You can't pretend you just missed the face-off (debate-like object). WCVB will have the whole show, minus the breaks, from here.
Joining me in the blowhard world are:
- Dave Bernstein at Talking Politics, with a mini-review saying Menino “came out fine.”
- The news piece at the Herald tried to claim a minor scuffle over promising Yoon a cabinet-level position “raises debate's temperature.” (What, 1 degree or 2?)
- In the same tab, Peter Gelznis was more accurate saying both guys avoided real answers throughout.
- The news piece in the Globe reads that it was a draw.
- Its editorial commentary was that Flaherty came off looking mayoral (which may be swell if he wants to play one on TV after losing Nov. 3rd, I'd add).
The harsh reality of that show was that there were no new weapons or tactics. Making it worse for Flaherty was that when the bad cop, the one strident person at the table, reporter Janet Wu, pressed him for definitive answers, he sidled off the nave into an aisle to escape.
A biggy there was the firefighters' union. He had a chance to show some guts and draw a clear distinction between Da Mare. Menino has been unable to get this recalcitrant group of blackmailers to agree to drug tests without at least a 20% raise. Wu demanded strongly that Flaherty commit to cutting the deal without giving up more than the 14% Menino has been offering.
Instead, as he did throughout the hour, he said he'd negotiate the best deal possible for the citizens of Boston. That's right, boys and girls, trust the man whom that union has endorsed and featured on its website. Rather than come off as Rambo or the like, he implied that he could out arbitrate Menino. No pledges, no points.
Alas, I am the voyeur. I want the vicarious excitement that our dailies pretend we already have. Where's the cavalry to the rescue? Where are the new, more powerful arguments? Where are the compelling reasons to pick Flaherty with or without Yoon?
I say the challenger(s) have two weeks to breakthrough.
Cross-post: This will also appear at Marry in Massachusetts.
It should be crystal clear by know that Flaherty has already privately agreed to the Firefighter Union’s contract demands. Otherwise there is no way he could confidently state that he will have a contract within the first 100 days of his administration as he did last night. His refusal to address the raise issue confirms that he is definitely going to give them more than 14%.
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p>Perhaps this doesn’t bother his non-firefighter supporters, but it sure bothers me. This tells me he is just another back-room deal maker, and perhaps not so much the agent of positive change he claims to be.
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p>I also was annoyed by Flaherty’s repeated charges of Menino “playing politics” with various issues as if he were not doing the exact same thing.
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p>If it were Menino vs. Yoon, I would have voted for Yoon, even though I think some of his ideas are misguided, because I think he is much closer to being an honest progressive reformer. Against Flaherty, I am going to stick with Menino.
The fact that no one here bothered to blog about this last night is a pretty clear indication that interest in the race is waning.
Drink whenever Sam winks.
This topic is a joke. There are over 150 comments on the Herald website and more on the Boston site, but there was nothing on the topic of the debate anywhere at BMG leading up to the debate, nothing during the debate and nothing after the debate.
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p>In fact, the previous posting, “Help me on Right Wing Radio” shows a time stamp of 9:30 AM and was the first topic when I got to work this morning (with nothing about the debate anywhere in sight).
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p>Even Menino’s usual troll didn’t post until 10AM.
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p>However, we are suppose to believe that the lack of any discussion here is suppose to be a sign that there is no interest in the race. I don’t think so. Perhaps if the topic had actually appeared at some point prior to more than 15 hours AFTER the event, there would have been some interest. I am extremely disappointed with BMG on its failure on this one.
Does that make you disappointed in yourself for not bothering to post anything on this topic? đŸ˜‰
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p>I am more than a little surprised that the real Menino/Flaherty/Yoon/McCrea partisans on this site haven’t chimed in on the debate yet. Perhaps they perceived that both Menino and Flaherty took hits last night and didn’t want to bring attention to it? Beats me.
I confess, Mike to Mike, that I do feel like a political whore for watching every second and taking notes. Maybe political junky would be a kinder way to describe myself.
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p>I think many of us do care. However, with the wide choices of news and opinion sources, I’m not as sure that people will pay attention to one event, even that allegedly crucial one of two debate-like objects.
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p>If Floon would step it up two speeds, this would be a lot more fun and definitive contest.