Kimberly Atkins has the right idea: If you’ve seen any of the other “debates” on CBS4 or WB56, you probably don’t need to see tonight’s on Greater Boston, unless you wanna get totally hammahed.
I’ll say this: Tom Reilly is a talking points tickertape, and no one can throw him off; Gabrieli mumbles too much; and Patrick is too game to talk about whatever irrelevancy the questioner thinks is the sparkly object du jour — in this case, his ginormous (or not so ginormous) vacation house in Richmond, MA. Deval could learn to pivot from Reilly … although not too well, please.
In any event, it was pretty civil: The candidates shared credit when they agreed with each other; Patrick even credited Gabrieli with helping him think through some issues. Reilly gave Patrick credit for finding savings in the budget. (I hereby vow that I will find out for myself whether the income tax can be cut to 5.0% and still have $500 million left over — apparently to invest in UMass — as Reilly says. Heck, I hope he’s right.)
I do wish that Emily Rooney had pressed some issues: For instance, asking about Kerry Healey’s Pension-to-401(k) proposal lapsed into a discussion about Rep. Ruane and the legislature’s special treatment of his case. Big deal: It’s one guy. However, the fact that state pensions are drastically underfunded is a big deal, and deserves a better response than the kneejerk “bash the lege.”
Overall, Rooney was fairly tenacious in trying to get the candidates to answer the questions asked — always a pet peeve of mine — but the questions themselves could have been more interesting. What about health care? How do we control costs, and squeeze in the “doughnut hole” folks who are too “rich” for subsidy, but probably not rich enough to afford their own insurance? What about Cape Wind/Buzzards Bay/tidal power in Woods Hole? Instead, the final question was a squishy, “What kind of personal quality do you think that you have that these two don’t?” Meh.
Naturally, the Fluff debate (“Kerfluffle”, from now on, please) came up. I have to say I liked Gab’s answer the best, typical of his earnestness: The issue is really childhood obesity. And he’s right: Kids shouldn’t be fed a bunch of sugary, diabetes-inducing crap at school! Would that Sen. Barrios had actually broadened his scope and thought through the sound bites a little better before holding forth.
If there was anything different about this debate, it was the emphasis on illegal immigration. I agree with MaverickDem’s analysis, and that the essential focus of Reilly’s 2001 policy seems correct to me: Enforce MA employment laws, don’t enforce federal law.
The press mini-gaggle afterwards focused almost totally on immigration, which I have to say leaves me cold. I know this is a hot-button issue for a lot of people, but on the state level, I can’t really understand why. We’re not concerned about illegal Vermonters coming across the MA border; It’s foreigners, stupid. That means it’s a federal issue. The governor’s not the president.
the Kerfluffle has hit the national press.
The only shocking thing is that Barrios was unavailable for comment. When in his life has he not been available for comment?
Thanks for taking one for the team: effective reporting, plus a solid POV. It all sounds modestly interesting, but one wonders how many more of these “debates” even the most dedicated blogger can sit through. Why do you think we’re deprived of real Lincoln-Douglas slugfests? Because the media can’t be bothered? Because the candidates won’t agree to confront each other in this way? Because the Democratic Party doesn’t want a knock-down drag-out primary? Because there aren’t any serious disagreements among the contestants? Some other reason … anyone else have any thoughts?
Not to be too negative, but one does begin to understand the jaded and weary tone of the press corps in following politics. They hear the same sound-bites and talking points again and again — even if the general public does not.
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Martha Bebinger did a nice, dutiful report on the debate for ‘BUR, which tried to point out what was news. I think it’s not on their site yet.