Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Throw the bums out?

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John Daley’s thrown down the gauntlet for a Throw The Bums Out movement against the Democratic legislature, in the wake of the failure by the entire MA political establishment to responsibly handle the Big Dig over the last 20 years or so.

OK, I’ll take the bait, unappetizing as it may be. First, we have to understand that in spite of owning the governorship for 16 years, the Republican Party as a party is absolute toast in Massachusetts. Gone. Siberia. To quote David:

  • Senate.  There is no GOP candidate in 23 races.  There is no Democratic candidate in 4 races.  So for 27 of the 40 Senate seats (67.5%), voters in November will have no choice.
  • House.  There is no GOP candidate in 107 (!) races.  There is no Democratic candidate in 13 races.  So for 120 of the 160 House seats (75%), voters in November will have no choice.

Wow.  So overall, 147 of the 200 seats (73.5%) in the legislature will be uncontested this November.  That is shocking.

This is partly because MA Dems are genuinely a big-tent party: Even Republicans are Democrats. Unfortunately, because of the way party discipline and logrolling work, there’s the absence of an internal, partisan check in the legislature … On the other hand, isn’t that what the governor is for? Oops.

Put it this way: Even though it would pretty much kill me to vote for a Republican for any office, you could make a damn good case that many of these Democrats are not the ones we want. These are some of the central values of the new-jack “Progressive” movement in MA: accountability, good government, transparency. I can’t say how much they’ve accomplished yet, but that’s the intent. And it’s causing friction within the party. I certainly have no use for any Democrat who’s covering for Bechtel — for instance, by opposing the proposed Walsh commission. I welcome anyone’s help in identifying good, solid, clean, honest, Mr. Smith-type candidates running against corrupt/compromised incumbents. And frankly, this site could do more in promoting them.

OK, so how does accountability actually work? MassGOP makes the “you break it you bought it” argument:

Let’s allow the Democrats to win the corner office therefore removing their argument that real progress has been stymied by the Republican Governor.  Once they have control of the corner office they own the explanations for a poor economy, escalating crime rate, low education results, unemployment, continuing exodus of jobs, people and companies from the commonwealth.  They own it and they will have to explain why their plan doesn’t work.

Now, this is plainly suicidal from the GOP perspective, since — as a party with butter and jam spread on them already — they’re in no position to take advantage of a Democratic governance implosion.

But on the other hand, that’s what democracy is all about, right? You win, and you have to govern; you get the credit or blame. Elect a Democrat as governor, and there are no excuses for failure anymore. See you in ’08 and ’10 for the moment of truth. I’ll take that gamble. Game on.

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Comments

  1. Which Democratic legislators do you see as not real Democrats. Dems that should be replaced with Dems more in line with the Party?

  2. It seems like we should be asking for more Democratic primary battles against incumbants, a la Lamont vs. Lieberman.  Especially in disticts where the GOP are really MIA, a few primary battles might help purge the lege of some of the members of the Demopublican party.

  3. The thing that goes unstated in those other posts about the sad state of the MA Republican Party is a simple observation: Republicans will never do well in this state as long as the national GOP is the way they are (i.e. very conservative).

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    Successful Republicans in MA generally need a great deal of media coverage, for the main purpose of convincing voters that they are not typical Republicans (like the national Republicans). Otherwise, it’s at most just a decision between an unknown (D) and (R) on the ballot, which is not good for the Republican.

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    In other words, MA Republicans start at a disadvantage that they can only overcome by convincing people that they are not really Republican. Why anyone running for the legislature (including conservatives) willingly puts an (R) next to their name if they are running to win is beyond me.

    • You’re absolutely right. The person with the most consistent arguement wins, regardless of whether they’re actually right or not.

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      When faced with a Democrat who says he’s a democrat, versus a Republican who says he’s a democrat, the Democrat wins every time.

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      The Republican base could stymie the (R) on the ballot by going Libertarian, which while its a lot harder to get campaign funds, its still less stigmatized than Newt & Co. or Rove & Co, which is who the national Republicans have as demonizing representatives. Carla Howell didn’t do that terribly last time she ran. Its just impossible to knock out Teddy. She should have started smaller.

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      Its not like there isn’t a market for Republicans in Massachusetts. There are a lot of Irish Catholic families around here, and we have a host of Christian immigrants as well. There are a lot of disgusted taxpayers; jaded professionals, etc. Its just a matter of strategy. You can’t tow the same line in the Red States that you do here.

    • I posted elsewhere that diverting money to the Legislature from the Gubenatorial race is equivalent to the military strategy of giving up one front and shifting to the other and losing them both.

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      Republicans as a grass root party are just too small. They can’t currently take the Legislature in Massachusetts with the National Republican Party platform.

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      There’s no religious right base in Massachusetts;

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      There’s no ultramajority Pro-Life Movement;

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      There’s no real fiscal conservative voice (sigh. The message of “you should save more” just doesn’t seem to sell).

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      At the National level, Republicans should first take back the Republican Party and take it away from the radical right. In Massachusetts, the GOP, to succeed, must over the next 4 years, develop, at the grass roots, the message of personal responsibility and fiscal conservatism.

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      The outlying towns are already onboard with the Republican message. Build the base in Boston starting with the Boomers. They are the voters; the ones with the money; the ones with the most to gain from having the Republican message heard.

  4. There is also one Libertarian and one Green running for State Representative.  This ahrdly nbudges the numbers.

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    There have in the past been considerably more Libertarian State Rep candidates.  Unopposed candidates are not pressured to do American things, like being honest.

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    The Libertarian Party just evaded a revival of its major party status, which is poisonous for ballot access of major parties that are very small.

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    Liberty for Massachusetts  http://www.libertyfo…
    the libertarian activist group, called for running candidates for a majority of State Rep seats within four election cycles.  We are currently at 1 of 81.

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    There was some encouragement by nonRomney republicans that liebrtarians should work for Christy Mihos.  (See his web site.  I can’t see why, either.)

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    George Phillies

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