Blue Mass Group

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New Patrick ad aims at insiders. And hits.

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Deval Patrick has released a new TV ad.  I like it.  It’s just him, in his shirtsleeves, sitting at a cluttered desk at what looks like campaign HQ, talking right to the camera.  No music (thank God).  Here’s what he says:

When we began this campaign, the insiders on Beacon Hill were laughing.  They didn’t believe you could change politics as usual in Massachusetts.  Well, they’re not laughing any more – they’re worried, and they’re responding just as you’d expect: with misleading negative ads.  All I’ve said on taxes is the truth: if we cut the income tax now, your property taxes will go up.  It’s a shell game, and we can’t afford it.  Insider politics and negative ads won’t lift our state.  But on election day, we can.

Patrick can only benefit from playing the insider card.  And this strikes me as a pretty effective way of doing it: looking the voter right in the eye, and saying, in effect, “you’ve seen this all before – aren’t you tired of it?  Do you really think these guys are going to get the job done?  C’mon.”

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  1. Deval Patrick stands out over his competition.  Bright, articulate, educated, he is more than most of the political rabble.  In that alone, he is an “outsider”.  The only bad things I have heard about him are from Massachusetts civil servants of the “Dublin Gentlemen’s Club” variety that infest so many state agencies.  Middle managers, they fear his civil rights attorney title.  They seem to think he will clean house and replace them with minorities. 

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    Granted, many of these folks have “do nothing” or  “do little” jobs and could be replaced easily, but I doubt their fears are grounded in anything but  their own prejudices.  Historically, politicians seek to expand their constituency, not limit it. 

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    Not that the Commonwealth couldn’t stand some integration.  I find it embarrassing that, as you walk through the Saltonstal or Ashburton Place buildings, you see almost only white men in professional dress, a few women and the people of color are taking out the trash. 

    • The politicians you guys get a kick out of slamming have given Massachusetts one of the best state governments in the union- they worked with popular movements to give Massachusetts gay marriage, (relatively) strong labor laws, a high minimum wage, and much more. As far as I can tell, the tool corrupting politics in Massachusetts is money- money coming from the private sector- and not so much the political establishment.

      • It wasn’t the insiders that brought gay marriage to Massachusetts.  It was the good people at GLAD who brought the case and the the decision of the SJC that brought us legal gay marriage.  Without the Goodridge decision, we would not have equal marriage in Massachusetts today.  Also, it was the state senate (and one Tom Reilly) that tried to have the SJC reinterpret their decision in Goodridge to allow for civil unions rather than full marriage equality.  And while a clear and vast majority of the legislature now believes that all our citizens should be treated equally and that same sex marriage should be legal, a majority of the legislature (104 members to be exact) did vote to move an amendment forward that would have outlawed equal marriage in favor of civil unions.  That amendment was called the Traviligni-Lees amendment remember.  And as far as I know, while Lees now believes that equal marriage is the right way to go and that civil unions are not equal to marriage, the Senate leader hasn’t yet reached the same conclusion.

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        So why there is a lot to be of with regards to our legislature and GLBT issues, lets be accurate with our history.

    • It’s silly to say that “insider” ONLY means working for the state of MA. 

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      He’s an insider…more so than most in public life.  Don’t believe the spin that just because you don’t currently work on Beacon Hill you are an “outsider”.  It’s just a different power base…he’s VERY rich and VERY connected. 

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      Also, I should remind you that DevalPatrick.com lists around 120 different state and local office holder endorsements.  51 from the State House alone!  That’s almost 30% of the democrats in the House and Senate…Does that make him the favorite of everyone there?  Of course not, but let’s stop calling him an outsider.

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      Last time I checked, high level Presidential appointments are usually not posted on Monster.com.  Outsiders usually don’t have the support of their congressional delegation either.  But, hey…that’s just me.  I’m picky that way. 

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      It’s also sort of sad how you feel comfortable arguing that those who oppose Deval Patrick MUST be small minded bigots with tiny insignificant jobs.  I’m happy to see he and his supporters are about NEW politics…not that old demonization stuff…We can do it together, huh?

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      Finally, if you are white you might want to stop calling Deval Patrick “articulate”.  I’m white, but I still know that’s tacky and condecending.   

