics will be coming as Pinky and the Brain. We think this hardly qualifies as a costume, but c’est la vie. We will release more details as they are leaked to the press. PS – we [...]

Did anyone stay awake for the whole thing?  I did! I have to say that I found John Sullivan (on Mihos’s ticket) to be the most well spoken.  He had clear ideas, stated them firmly and answered the moderator’s questions.  He continued the Mihos approach of pit-bull attacks on the Healey-Romney administration/Big Dig. In a low-charisma group, Tim Murray had the most charisma and stayed true to the Patrick-Murray message.  It didn’t sound quite as good coming from his lips as it does from Patrick’s but I think Tim was able to hold is own. I think Hillman is a better debater than Muffy.  He didn’t break a sweat once, and never came across as the slightest bit defensive.  (Of course, be didn’t have Pit Bull Mihos nipping at his heels, or Queen of Logic Grace Ross.)  I’m glad he’s not running for governor. The most painful part was poor Martina Robinson.  For one thing, she was nearly invisible to the camera, because her wheelchair set her back from the other three, so the camera kept showing three suited men next to each other, and occasionally panning over.  Then there’s the fact that her cerebral palsy makes it difficult for [...]

Did anyone see the news tonight? There was a blurb about Deval changing his position on giving illegal immigrants licenses…apparently due to a new law passed.  Social Security agencies and other federal agencies would not recognize the licenses as acceptable. Does this hurt or help him..Is the new law change an acceptable reason to change positions? I’m a newbie so be easy….. UPDATE (by David): my understanding is that DP has not changed his view that it’s a good idea for the state to have documentation of the names and addresses of everyone in the state, whether they’re in the US legally or not.  But the federal Real ID law, as I wrote several weeks ago, will make it basically impossible for drivers licenses to be the state’s means of doing that.

First, Mitt “No Wacko Left Behind” Romney shows up with ringleader Tony “David Duke” Perkins and the rest of the gay-haters last Sunday, leaving Kerry Healey scrambling yet again to disassociate herself from him: “I think people are beginning to see that we are very different people,” said Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey yesterday when asked what she thought of Mitt’s appearance with this demented bunch. “I think we all knew where he was moving.” Well, that’s pathetic.  If “we all knew” where this dude was “moving,” he never would have been elected.  And if Healey “knew,” she might have clued the rest of us in. Anyway, if that weren’t bad enough (the four panelists at this morning’s MassINC forum on the Gov’s race, including Republican Ginny Buckingham, were unanimous that “Mitt’s all about Mitt, and he always has been”), now Mitt’s on CNN practically declaring Deval Patrick the winner of the MA Governor’s race.  After Wolf Blitzer noted that there are at present 28 Republican Governors and 22 Dems, here’s how the exchange went: BLITZER: So there will be a majority of Democratic governors as opposed to a majority of Republican governors? ROMNEY: Oh, sure. I don’t think there is [...]

Is it me, or is everyone else enjoying the we’re not going to take this crap anymore approach from the Deval Patrick campaign. Jon Keller in his normal backhanded kind of way gave kudos to the Deval Patrick campaign on challenging Kerry on their endorsement of Gun Owners Action League (GOAL). Tim Murray, waited outside a Healey speaking engagement to ambush her with demands that she disclose the gunlaw stances she took to win endorsement from the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts. “I am going to welcome this debate on crime anytime that Tim Murray or Deval Patrick wants to bring it to me because their record is clear,” said Healey. Well, no need to wait… Healey: There you are. Murray: We hope you’ll be able to release your answers to the questionnaire because it will add to a full and valuable discussion of all the issues related to public safety. Healey: I will never weaken the laws on gun control here in Massachusetts, but I will also tell you that I support the legal ownership of guns for our sportsmen here in Massachusetts. Murray: As do we, but where do you stand on ammunition? Healey: You know, what [...]

Q.  Who was the most successful and admired Republican politician of, at least, the latter half of the 20th century? A.  Easy.  Ronald Reagan. Q.  And why was he so successful? A.  Because he had better ten-point plans than Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. Because more Americans agreed with him than with the Democrats on certain hot-button issues. Because he inspired people, and because he was a leader. What’s my point?  My point is that the perpetual moaning and groaning from the Healey crowd about Patrick not being “specific” enough and talking too much about “the politics of hope,” in addition to being either willfully wrong or wildly misinformed, misses a really important fact about politics: leadership matters. Remember “morning in America”?  I mean, come on — what the hell does “morning in America” really mean?  Nothing, obviously — it’s just a feel-good slogan that doesn’t actually say anything about what you’d do in office.  And yet, here’s what a hard-core Reaganite wrote shortly after Reagan left office: MORNING IN AMERICA Reagan Rebuilt the Presidency EDWIN J. FEULNER JR. Ronald Reagan changed the political landscape in ways that, just a few years ago, seemed unthinkable. Today even liberals use words [...]

If you weren’t in the house last night, fear not: you can watch President Clinton’s entire speech over at DPTV. It’s … um … not short (25 minutes or so), but it’s worth watching the whole thing.  Clinton is, of course, one of the best political speakers of modern times.  He rarely raised his voice above the level of conversation.  But he was compelling, and he had a lot of interesting stuff to say not only about Deval Patrick and this race, but about what’s going on in politics nationally right now, and what we can do about it.  There was a lot about the importance of civility and community.  Particularly gratifying was his riff on the virtues of the “reality-based” world!

Oy, blogging via dial-up is verrry lame. But here’s what I’ve been coming across: I can’t get over Clinton raising $2 million for Patrick. That’s just a lot of scratch. What an immense asset it is to have an  ex-President who is generally acclaimed to be a success. Speaking of which … I haven’t seen Healey’s little clip on “Clinton vs. Patrick” (dial-up, you know), but I already know it ain’t exactly Great Moments in Framing. The more people associate “Bill Clinton” with “Deval Patrick”, the better for us. So, thanks for doing our work for us, Healey folks. More Clinton: Yeah, Deval sounds like Bill. Anyone got a problem with that? That’s what folks here were saying last May. Even yet still more Clinton: “Everybody knows that somehow the wheel has run off of our national discourse and our common life. And people don’t want us to shout at each other any more. They want to be talked to, reasoned with, lifted up. Even they want arguments, but they just want to hear people talking.” A bit later, Clinton told the crowd to talk about Patrick with their neighbors, no matter what their political leanings, with the larger goal [...]

He’s not really our Governor anymore, since he spends most of his time out of state ridiculing our Commonwealth. He certainly can’t be called His Excellency when he spends his spare time speaking out against children and families, marriage, and personal freedom. My personal favorite, Willard, which is the man’s given name, doesn’t seem to have caught on, despite my best efforts, so here is an open call to the BMG community for a nickname or title we can use to refer to Willard Mitt Romney on this page. Previous contenders that have faded include Matinee Mitt, Mittens, and “the Mittster.” Free BMG coffee mug — the first one ever purchased from CafePress, to the best of my knowledge — to the winner. Bloggers, to your keyboards.

I got a couple of emails this morning from Progressive Democrats of Somerville mailing list, which alerted me to this: 

Pact could end row over project near Assembly Square

A tentative agreement disclosed yesterday between developers and a community group could end nearly a decade of dispute and allow construction of an Ikea furniture store and an ambitious mixed-use project consisting of office space, a hotel, and more than 2,100 rental apartments and residential condominiums near Somerville’s Assembly Square.