Blue Mass Group

Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who is now a paid spokesperson for the industry trying to dump toxic chemicals into your drinking water to boost their profits (supported by a Republican-sponsored exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act) was absolutely destroyed by Stephen Colbert the other night, along with the industry he rode in on. To learn some of the truth about hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, watch Gasland, 2010 winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize.   The Colbert Report Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

From our own exceptionally clever Twitter feed (make like the ducklings and click here to follow us). BREAKING: Scott Brown retracts claim that he saw photo of Rep. Weiner’s schlong. #notreally Borowitz on the genius of Sarah Palin: Let us have the ingenuity of Benjamin Franklin, who invented the electric chair,” she said. “Let us have the honesty of George Washington, who told his father that he chopped down a cherry tree because it was blocking his view of Russia,” she added.  “And let us have Washington’s perseverance, which he demonstrated during that harsh winter at Sweet Valley High.” But she saved her most fulsome praise for her favorite American hero, Paul Revere: “In his famous cry, ‘One if by land, two if by sea,’ Paul Revere proved that you don’t have to know how to count higher than two to be a great American.” At the end of her speech in Monticello, Gov. Palin said that she was looking forward to the next stop on her bus tour, Philadelphia, “the home of the Taco Bell.” Daniel Kurtzman’s round-up of the best Weiner jokes: “Democrats don’t share our values. An elected official is tweeting dirty photos of himself to strange women [...]

Items worth noting (in between periods and during time-outs, of course): State Rep. Ryan Fattman, apparently reeling from the national attention (resulting, at least in part, from our front-page story that has been tweeted nearly 100 times) that his appalling comments about rape and illegal immigration has brought him, has issued a statement “clarifying” his remarks.  It’s classic weaseling.  He doesn’t apologize; he claims his words were “mis-portrayed” (whatever that means); he says he really really cares about crime victims.  But he also does not deny that he was quoted accurately, yet he directly contradicts what he told the reporter.  In his statement, he says that “I believe that a victim of any crime should not be afraid to come forward to law enforcement officials.”  But he told the Worcester Telegram that an illegal immigrant who is a rape victim “should be afraid to come forward.”  Those two statements simply cannot be squared.  So, Ryan, which is it? Meanwhile, the increasingly awful Weiner watch continues.  The latest is that Weiner has acknowledged direct online communication with a 17-year-old girl.  He claims that the contact was “neither explicit nor indecent,” but that leaves an awful lot of wiggle room.  I wish he’d [...]

Vennochi in the Globe: EVERYONE loves a rematch. Sox-Yankees. Celtics-Lakers. How about Brown-Coakley? That would be high political drama. Her arguments? First, Brown is popular and comfortably ahead of any potential Democratic rival. But Coakley comes closest to giving him a real fight in 2012. According to this poll, which surveyed 957 Massachusetts voters from June 2 to 5, Brown beats Coakley 49 to 40 percent, with 10 percent undecided. She’s not in the race, but she’s the most likable and well-known Democrat in the survey. Second, Coakley continues to do a good job as D.A. I say by all means: add our esteemed A.G. to the primary mix. The more potential challengers to international terrorism expert advised-by-Facebook Brown, the better. May the strongest survive. Sen. Scott Brown fooled by picture of bin Laden corpse: MyFoxBOSTON.com

A quick post about Senate race speculation. WCVB Janet Wu Cong Capuano on WCVB’s OTR: Democrats should line up behind one strong candidate to run against Sen. Scott Brown. He’ll decide by summer. Interesting; but wait, there’s more. WCVB Janet Wu Just ran into Warren Tolman, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Said “I’m thinking about” running for US Senate. Whaddaya hear? These are both from http://twitter.com/WuWCVB

Any buzz building out there in BMG land? As I write, it is about four hours until the puck drops. Roberto Luongo will indeed be back in goal for the Canucks. But the game will be in their building. No predictions from me. OK, one prediction: When the scene shifts back to the TD Garden in Boston on Sunday Monday, the Cup will be in the house (I’m really going out on a limb here). Note to the TV and radio folks out there. It’s the Stanley Cup Final, not finals. As in “final series”. “The Finals” is the NBA thing. An interesting letter in the Globe today: The writer cheers on the anthem singers for performing “with total conviction and without the clichéd, narcissistic tinkering with the melody favored by various pop icons”. I’d have to say I mostly agree, even though I admit I was on the side of Jose Feliciano when so many people got their shorts in a twist after his rendition during the 1968 World Series. But what really bugs me about the way some pop stars sing (in general) is that they seem to be afraid to hold a note. Any time you get [...]