      • 1.  Being liked by insiders doesn’t make you an insider.  Hell, two state reps and a state senator get a kick out of me, but I’m no insider.

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        Maybe the insiders are looking to shake things up too, for their own good?  Maybe they like him despite the idea that he’s an outsider?

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        I’ll say it again: being the preference of (some) insiders does not defacto make you an insider.

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        2.  Deval Patrick isn’t articulate for a black man.  He’s articulate for a person.  That’s what people are talking about.  He’s more articulate than nearly all presidents, US senators, and members of the US house I’ve heard (loosely: 100?!).  Tacky and condecending is assuming that the color of your skin determines whether or not you’re “allowed” to voice an opinion, and presuming that calling DP articulate is in reference to others in his race is also, frankly, tacky and condecending.

        • But having extensive connections and an abundance of wealth and power DOES. If not, then I’m not so sure how you become one of these mysterious ‘insiders.’

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          Let’s define an ‘insider’ as one who’s worked with and within the establishment and can exert influence via the establishment.

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          If you accept that definition and you accept that Coca-Cola, Texaco, and Ameriquest are part of the established power structure, then it’s pretty hard to pretend that Deval Patrick is an insider.

        • “Tacky and condecending is assuming that the color of your skin determines whether or not you’re “allowed” to voice an opinion”

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          I was hoping to avoid the whole righteous indignation thing.  For the sake of all involved, can we just stipulate that neither of us is trying to stop the other from voicing an opinion based on race??? That’s a bit tired, don’t you think?

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          If you would like to show me where I said anything CLOSE to that I would be glad to apologize.  Problem is that you can’t.  It’s demagoguery and you should be embarrassed.

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          I was responding to a post labeling all (But specifically the Irish) who oppose Deval Patrick’s candidacy as bigots. 

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          The same person who so gleefully calls other people on their “prejudice” referred to Deval Patrick using language, to my understanding, many black people find condescending.  I think that is REAL funny. 

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          I’m a white guy, so please do not take my word for it.  Ask around…

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          Back to my main point….I think it’s self serving and silly to imply that only  state employees are “insiders”.  As others on BMG have said, Deval is an “Insider” if anyone is.  He’s just represents a different power base – The more liberal, Federal Dem establishment.  That’s all.  It’s fair to say he’s spent his career at the federal level and that he is differs from a lot of beacon hill leadership in terms of ideology or in how to achieve goals…but to call him an outsider is just silly populist rhetoric.

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          If I were to describe Candidate ‘A’ to you and said he was a former Clinton cabinet official with the backing of 30% of the Dems in the Legislature and 50% of the State Congressional Delegation and made $3.8 million based in large measure on his public service (not illegal or even unethical, but let’s face it…that’s what he did) would anyone call that candidate an “outsider”?  I just don’t believe they would. 

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          Although it’s is interesting how you imply that Deval’s support from insiders is somehow proof he’s actually an outsider. I have to give you points for effort.

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          For the record, many of the 50 or so legislators that have endorsed him are Chairs of very influential committees and several are members of the Ways & Means Committee.  I believe they are with him for ideological reasons…nothing sinister…but their support is not based on him being an “oustider”…that’s for public consumption.

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    • Mostly, they’re talking about Gabrieli.  Anyway, the reason they’re telling Reilly to calm down is because he made a fool of himself on Thursday night, not because they’re backing someone else.

      • The reason the party heads are telling Reilly to slow down is because negative attacks work and, if Patrick or Gabs take the nomination, they want these same negative attacks (concerning money and millionaires) to work against Healey.

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        As State Treasurer Cahill reasoned, ‘‘[t]hat’s really the reason we haven’t won in 16 years, not because we’re wrong on the issues, it’s because we hurt each other so much that we’re easy pickings by the time we go to the general election… [t]hat’s something to be concerned about.’’

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        That’s their reasoning. And they’re pretty open about it.

        • What playbook is it this time?  Let’s start another list on bidness as usual:

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          1.  Misinterpret and misconstrue the party line about attack ads.  Use the meme that they are effective, and the party wants to hold them back to use against the Repugs.  Which consultant came up with this one?  Do we have to guess?

