Blue Mass Group

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AP article mischaracterizes Patrick

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In this article, carried by the AP and published on Boston.com, the author completely mischaracterizes Patrick’s relationship with Mass. politicians:

Deval Patrick prided himself on his dearth of political endorsements during the primary campaign, saying it reflected his focus on grass roots support and certified he would not be beholden to special interests if elected governor.

No, he didn’t. He had a lot of politician endorsements during the primary, and he was very proud of them, advertising them clearly on his web site.

“I have no obligations, no debts to the political establishment on Beacon Hill,” the Democrat said during a debate on Sept. 7. “If you want the same old, same old, the politics of money, connections, I’m not your guy. But if what you want is the politics of hope and a change of culture on Beacon Hill, I’m your guy and I want your vote.”

What does this quote have to do with endorsements?

Now Patrick is touting endorsements and also meeting behind closed doors with Beacon Hill leaders.

This point has already been covered.  Meeting with people, whether in public or “behind closed doors” doesn’t make someone beholden to them.  Clearly, it is in the interest of someone likely to be elected governor to start having conversations with the legislative leadership, and not every conversation needs to be public.

It’s not surprising that the front-runner is getting skewered by the media.  For all the talk about “liberal bias” and “conservative bias” by the media, the fact remains that “attention-grabbing” bias is still the media’s bread and butter.  The least they could do, though, in a non-editorial/opinion article, is get their facts straight.

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Comments

  1. Glen Johnson seems like he’s really on an anti-Deval swing today.  This time, he says:

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    Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick on Wednesday acknowledged he misled reporters about the extent of his contact with convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer after a report showed he wrote at least four letters to LaGuer or a parole board on his behalf.

    Patrick, who last week said he had written just one letter more than a decade ago, said he had to correct himself after going back and “doing his homework.” The Boston Globe reported Wednesday he had twice written to the Parole Board to seek the release of LaGuer, who has relentlessly maintained he was innocent of tying up and raping a 59-year-old Leominster neighbor in 1983.

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    Ignoring for the moment the idiocy of anyone even caring about this issue, I think it’s very disingenuous to say Patrick “acknowledged he misled reporters.”  What he did was acknowledge that he made a mistake in remembering the details of something of relatively minor significance to his life that occurred fifteen years ago. According to American Heritage Dictionary, mislead means:

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    1. To lead in the wrong direction.
    2. To lead into error of thought or action, especially by intentionally deceiving.

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    Deval never admitted to misleading, nor is there any evidence that he did so.

  2. Which is zero.

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    The point that I have heard him make is that he had made no “deals” or quid pro quos to get the endorsements he’s gotten. He’s earned them, by listening to people and incorporating their thinking into his campaign. And, by being who he is.

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    Not “politics as usual.”

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    I could cite endless examples, but one very good one comes from one of my local Reps, who learned early on that Deval listens well. See the endorsement I posted.

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