Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Some Help for Willard’s Campaign Team

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With the ghost of his grotesquely mistreated dog Seamus breathing down its neck, the Willard campaign has hit the skids in Iowa and Noew Hampshire. His campaign logo, “should be a pretzel,” wrote one New Hampshire voter.

His Expediency’s response: “If you want to know what I’d do as president, you can see what I did as governor.”

Herewith, then, a bit of free campaign assistance for Willard’s staff, (many of whom, by the look of things, will be out of a job in a few weeks): a list of Willard’s Top 10 most remarkable accomplishments as Governor of Massachusetts. We’ll add the best comments to the Romney Research Center’s, “Dash to Defeat,” section.

Here’s my first candidate: he had executive responsibility for the Big Dig when it went grossly over budget in its final years, was outrageously delayed, and was so badly built that part of the ceiling of one of the tunnels collapsed and killed an innocent Boston resident on her way home from the airport. So much for his real world management ability.

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  1. For conservatives:  Willard failed miserably in blocking gay marriage.  OMG!!  How horrible to have the sanctity of marriage violated by people who wanted to get married!!  And Willard failed to stop the horror!

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    p>For decent people:  Willard slashed social services to the bone in the waning months of 2006 because of ‘the deficit’.  Whether that was the real reason or it was revenge for the Legislature adjourning the ConCon without voting on gay marriage that Fall, it hurt our most vulnerable citizens.  

    <

    p>Keep in mind that social services were slashed, but non-essential programs such as one to improve town parks by building gazebos and such were left intact.  Weston was grateful, I’m sure, but area hospitals were set to halt mental health admissions and layoff workers.  It’s not right to manage a budget by hurting the sick.  

      1.  Growth in criminal case load and cost of indigent defense.

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      p>2.  Growth in child protection case load, and cost of DSS as an agency, and indigent defense.

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      p>Human cost?  Incalculable.  Savings – I say negative – given the growth in the prison population.

    • For conservatives:  Willard failed miserably in blocking gay marriage.

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      p>If you choose to speak for all conservatives, I rebut with the same right.  IMHO, the vote to disallow a public vote on gay marriage was met with a collective yawn among most conservatives and frankly ‘mongst most moderates.  There was, however, some angst with certain religious groups.

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      p>

      For decent people who didn’t read the 9C cut and its effect:  Willard slashed social services to the bone in the waning months of 2006 because of ‘the deficit’.

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      p>No, his 9C cuts eliminated certain 2007 increases. There was no cut, nor even a future reduction over 2006 levels.  The social services enjoyed a healthy increase from 2006 to 2007.   Point of fact, the Legislature originally proposed meeting the same budget gap with a large tranfer from the Stabilization Fund (i.e. spend money we don’t have except in the piggy bank).  Instead Romney imposed a $425 million cut in future spending reductions.  

      <

      p>But, ya got me, my explanation, while fact based, hold nary a candle to your “cut services to the bone” lament.  Sally on.

      <

      p>

      • IMHO, the vote to disallow a public vote on gay marriage was met with a collective yawn among most conservatives and frankly ‘mongst most moderates.

        <

        p>Your compatriots over on RMG are not only talking about Romney’s complicity in gay marriage, they’re actually talking about how the anti-gay marriage backlash is going to lead to a new Republican regime.

        <

        p>For those of you who’ve forgotten, Rob Willington, the Mass. GOP Executive Director, was the brains behind VoteOnMarriage’s  anti-gay marriage petition drive.  

  2. Willard’s disasterous press conference after the 2005 bombings in London.  The intent was to show that the T was safe — at least for the 15 seconds it took Willard to ride from Park Street to Downtown Crossing — but it ended up giving a showcase to a couple of citizens and his own ignorance.  First, he didn’t even know how much a T fare cost, then it became a circus:

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    p>

    …asked at a news conference yesterday about the price of a token, Romney stumbled…

    ”A buck,” he gamely responded.  

    That was the correct price — in 2003.