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          2.  Spread some fear.  Quote someone on electability, or towing the party line, blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, it’s worked in the past.  Get over it, blah, blah, blah.  We know about these things, blah, blah, blah.

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          Do you really, really believe in what you’re saying?  Or, did you get the email about not wavering at this late hour?

  3. It’s an interesting ad and it is well delivered by Deval Patrick, as usual and expected.  The guy is good. The only issue – which we have debated in other forums over the last few months – is who is the “purest” outsider in this race.  We all know it’s definitely not Tom Reilly, so is it Deval or Chris Gabrieli?

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    Maybe the answers to these questions will help answer this “question”.

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    1) Which candidate has spent a larger portion of their career on public sector payrolls, Gabrieli or Patrick? 
    Answer: Patrick

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    2) Which candidate has more of the Massachusetts political delegation and establishment behind him, Gabrieli or Patrick?
    Answer: Patrick

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    3.) Which candidate is backed by a greater % of party activists and insiders?
    Answer: Patrick

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    4.) Along the same lines, which candidate received over 50% support at this year’s democratic convention, the ultimate in MA insider politics?
    Answer: Patrick

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    5.) Which candidate is primarily the product of private sector work?
    Answer: Gabrieli

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    6.) Which candidate is backed by a higher % of political independents and non-party activists?
    Answer: Gabrieli

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    7.) So, who is more the political outsider in this race?
    Answer: Gabrieli

    • But not convincing.

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      1. The only reason that’s true is that Patrick got the one job he sought in the public sector, and Gabs tried for two but failed each time.  Furthermore, obviously, Patrick’s job was in the Clinton administration and has nothing to do with Beacon Hill.

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      2. I don’t think being an “insider” is about who’s backing you.  I think it’s about where you come from.  So I don’t buy the relevance of this question.  The fact that a good number of “insiders” are backing a campaign like Patrick’s says only good things about Patrick’s campaign.

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      3. See question 2.  Furthermore, Gabs wasn’t in the race when most of that crowd made up their minds – he was trying to be Reilly’s LG.

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      4. See questions 2 and 3.  Furthermore, as you well know, a lot of Patrick’s support at the convention was from delegates who were new to the process.

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      5. This one’s a push, IMHO.  Both have long private sector resumes. 

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      6. What is your basis for this assertion?  The polls?  I don’t see any connection between polling well with independents and being an insider or outsider.

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      7. So there you go.  You say Gabs, I say Patrick.

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      And here’s the most important question, which you didn’t ask:

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      Who has been willing in this campaign to criticize Sal & Trav when they were wrong?

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      Answer: Patrick.  Gabs had several opportunities, and he’s whiffed each time.

      • We can agree to disagree on this one David. 

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        BTW if you are referring to those earlier elections as the cases where Gabrieli did not enter the public sector, even if Gabrieli were in office since 1998, his public sector experience would be less than Patrick’s. 

    • 1) Which candidate has spent a larger portion of their career on public sector payrolls, Gabrieli or Patrick?

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      To the best of my knowedge, Patrick has spent exactly 0 days on the MA payroll, which is the only relevant one.

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      2) Which candidate has more of the Massachusetts political delegation and establishment behind him, Gabrieli or Patrick?

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      Sure, Patrick got more delegates’ votes, including mine.  I can assure you that I am in no way an insider.  I’m an outsider, pissed at my fat and lazy Democratic party, and that’s why I got involved and support Patrick.  I can assure you that I’m not the only one.

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      3.) Which candidate is backed by a greater % of party activists and insiders?

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      Between Gabs and Patrick?  Patrick’s got more activists I’d bet, but insiders… that’s not so clear at all.  After all, the actions insiders got Gabs his 15% in the first place.

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      4.) Along the same lines, which candidate received over 50% support at this year’s democratic convention, the ultimate in MA insider politics?

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      Along the same lines, delegates weren’t insiders, especially this year.  The Deval Patrick campaign worked hard to bring in entire caucuses of outsiders.  It worked.

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      5.) Which candidate is primarily the product of private sector work?

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      When did “private sector” become the antithesis of outsider?  I’m sure you’d agree that private developers, sports team owners, and other high rollers are certainly insiders if they choose to be.