(Cross-posted from the Cofar blog) Opponents of Intermediate-Facility-Level care in Massachusetts have repeatedly denigrated the Fernald Developmental Center during the past two years as part of a campaign to encourage the shutdowns of that facility and three other state-run developmental centers in Massachusetts for people with severe intellectual disabilities. Our review shows a pattern in the tactics used by the opponents, which have included repeatedly publicizing inflated figures on Fernald’s per-person cost and falsely characterizing the care at Fernald and other developmental centers as outmoded or obsolete.  The ironic purpose of the campaign has been to close the centers as fast as possible without conducting any meaningful cost studies. The organizations most directly involved in the campaign against Fernald include the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers and the Arc of Massachusetts.  Joining them last year was the Governor’s Commission on Mental Retardation, which the Fernald League noted had previously been reconstituted  by the Patrick administration to lobby on behalf of the developmental center closures. The record appears to show that the efforts to spread misinformation about Fernald have been effective in bottling up cost studies, which would have actually pertained to the three other developmental centers marked for closure.  The misinformation has also been damaging to the reputations of guardians and families of the [...]

Mitt Romney must recognize that he’s got a really big problem on his hands with respect to the auto industry.  Michigan is, of course, a must-win state for him.  Yet his current Michigan tour has been dogged by protests who object – understandably – to his position that the auto industry should have been allowed to fail. Here’s what Romney says about that. “I laid out a plan to get America’s industry on its feet again, and that’s happened,’’ Romney said yesterday. “I said go through bankruptcy reorganization, and that’s in part what got the industry back on its feet. Don’t forget it.” … “Any Democrat who understands my stance on the auto industry will say, ‘Boy he was right on,’ ” he said. Boy, that’s deeply misleading, Mitt.  We already know that Romney’s campaign has had serious difficulty with truth-telling so far.  This is yet another sorry episode. See, Romney wants you to think that he laid the groundwork for the salvation of the auto industry through his now-infamous NY Times op-ed, unfortunately entitled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”  Here’s his basic proposal: A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would [...]

There has been discussion here about about inappropriate behavior not related to public office. What we haven’t discussed is inappropriate behavior by a politician that is related to public office. Massachusetts State Representative Ryan Fattman recently said that raped and beaten illegal immigrants should be afraid to go to the police. He offered this bit of wisdom when being interviewed by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, emphasis mine: Asked if he would be concerned that a woman without legal immigration status was raped and beaten as she walked down the street might be afraid to report the crime to police, Mr. Fattman said he was not worried about those implications. “My thought is that if someone is here illegally, they should be afraid to come forward,” Mr. Fattman said. “If you do it the right way, you don’t have to be concerned about these things,” he said referring to obtaining legal immigration status. One posting that really hit the point home. That anyone would just wave aside the rape or assault of any human, is enough to me to disqualify them for politics. The sad fact is that this is what passes for mainstream in the Republican Party today. No [...]

HEADED FOR VENUS: It’s the final countdown for the DiMasi corruption trial.Closing arguments are beginning right now (AP).Prosecutors tell DiMasi family not to worry. (Herald) THURSDAY DROP: The Patrick administration forgot what day of the week it was yesterday and released news that the Gov is giving three percent raises to state managers (Globe). MORE: AP, Herald WHERE YOU GOIN’?: Mitt Romney will skip out on Iowa and other straw poll states and doesn’t have the best of days in his native Michigan.(Herald, Globe) NOWHERE!: John Olver talks about why he’s not retiring. (MassLive) Have a good weekend. Stay away from chimpanzees – they will rip your face off without so much as a warning. (WBUR) Read the rest of the MASSterList, including the Mitt Monitor, today’s legislative headlines, transportation news, new health care headlines, today’s Best of the Blogs and more by signing up for daily email at MASSterList.com