    …The rest of Romney’s day didn’t go quite as planned, either. First, a homeless man harassed him on the way to the Park Street T, loudly demanding at the news conference: ”Are you running for president?” Later came the ”cat lady” — Heidi Erickson, locally infamous for allegedly hoarding cat carcasses in her Beacon Hill apartment — who screamed, ”You killed my cats,” and scuffled with transit police as Romney spoke at Park Street Station.

    Romney was also asked by a reporter yesterday about when he last rode the subway. He could only recall recent press events at T stops.”

    <

    p>IIRC, this was right after he hired his 13-person advance office.  They did a simply stupendous job!

    • have to do with safety measures?

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      p>Evidently he was harassed by crazy people, which is probebly why he was smart to stay away from the subway in the first place.

      • I had visions 1988 when George Bush the firt didn’t know the price of a gallon of milk….It shows that Romney was and continue to be out of touch with the ret of teh citizenry!!!!

        • Paid via debit card.

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          p>I have no idea what a gallon of milk costs.

          <

          p>I’d prefer that the President of the United States remember, say, the launch codes, before he/she remembers the price of a token on a subway system that he/she does not ride, or the price of a grocery item that he/she does not purchase.

          • i prefer that the prez know the cost of a good lawn crew.  to keep to rose garden spiffy, ya know.  oh wait, tha doesn’t work.

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            p>w is buying his iraq raw on credit, just like you and that milk, cmd.  i like that!  another like him, please!  stay ignorant, boys!

            • You link the use of a gardener, and not knowing the price of milk, to Iraq war spending.  OK, I guess.

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              p>This is an instance of the liberal tendency to naive, idealistic populism.  I guess it will play well with the Edwards crowd.  I thyink it is a useful tactic fir electing Republicans in elections that Republicans have no business winning.

              • This is an instance of the liberal tendency to naive, idealistic populism.  I guess it will play well with the Edwards crowd.

                <

                p>Also the reason, in my crystal ball, why Edwards can’t win.  His 2 America theme sounds good to the liberal progressive, wealth redistributive crowd, but in the end, one of the Americas doesn’t show up at the polling booth.

          • They should know both. The current administration has just gotten you used to the idea that the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania can’t keep more than one idea in his tiny ideologically and religiously hijacked head at a time.

          • <

            p>I have no idea what a gallon of milk costs.

            <

            p>…you could look at the receipt that the store gives you.  I don’t have the slightest idea what a gallon of milk costs, either, but we haven’t bought milk in any quantities in decades.  I don’t like milk (too fatty) and my spouse is lactose intolerant.

            <

            p>On the subject matter of your comment

            <

            p>I’d prefer that the President of the United States remember, say, the launch codes

            <

            p>I sincerely don’t care whether the POTUS remembers launch codes.  He or she can write them down–I have an entire notepad text file that has my “launch codes” (i.e., logon names and passwords for various sites that I log onto.  What I do care about is whether the POTUS will be diplomatic enough not to have to use the launch codes.  That last is the crux of the matter, isn’t it?

          • …then how did you know that you had enough money in your account to cover what came due at the register?  Just because you use a debit card doesn’t mean that the price tag is invisible, does it?

            • What I mean is that I have no idea if milk is less or more expensive than the OJ, ice cream, or a steak.  The total weely grocery bill falls into a range.  What the individual things cost to comprise the total is not something I pay particular attention to.

              <

              p>So, if you asked me what a gallon of milk costs, I would have no idea.  Under $5.  That one must study inanities such as this in order not to be slammed in the media is evidence only that the media is skilled in the art of slinging BS.

      • Part of the money goes to security on the T (police, cameras, etc.)

        <

        p>The state is left in a huge transportation mess with 550 “structurally deficient” bridges and a transit system that consistently runs late and suffers the largest debt-load in the nation. Seems to me that Willard might have wanted to know what his administration was doing to try to solve the problem and/or what the public was paying for prior to taking a 100 yard trip via subway.

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