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      Furthermore, if that private sector person has run for office inside Massachusetts twice before, and has worked on statewide education efforts, he certainly has had his share of insider discussions.

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      Finally, when you owe your gratitude (and favors) for getting 15.36% (one percent for every million bucks, ha!), you’re no longer an outsider.

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      6.) Which candidate is backed by a higher % of political independents and non-party activists?

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      This isn’t so clear either.  We may know more sometime around the end of the month though.

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      7.) So, who is more the political outsider in this race?

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      Deval claims to be an outsider, and I think he’s right.  He’s never claimed to be the only outsider (AFAIK).  I do think the “my candidate is more outsiderer than your candidate” is a bit silly and a bit, well, wrong.

      • It reads,

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        “New Patrick ad aims at insiders. And hits.”

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        You then posted
        Deval claims to be an outsider, and I think he’s right.  He’s never claimed to be the only outsider (AFAIK).  I do think the “my candidate is more outsiderer than your candidate” is a bit silly…

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        So, does this not make Deval’s shot at insiders “a bit silly”? He is clearly implying, if not outright saying, that he is not one of the insiders – and thus is an outsider by extension. He is also lumping his “opponents” into the insider camp if you listen to that ad.  Since there are only two opponents through the 19th and the word “insiders” is plural the last time I checked, he is indeed claiming to be the only outsider in this race.  It is a bit “silly”, isn’t it?

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        • “When we began this campaign, the insiders on Beacon Hill…”

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          Was Chris Gabs on Beacon Hill a year ago?  Is Patrick, therefore, referring to Chris Gabs?

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          Gabrieli hasn’t run hard at Patrick, and Patrick hasn’t run hard at Gabrieli.  This is clearly to differentiate Patrick from Reilly, and to emphasize Patrick’s framing as an outsider, just as frustrated with politics as usual as the rest of us.  That we happen to be in an anti-incumbant cynical time period plays to his favor.

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          The claim that this ad is pointed at Gabs requires serious logic leaps that just don’t wash.

          • “Insiders” and “politics as usual” is also shorthand for (1) the electability argument, (2) the requirement to appease the anti-tax folks, and (3) the “too liberal” argument, for instance.

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            He has been developing this theme consistently and with discipline, to the point where it has become a real political muscle. Flex, flex.

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            In the next breath he ties it into his tax stance.

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            I think it works very well for him and could be devastating against Healey.

    • Dear Southshoreguy:

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      You seem like a nice guy to me.  Please do not puncture the myth of Deval Patrick.  You are causing much consternation among Deval Nation’s denizens.  I am very concerned that they will get anxious and angry at your stating the obvious.

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      On August 9, 1995 a leader of another large group of dedicated followers died.  For years preceding his death I was afraid for many of his followers as I too was a follower.  I was afraid that my friends in the movement could not endure the loss of their leader.  I half expected some suicides but thank God, people took the great loss of Jerry Garcia in stride.  I hope the Devalheads can cope with the loss of their leader in two weeks.  He’s gone and nothin gonna bring him back.

      • but it’s lost people what they really care about for too long.  Deval Patrick has brought people together in an effort to make change.  It’s a threat.  The consequences are enormous for those who want the status quo.  He knows what that bell curve is on acceptance of change, and I’m betting he gets that many are at just about that final curve.  It’s not about dedicated followers.  It’s about changing the way things are done.  Natural process.  Necessary process.  Takes a leader to handle it effectively.  I’ve never seen a better leader.  My hat is off to him, and I’m convinced he knows how to handle all that’s coming his way. 

        • I am very impressed by DP.  He is a natural.  His followers on the other hand seem to be so zealous, so strident, that they turn off the people in the middle of the political spectrum.  Their “reviews” of his speeches and ads are so fawning and sycophantic that one just has to make some snide aside.  I am no conservative, I am just a regular guy, and I could vote for DP, but his blank stare, zombie like followers give me the heebie jeebies.  Sorry.

