Let me get this straight. Charlie Baker cried or pretended to cry for a fisherman with two sons for whom he refused college scholarships (approx $400,000.00) so they could instead become fishermen like him and his father before him but the federal fishing regulations are killing the business.
Get me a box Kleenex.
Are you fucking kidding me? Maybe this fisherman should not have acted like the most selfish father in the history of the world and let his kids take the college scholarships.
Anyway, this is what gets Charlie worked up on the campaign trail. I guess the mothers of kids who overdosed or came home in body bags from Iraq and Afghanistan don’t get him as teared up. Or maybe they do but he’s never engaged them.
How about those Republican policies Charlie? On the other hand Dems protecting overfished waters by a dying industry is worthy of a good cry.
So let’s get Martha elected. Then we can watch the disaster of her governorship play out for the next four years. Still better than the irreversible problems, dangerous policies, and questionable people Charlie will bring to the office.
Christopher says
It was the question itself that got a you’ve got to be kidding reaction from me.
mylesgeller says
Knock Baker on his opposition to earned sick time. Criticize his dog-whistle campaigning on Welfare Reform. Disagree on his education plan centered around solely on charter schools and his unwillingness to raise taxes to pay for the government we deserve.
Don’t question his sincerity when it comes to helping people in need.
I’m no fan of Charlie’s policies and I’ve worked against him since 2010, but to criticize his commitment to service is cynical and cheap.
Decent people and especially Democrats should strive to earn our victories by outworking the GOP and proposing better solutions to societies problems, not snickering at public servants. We deserve better than that.
dasox1 says
On Coakley and the governor’s race: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120019/martha-coakley-isnt-choking-massachusetts-governor-race?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=TNR%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=TNR%20Daily%20Zephyr%20with%20LiveIntent%20-%20Oct%2029
JimC says
I didn’t have time to read the whole thing, but the general argument makes sense to me.
Andrei Radulescu-Banu says
“We’ll know Massachusetts has reached true gender equality when its female hacks stand as good a chance as its male ones.”
That quip itself makes the whole New Republic article worth reading.
Jasiu says
Nothing to add to the discussion here, but since the URL of the New Republic story is pasted in full, I thought I’d point something out.
See where the question mark appears?
Everything after that question mark is tracking information that is used by the site to keep track of where someone found the link. This one looks like it originally came in someone’s email. None of that is necessary if you are posting a link here. This link:
works just as well and doesn’t trace every reference back to that original email.
If you post a link you get in your email, it is probably in your best interest to trim off the tracking part.
dasox1 says
I had no idea.
gmoke says
He seems to cry easily. Saw him do it when talking about his blind grandfather. Seemed genuinely embarrassed by it and went up later to tell he shouldn’t apologize for his tears.
What didn’t make sense to me was the story. You have sons with full ride college scholarships and say no? That’s more than a little counterproductive.
johnk says
or should we just storten to just “crock”, like this is a crock. Are you kidding me? really?
Please, nothing genuine about this guy.
dasox1 says
I really do but blaming the federal regulators when you told your kids not to go to college for free……
johnk says
Hey Charlie, why don’t you cry for the kids you turned you back on for a friggin’ election year tax break.
But, but, but what if I, I, I, I don”t get elected, what will Peter Blute do which out a hack job.
HR's Kevin says
Neither my wife nor I really understood what the point of his story was, and you could tell that neither Martha Coakley nor the moderators really knew what to make of it. It was awkward and strange.
I am really surprised that I have not heard any commentator call him out on it. Instead they seem inclined to praise him for showing emotion.
bluewatch says
Can you imagine the reaction if the reverse had occurred? Suppose Martha Coakley had cried while she was talking about a fisherman’s sons. I think such a display would have ended her campaign.
Christopher says
As someone else mentioned HRC did it and won NH. It’s been men who aren’t supposed to show emotion. All these years later the most memorable instance is still Ed Muskie in 1972 in NH.
Al says
emotion spilling over from frustration, not a performance for a question that was looking for emotion as the desired reaction? Baker’s question demanded tears to show empathy. One was real, the other was staged and out of context.
Christopher says
Definitely about HRC and the more I read about Baker’s answer the more I wonder. My point was simply to respond to the idea that a woman would have been damaged by crying when in this case it seemed to help, or at least not cost her the NH win.
David says
not from this campaign cycle. Which makes the whole thing a bit more suspect. (a) Baker hasn’t heard an affecting story this entire campaign, so he has to reach back to 2010 to find one? (b) Baker still chokes up telling a story that he has been telling for 4 years?
dasox1 says
Now isn’t that interesting. I wonder how channeling his inner John Boehner will play in the waning days of the campaign. Maybe he’ll get caught smoking butts too.
johnk says
fitting
johnk says
As David noted, the guy labeled with a compassion deficit decides to blubber a week before an election on a 4 year old story. Suspect indeed.
Andrei Radulescu-Banu says
A real campaign-approved, poll-tested tearjerker.
Mark L. Bail says
when she was in New Hampshire. It’s been done before.
He’s got to appeal to women! You’ll all vote for him now, won’t you girls?
Optimist says
Are journalists so lazy that they can’t track down a simple thing: How many fisherman are there in New Bedford with two sons in the business who were full scholarship athletes in high school? Has anyone tried to find the guy in this story?
And why exactly was this question posed? Did it come from the moderators? Was it posed by one of the campaigns?
Some reporting, please.