Yes, I know it’s (finally) November, but if you say “October Surprise” to anyone, the listener knows exactly what you mean; that’s how embedded in the political culture this pattern is now. The risk when you pull a stunt like this is that it always begs the question “Why couldn’t this have happened sooner, like anytime in the last [2, 4, 6 years]?”
This was meant to be an equal-opportunity OS, helping build phony crimefighting credentials for Republican candidates at the state level (sorry, Lt. Gov. Healy, too little, too late) as well as provide preening opportunities for the feds, and by inference, the White House. Funny, though, how this only made the front page in the Globe.
Only one problem: Don’t any of these people think they also should be governing during the other 23 months of the year? Is this their idea of shrinking government — start with the calendar?
Unfortunately for conservatives, this story is getting nothing nationally compared to this.
To be clear, nobody is saying that rounding up criminals is just a stunt, OK? Allowing criminals to roam the streets until five days before an election is a stunt.
During a press conference announcing the arrests yesterday, First Assistant US Attorney Michael K. Loucks said, “Protecting the most innocent among us is more important than anything else we do.”
Except hold on to power at all costs, apparently.
It’s no surprise that the local aid/police/public safety cutting Romney-Healey administration allowed 433 fugitives to walk around the state for four years.
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This was Falcon III. Since the other two were not close to election time, the timing of this one doesn’t look like an obvious stunt. Unless there’s actual evidence of it, I’m going to assume coincidence on the timing of this one (not that the timing was random, just that it was based on other reasons than trying to sway an election).