          • Can I call you Hera?  Have you been around long enough to have read some of the one or two or three line postings from those who are not DP followers?  If so, can you explain why those would not give you heebie jeebies?  Some were so strident, they turned off just about everyone.  There are always people in every race who are out of control (Republican, Democrat, Independent, makes no difference).  If you are an activist, you will run across people in this category wherever you go.  We’ve all seen evidence of that behavior in supporters for all of the candidates.  There are people who post here who have worked their butts off to get Devel from “no chance” to where he is.  They are not fawning or zombie like.  They are celebrating the results of their hard work.  Many of them may never have been involved before.  Please don’t try to discourage newly minted Dem activists.  We’re all in this together against Healey in the short term, and for democratic values in the long term.

            • The first race I was concious of was RFK in 68.  That was a time for activism.  The stakes were high and society was teetering on the brink of disaster.

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              Today most people are put off by those activists of whom you speak.  The “war” in Iraq is nothing compared to Viet Nam.  There is no societal revolution going on like there was in the 60’s.  In short, zealots today turn off most voters.  35 years ago people were activists against a war that killed thousands of Americans each year.  They were against the draft, Jim Crow, Segregation etc. Today they are concerned with Fluffernutters.

          • Does hate play that big of a role in your life?  Is that what attracts you to such a negative campaign?  Hate?  Loathing?  Anger?  Oh, sorry, those are all projections of the underlying one — fear.  I feel nothing but pity for you. 

      • My wife, son, Mom, and sister would likely tell you that I am a nice guy.  The polling from those on this website/blog, however, would likely be very mixed! 🙂

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        Best,
        SSG

        • Turns out your Mom, son, and sister all verified that you’re a nice guy; your wife was generally positive but says sometimes you don’t listen very well. 

    • 8) Who had the cohones to run against a sitting AG?

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      9) Who was ready to be Tom Reilly’s lapdog LG for a term or two?

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      10) Who built a grassroots army of volunteers and contributors?

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      11) Who got onto the ballot only with the arm-twisting of legislative leaders?

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      Hey, this is fun. C’mon everyone — add your own insider/outsider questions!!

  4. I thought it was great. I saw it on TV Friday morning well before the campaign posted about it. It was a good contrast to Reilly the night before.

  5. Sorry, can’t help it.  That was the best 30 second soundbite I’ve heard from any campaign in the last 20 years.  Whoever did that has the next ten elections sewn up.  It was pure Deval.  It was meaningful.  It was a direct conversation with those listening.  Someone finally captured it.  I used to say if someone could have bottled the feelings of Vermonters about Howard Dean (the real stuff from the real people) and put it in a 30 second ad, he couldn’t have been touched.  It was magical listening to those people.  Deval Patrick has that magic and it has finally been captured in an ad.  Way to go!

    • Humbug that is.  Do you guys ever see anything wrong with DP?  Insider, outsider it doesn’t mean a thing.  People are selfish and are concerned about their bank accounts.  If Deval is painted as a tax and spender, {he has been so painted if you haven’t been paying attention}he will lose.  He is a great speaker and can really turn a phrase.  That will not get him elected.  If you think his verbal skills will do the trick let me show you exhibit A on why it doesn’t matter.  Sorry to burst your bubble but his smooth verbal ability amounts to nothing against to deluge of negative ads that we will soon be enjoying if he wins the primary.

      • Yeah, and if we painted the President as someone who was responsible for getting the country into an irresponsible war he’d have lost too. Too bad nobody tried to do that.

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        And if we’d painted the President as someone who raised the budget deficit more than any other President before him, he’d DEFINITELY have lost. Should have thought of that earlier.

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        And to really put the final nail in, if only someone had tried to show that President Bush was incompetent in the areas of the environment, appointments to the Supreme Court, had stolen the previous election, was engaging in illegal activities against the American people, lied to the American people, or something else.

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        Yeah, clearly when people try to paint someone into a corner it always works….

  6. What a great contrast to ad #3, which was high energy and issue-oriented! This is exactly what we need to convey the breadth and depth of this candidate and campaign.

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    I imagine there is only time to produce 3 or 4 more spots — I hope they will be like these last two. People will understand why we are so excited about this campaign!

  7. I never said Deval was not ballsy…talking to voters about truth and taxes.  Wow.  A real West Wing moment.  It will work in the primary…but I have no idea about the general. 

