Blue Mass Group

Eugene Robinson wrote today in The Washington Post that Rick Santorum could take Republicans down with him. These days, any place that you can find left-leaning commentary has something rightfully slagging Santorum and his extremist ideologies.  There is a treasure trove of low-hanging Santorum fruit that we tee up and rip apart, and I don’t like it one bit. If Santorum is indeed the Francesco Schettino of the 2012 GOP, then let’s sit back, grab some pop corn, and enjoy watching the good captain run this capsizing ship into the beach. Save the heavy ammunition in case he makes it to the general election, for when after the GOP chooses a candidate more difficult to elect than Romney. Don’t do any heavy lifting for Mitt.

[Cross-posted from the ProgressMass Blog.] Since social media, and the internet in general, can provide us with information overload from time to time, we should make sure that strong progressive voices make it through the noise of the crowd. To that end, ProgressMass would like to recommend ten such strong progressive voices to “Like” on Facebook and follow on Twitter. This list is by no means exhaustive. In the comments, please offer your recommendations for progressive voices we should keep track of via social media. ProgressMass utilizes online organizing and social media, direct media outreach, and aggressive networking to promote progressive values in our public discourse. ProgressMass on Facebook ProgressMass on Twitter Campaign for Our Communities is dedicated to informing Massachusetts about what it means to invest in our communities and what could happen if we don’t. Campaign for Our Communities on Facebook Campaign for Our Communities on Twitter Mass Uniting is a coalition of neighbors, community groups, faith organizations and labor united in the fight for good jobs, corporate accountability, and stronger communities. Mass Uniting on Facebook Mass Uniting on Twitter Mass Alliance provides leadership for the progressive community, cultivates and empowers new progressive leaders, and seeks out progressive [...]

MA Dem Party Chair John Walsh is always funny, always fun and scary smart. He joined us today at Left Ahead to talk strategy and prospects for the 2012 elections, but he won’t ever forget early 2010. He led the commonwealth Dems to sweeping victory in November 2012 while the rest of the nation was awash in GOP fervor. In no small part, that was because he learned from the special-election loss at the start of the year that saw Republican Scott Brown edge Dem Martha Coakley for the US Senate seat. He continues to build on the lessons he learned after that, including conversations with Dem activists and pols. Chief among those are: start early put resources in the hands of the locals and listen to their judgment

Today’s report (2/22/12) in the Washington Post indicates that the mandatory invasive procedure may well be scaled back to voluntary – 1000 pairs of eyes staring at legislator’s as the entered the Virginia State House may have made all the difference, see the WaPo story.   Photo courtesy of the Rachel Maddow Blog Apparently, Virginia has passed laws making chanting or carrying signs illegal on the grounds of its capitol building.  How constitutional is that one wonders.  The organizers of yesterday’s February 20, 2012 protest drew inspiration from Occupy UC’s silent protest of their chancellor.  Their occupy-inspired silent protest drew Virginians to stand silently for hours.  Enough Virginians, mostly women, but some children and men attended to completely ring their capitol building, and stare silently at the Virginia legislators who were supposedly going to vote that medically unnecessary probes would be inserted into women seeking abortions – See Lynne Lupien’s post from a few days ago:  http://bluemassgroup.com/2012/02/hey-virginia-state-house-stick-it-up-your-own/ The vote did not happen yesterday – and of course, that silent cordon cannot be there every day.  The only way we will reclaim democracy, in this state, in the USA, or anywhere else including Virginia is to stand up and fight back [...]

There’s an old saying: “Anybody who calls themselves a realist is steeling themselves to do something of which they are secretly ashamed…” On Scott Browns Campaign Website there are to be seen many iterations of the words “independent” and “moderate”. There are even some allusions to “opponents” clearly of the Democratic stripe. But startlingly few allusions to Scott Brown as a member of the REPUBLICAN party. Is he ashamed? Why would there be so very little mention of the political party Scott Brown has long been affiliated with… Not even his “Bio” pages refers to the party that supported him as a state senator and then, later, as a Senate candidate. (note bene: it was in just this Senate Candidacy when Scott Brown was heard to say “it’s not the Kennedy’s seat, and it’s not the Democrat’s seat, it’s the people’s seat.” Even then, it appears, he had trouble admitting to a party affiliation.) But the entire website reads like a denaturated mime (it will act it out, but it won’t say it) of Karl Roves id: a congerie of Republican talking points, anti-democratic venom, faux-populist sloganeering, vividly vague pronouncements about “Obamacare” and “border protection”, braggadocia about never having voted [...]