First, let’s start with some of the nonsense and then “decode” what was said. Let’s start with O’Flaherty:
After appearing with Healey at that press conference, state Representative Eugene L. O’Flaherty, a Democrat from Chelsea, told reporters that he was “very concerned” that his urban blue collar constituents view Patrick as a liberal and that he has to abandon his liberal sounding slogans and move to the political center.
“It has to be more than `together we can,’ ” O’Flaherty said, invoking Patrick’s campaign slogan that he used to appeal to the liberal base of the Democratic Party to win the gubernatorial nomination. He said his constituents would oppose Patrick’s position to keep the cap on charter schools and also would reject his opposition to rolling back the income tax to 5 percent.
Holy nonsense Batman! O’Flaherty represents most of Chelsea so let’s look at the results in Chelsea to see how far off Patrick is from O’Flaherty’s district. Oh wait, PATRICK WON in Chelsea, and be a decent amount. Of 2,544 votes cast Patrick got 1,060 or 42%! O’Flaherty also represents one ward of Boston and we know just how convincingly Patrick carried Boston. O’Flaherty, if anyone is out of touch with your district it is you. Your constituents wanted Patrick for gov and seemed to want him quite a bit.
I don’t have any data on the tax rollback and whether Chelsea and Boston support it or not so I can’t speak specifically on numbers. However, the voters voted for Patrick, and his anti-rollback stance, in convincing margins so Eugene again doesn’t really seem to know what he is talking about.
What about Baddour:
“He has to take some of these liberal issues off the table and address them head on and explain his positions,” Baddour said.
Any specifics there Sen. Baddour? What sort of liberal positions are we talking about? These guys just get to spout off at the mouth with no idea of what they are saying. Perhaps Baddour is worried that his cozy relationship to the Big Dig will be threatened by Patrick’s strong desire to have some independent investigation of the troubled public works project.
Baddour is also worried about the Boogeyman: electability. He says Patrick might struggle in places like Metheun. First, Baddour covers Haverhill, Newburyport, Amesbury, Merrimac, Methuen, and North Andover. Patrick won every single one of those town except for Haverhill. So what about Haverhill, it is blue collar, should Deval be worried? No! He lost to Gabrieli by 74 votes. And I think it is safe to say that even Gabs has a liberal streak and is certainly more liberal than AG Tom Reilly, whom all three supported.
But what really, really sent me over the edge the most was that dirty “L” word. All three intentionally used the phrase in what can only be assumed to be a scare tactic. They took a page right from Healey’s playbook! That is just disgusting coming from Democrats. But even more than playing Healey’s game is the fact that they are just so, so wrong. Look at this picture:
Think of the most conservative areas you can and you will find that 9 times out of 10 Deval Patrick will have won. The liberal agrument does not hold water. This argument needs to stop, it is a farse and a sorry attempt to influence this election on anything but the merits. The argument especially needs to stop being raised by fellow Democrats. Every single time an elected pol uses the “L” word in the same sentence as Deval Patrick you can rest assured that that quote will get ink. The Herald and the Globe don’t like issues, they like controversy. I am not afraid of being liberal but I do not like the word when it is used as weapon which it surely is here. Furthermore, I understand that these elected pols disagree with Patrick on some issues and that is fine but the proper place to raise those issues is behind closed doors. Patrick should start working with legislative leaders so he can make the easy transition when he wins the election (I am not suggesting that the campaign isn’t meeting with pols). Unity means more than just holding hands in public, it means biting tongues, too.
Is Lakeville. Deval won it, the Globe’s tally is a typo.
Lakeville Gabrieli- 3; Patrick- 381; Reilly- 457.
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p>The results from The Brockton Empty-prise show Lakeville breaking Gabrieli- 381; Patrick- 457; Reilly- 276.
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p>You kind of have to feel bad for Reilly; the Globe names Lakeville as his best town, when he actually finished last. Ouch.
Tom Reilly still can’t catch a break.
Trying to salvage what is left of their power. When Deval Patrick and Tim Murray get sworn in things are going to change and some folks just don’t like change.
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Did any of them talk to Deval Patrick? I doubt it. It’s much easier to just fawn over sherry Kerry Healey.
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The folks who voted for Deval in those communities should start phoning and writing letters to those DINOs stat. Deval Patrick is the candidate. Live with it, and if you can’t say anything nice then STFU or at the very least get the hell out of our way.
I think we’d better get used to the idea that much of the resistance to Patrick — from now up through his potential administration — is going to come from Democrats in the legislature. Aside from Healey herself, who the hell else is there?
Remember Finneran speculating that Harshbarger might be “loony left”? Today’s Finneran wannabe, O’Flaherty, the wizard of Chelsea, is playing the same treacherous game.
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%&* him.
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We absolutely need to be a big tent party, but if a legislator consorts with the opposing party candidate while criticizing his own party’s nominee, he is doing a disservice to the party and deserves to be marginalized.
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Harshbarger made the mistake of trying to make nice with Finneran, swayed by all the savants who said he couldn’t win without the backing of the state’s least popular Democrat. Scott should have polished his outsider credentials and embraced the positioning of being the anti-Finneran Democrat. This would have sent a clear signal to the Independents whom Scott needed against Cellucci. Didn’t happen — Scott appeared mushy and weak, and ended up losing a very winnable election.
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I hope Patrick won’t make that mistake. He may not want to emphasize his most liberal positions in the general, but he shouldn’t walk away from them, either. The core strength of his candidacy is not ideology, and not competence either, but a blend of personal integrity, authenticity, and charisma. These attributes are why he and Walsh have been able to build such an amazing field organization — you couldn’t run this successful a grassroots campaign without a candidate who inspires the grassroots.
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This kind of appeal scares the old boys of Beacon Hill no end. And the more they fight against it, the more they signal to independent-minded voters of all political stripes that Patrick is the real deal. Bring ’em on.
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