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    We all preceive words differently.  I hope the Patrick people are focus grouping the 128/495 unenrolled swing voter on that ad (I doubt it).  I’d love to be the fly on the wall to listen to what those voters have to say.

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    NO ONE on Blue Mass Group will be deciding this election in November…so really our opinion of this ad does not count.  We shall see. 

    • A genuine high-risk/high-reward strategy. How often do you ever really see that in politics? And it’s an excellent “pivot” — using an opponent’s attack as an opportunity to push your own themes.

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      That being said … what are the odds that this ad has been in the can for months? Come on — they knew they were going to get hit on the tax issue, and they’ve doubtless been thinking about how to deal with it for ages.

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      I always thought that Patrick would lose votes for his tax stance. But let’s face it — the Republicans own the “no new taxes” pledge, since they’re willing to keep mouthing it in spite of all evidence to the contrary, and in spite of the sneaky back-door ways they and others make up for the revenue.  So even if a Democrat endorses such a pledge, or the rollback, or whatever, he still doesn’t get the “brand” advantage on the issue that Healey would enjoy. In other words, it still might come across as “Republican-lite” — even if it is earnestly intended.

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      So the question is whether Patrick loses many votes in the primary because of that issue. I always tended to doubt it, and now it’s even less likely. And if he gets to the general, the question is whether he loses more votes than he would have just because he’s a Democrat. I’ll bet he wins back a few folks who would have otherwise gone the Republican, reflexively anti-tax route, simply by addressing the issue head-on.

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      We’ll see. This race is a hoot.

      • A sizeable chunk of Independents are not enrolled in the major parties because they are sick of the same old, tired, predictable B.S. from BOTH of them. When someone actually comes along and delivers something different, these people will notice.

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        Too many supposed political savants in this state talk as if all the I’s are mid-level hi-tech workers in the 495 belt who care only about reducing their tax bill. This is as dumb as thinking all D’s are Cambridge liberals (or South Boston conservatives) or all R’s are tight-fisted Yankees (or Moral Majority wackos).

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        If you offer an independent-minded voter a typical Democratic pol, like Shannon O’Brien in 2002, they run the other way. The election of 1998 was pretty close, in part because neither Cellucci or Harshbarger was offering much other than each party’s version of the same old, same old.

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        Keep working hard for the candidate of your choice, people. But we’re going to win this November.

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  8. Will the majority of Mass. voters, who attend town meetings rather than be harangued by city councils, be dumb enough to fall for the idea that Beacon Hill has ANYTHING to do with property tax rates?

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    We set them every spring.  At town meeting.

    • So, at town meeting, you just arbitrarily pick some number and decide that’s going to be the tax rate?

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      Most towns do it different.  Obeying state law, they grow the budget using standard formulas.  The look at how much money is coming in from sources other than the property tax, and figure out the rollover/rainy day fund stuff.  Then they end up with a number: the amount that needs to be raised, aka the levy.  They divide the total assessment of commercial and residential properties in the town by the levy, and the result is a tax rate (which they split, commercial/residential, but the total still has to match up).

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      If the amount of aid coming in from the state goes down, the tax rate has to go up higher, or they can cut services, lay of teachers, close libraries, etc.  If the amount of aid goes up, they can slow the growth rate of the property tax without cutting anything, or they can add back some of what’s been cut in the past few years.

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      Where does that state aid come from?  Income tax, mostly.  And after property tax, it’s the largest source of revenue for most cities and towns.  If you want to pretend that a town’s second largest source of revenue has no effect on the tax rate…  well, don’t vote for Deval Patrick, then 🙂

      • First reply to the first post, and forgive me if its been done already but come on “Dublin Gentlemen’s Club”, I would never call the NAACP a “Nairobi Gentlemens Club” so I regret the racist anti Irish sentiments of that poster. There have been many progressive Irish politicians, Michael Sullivan, Tim Murray, Ted Kennedy and his older brothers, Tip O Neill, I really shouldnt have to list all of them. You might as well call Italians mobsters, jews bankers, and hispanics floor cleaners if we want to keep using your rheotric of sterotypes.

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        I would rather not and not only do I want an apology but I also want a committment from all BMGers to seriously stop this shit, it really offends me that irish pol seems to equal entrenched corrupt incumbent on these boards.

