Deval hit all the right notes at the rally today. He inspired, he motivated and he fought back well – without getting down in the dirt.
I’m not good at crowd estimates, but there seemed to be a lot of people. There were many volunteers looking to sign up more people to work on the campaign. There was also phone banking at the rally, with people getting sheets with 10 names and numbers and asked to use some of their weekend cell minutes to do voter ID work for the campaign.
I thought Deval effectively answered all the smearing that’s been going on. He rightly pointed out that a “leader” should understand (s)he sets the tone for a campaign. And the sliming that Kerry Healey’s been doing absolutely led to a climate and a tone of negativity that resulted into Deval Patrick’s family’s personal, private history being dragged into the campaign. He said he wasn’t going to apologize for accusing Healey’s BRAND of politics as being responsible for what happened. He’s right. The crowd roared.
He talked about his leadership experience vs. her lack. He talked about the many things that have gone wrong here the past four years, and rightly noted that either the lt. gov. is responsible or the lt. gov. had no influence over what happened here – either way, we need a change.
He refuted the whole income tax rollback thing (I’m paraphrasing here, but he said in talking to many business leaders, not one said they needed a three-tenths of a percent rollback of the income tax rate in order to stay competitive and keep jobs in Massachusetts).
He was outstanding when talking about his experience as a prosecutor, who actually sent people to prison and comforted victims, as well as working to defend some unsavory people because that’s what our criminal justice system demands, and that’s what our state constitution guarantees EVERYONE (not just people we like), which the lt. gov. would know if she’d actually read the document she swore to uphold.
He ended noting that at one of the debates, the candidates were asked to say something nice about an opponent, and Lt. Gov. Healey grudgingly said that Patrick gave good speeches … the implication being that all he’s got is words, which don’t matter much.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident….” “Just words.” Crowd roars. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” “Just words.” Crowd roars. “Ask not what your country can do for you…” “I have a dream….”
Man, I hope the campaign has that part on tape and posts it at devalpatrick.tv, because it was great. He freely acknowledged that he’s not JFK or FDR or MLK, but said words ARE important. Words can be a call to action.
We’ve got 23 days left, and lots of work yet to do.
Did Tim Murray or anyone else speak? I missed the 6 o’clock news – did we get any media coverage?
Tom Menino introduced Deval.
Tim was not at the Rally on the Common because he was keeping a commitment he had made a long time ago to stand with over 1,000 veterans and their families in Worcester’s Mechanics Hall today…the event was at 3:00 which made being at both events impossible…Ted Kennedy also joined Tim in honoring the veterans and the soldiers who are now serving our country.
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Check out the news…all channels ran the story on the evening news…it was a heartwarming event…we should take time more often to acknowledge their sacrifice and service…Frank Carroll did a terrific job organizing this concert and I’m proud of Murray for making it a priority!
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As for Deval’s event, it looks like he did a great job, too!
is a class act and should be commended for all he does for our veterans and our party. If anyone outside of Worcester hasn’t seen his presidential museum it is well worth the trip. call him and he will ususally open it up for groups
John Walsh also spoke. Cam Kerry was there also.
Great rally and enthusiasm. And, the best Deval speech I heard since the convention!