        • does not have immediate significance to everyone on BMG – I had to stop and figure out what it was short-hand for. But you are right to call us on it.

        • No offense was given and none should be taken.  As a retired civil servant, of Saint Brendan’s Parish (what do you think “Gallowsglass” is?), I’ve only stated the obvious and spoke of my conversations with those that still in service to the Commonwealth.  Just go through the internal phone listings of some of the state agencies if you doubt my words.  And there is no shame in that, either.  We Irish came and made a success of living in the New World. 

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          I do think it is time to open up all state agencies to reflect the people they serve, however. 

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          No apology is necessary, but, if you are over 21 and at the Eire Pub next Saint Pat’s day, ask for “Gallowsglass” and a big redhead will stand up, shake your hand and buy you a Guinness.  (Sadly, there is no more Ballantine.)

          • I don’t care if you are ashamed of your lineage or not.  Just because you are Irish doesn’t allow you to stereotype other Hibernians.  If the people at the Eire knew how you really thought I think you would be encountering foreign materials in your draught.

        • Peter made a silly assertion that income taxes have nothing to do with property taxes.  I refuted his claim.  What are you talking about????

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          I’m tempted to start automatically just rating 0 (delete) for any replies to my comments that are so wildly off-topic that I can’t even stretch my imagination to figure out how they relate to my comment.

          • We apply all free cash to the rate.  THEN we vote other projects, raises for employees, etc.  We lower the floor first, though, which is why our rate is among the lowest.

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            We get VERY LITTLE state aid.  We don’t depend on it.  That is why we want the income tax lowered – so we can spend it locally, instead of seeing it siphoned off to Lowell, Boston, New Beige, whereever.  Never us.

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            There are more towns like mine than lucky winners in the world famous Connected Towns Lottery by which the state distributes aid.  And we want NOTHING to do with Deval Patrick messing with ou property tax rate, so he can redirect money to other towns – ‘for the children’.

          • I responded to Gallowglass’s comment regarding the Dublin Gentlemen’s Club, a comment for which he apologized.  Sorry if you didn’t read the whole string.

  9. My sympathies, natch, are more with the Devalians than the Gabrielians on the “insider/outsider” issue, but I think too many of our posts tend to “essentialize”–as we theoryheads are wont to say–the categories.  Political junkies on BMG can argue until they are blue in the face about who is really the “true” outsider, but I’d like to remind everyone that we are talking about politics and not, say, chemistry.  So the question is not how Essence of Outsider is more accurately measured by various metrics or criteria invoked above but, rather, who will more presuasivly appear or present himself or–as we theoryheads are also wont to say–“signify” to the broader public as an “outsider.”  Who, that is, will best be able to (a) distance himself from and even take criticize the “Beacon Hill insiders” in the legislature while (b) presenting Healy as emblematic of still worse aspects of the bad old politics as usual, too?  On this point, details of previous history matter, but so does the way a candidate speaks and carry himself, as well as the atmospherics of his campaign.

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    My take on this is that Deval is clearly better positioned.  He comes off as exceptionally credible in the outsider role.  (And I think for good substantive reasons, but, again, that’s not the key thing in terms of “electability.”)  I don’t think Gabrieli can play this card as well.  But, in all honesty, I think G. is in fairly decent shape as “outsider” opponent to Healy, too.  Certainly, he’s not Reilly (who’d be Shannon O’Briened by Republican operatives faster than you can say “Marie St. Fleur”).  Gabrieli partisans may–surely will–differ in this assessment.  We’ll never know for sure, since we can’t employ an alternative universe and to run a controlled experiment in which each of our candidates gets to take Healy on.

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    But that’s ok.  Call me Pollyana, but I continue to think that either P. or G. would beat Healy, if by different means.  That’s why I’m for focusing less on their respective electability than on who would be the best Governor.  For me it’s clear:  Gabs would be good, Deval would be great, and that’s what’s determining how I’m spending my free time between now and September 19.  No question:  if Deval loses, I’ll deeply mourn the missed opportunity.  But if either of the two of them bests Reilly, I’ll wake up on the 20th truly believing that we can finally take back the corner office. 

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