I do not support Ed O'Reilly. Any regular reader of BMG knows that.
But I am about to do something different- give Ed's supporters the floor and ask that no Kerry supporters respond.
All I hear from Ed's supporters is that he “believes” in things. I think this is a crap response, essentially Ed completely pandering to certain MA demographics, saying whatever a particular audience wants to hear. That is my opinion.
O'Reilly supporters- Prove me wrong.
Please provide, let's just spitball it at 5 accomplishments/evidence, of Ed's commitment to progressive issues or his ability to actually get things done. Now I don't expect Ed's accomplishments to rival Kerry's but O'Reilly did serve a term on the Gloucester School Committee and City Council and has been a prominent criminal defense attorney in Cape Ann for 20+ years (I think it's that long but it may be less).
Ed's four big issues are the war in Iraq, marriage equality, health care and hedge funds. He also throws in municipal energy. My impression is that Ed and his campaign have claimed that he's been fighting for these issues- minus the war in Iraq of course- for years. So, Candidate O'Reilly, derrico and the O'Reilly Campaign, please make me look dumb.
So- what did Ed do for the people of Gloucester during his time on the City Council and School Committee? What bills or initiatives did he sponsor? Did he testify at the State House for increased funding for public education? Did he enable the Gloucester Public Schools to get ahead of the technology curve?
What did Ed do in terms of economic development to help Gloucester after the fishing industry was slammed? Did Ed chair any City Council hearings on economic development or fishing? As a City Councilor, how responsive was Ed to his constituents?
As an elected official in Gloucester, prior to marriage equality, did Ed advocate on behalf of the same sex partners of Gloucester public employees? Did he stand with labor in Gloucester? Did he propose early environmental policies?
As a private criminal defense attorney, did Ed handle any civil rights cases? Did he work pro bono and represent any progressive clinets?
Ed said at the MA Dems Convention- in ripping Kerry- that one's past is often a preview of one's future. O'Reilly supporters- if you bring up Kerry, I'm going to take that as an admission that O'Reilly has no record to back up his progressive claims. Defend your candidate.
And again- Kerry supporters, please stay out of this.
One thing I am sure of is that Ed O’Reilly’s campaign involves no pandering.
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p>Here’s what I recall from a couple of very early meetings with Ed:
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p>Ed had decided that someone had to challenge any Democratic senator who voted to authorize the Iraq war. In MA, this was one person. Ed looked around for someone to do this whom he could support. As with Ned Lamont in CT, Ed found no current political figure willing to make the challenge and he decided he would do it.
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p>Ed believed that an effective campaign has to address more than one issue, no matter how big that one issue is. He wrote up a list of other issues and positions he would take, as follows: health care, single-payer; marriage, marriage equality; taxes, tax equity (esp. w/ regard to closing hedge fund and similar high-profile tax breaks for the rich); energy, renewable energy on a municipal basis.
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p>After some discussion, Ed delivered one of his first speeches using these core issues and positions, under an umbrella statement along the lines of “Get out of Iraq, stay out of Iran, and pick up the unfinished business of the New Deal and the Great Society.”
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p>After the speech, someone connected to the MA Dem Party and one of the Kennedy campaigns approached Ed and uttered a cryptic suggestion: “Look at the Platform.”
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p>As soon as the event concluded, we picked up my laptop and looked at the Platform of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. It blew us away. On every issue Ed had spoken about, his position was exactly in line with the official position of the Party! It felt surreal.
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p>Ed had come up with his platform out of his personal commitments and feelings. He couldn’t find any existing politician to challenge the status quo and assumed the Party apparatus was aligned with the incumbent. The Platform was therefore not a starting point for discussion.
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p>If the friendly former staffer hadn’t suggested looking at it, Ed and crew would likely have ignored the Party Platform and Resolutions for some time. As it turned out, the synchronicity was staggering.
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p>The campaign suddenly had a very clear target. The incumbent, who had voted to authorize the Iraq war, also refused to support the Party on all other major issues. In a nutshell, Ed’s campaign showed his opponent is not a Massachusetts Democrat!
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p>What was and still is amazing (to me, at least) is how this situation has come about. How is it that MA Dems have allowed (and elected) someone to represent them who does not represent them? If this happened once, it might be understandable; but it has happened continually with the same person.
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p>I conclude here with this thought: Far from pandering to anyone, Ed O’Reilly’s campaign challenges Dems to look at the difference between what they say they stand for and what they vote for.
but let me distill what I get from your comment here, derrico:
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p>The “accomplishments/evidence” of O’Reilly’s “commitment to progressive issues or his ability to actually get things done,” which is what the diarist is specifically looking for, is the fact that O’Reilly compiled a list of his core beliefs and that list is consistent with the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s platform.
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p>I, too, am no fan of Mr. O’Reilly and have been rather eagerly awaiting some evidence of accomplishment that would make me a)believe that Mr. Reilly would be a more effective senator than Mr. Kerry and b) understand the ardent nature of Mr. O’Reilly’s supporters on this site.
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p>Beliefs are not accomplishments, and certainly stated beliefs without a corroborating history of actions are not evidence.
Senator Kerry. How many bills has he authored and how many have passed? Senator Kennedy – well, he’s another story all together.
http://www.johnkerry.com/pages…
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p>What a crock. Sorry, tearing down Kerry’s accomplishments is no way to support your candidate. It reflects badly on both of you, as well as on your understanding of how the senate works.
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p>I don’t want to subvert the purpose of Masshole’s post, which I think is a very worthy one. But to me what you wrote is right up there with any slime that oozes off Corsi’s pen, and I have to call you on it.
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p>Put up 5 positive accomplishments O’Reilly can point to.
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p>POSITIVE.
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p>ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
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p>And kindly leave Kerry out of it, as the poster asked.
I mean, I imagine that O’Reilly worked himself through college by sitting on his butt, getting money for free.
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p>I’m sure as a firefighter, O’Reilly polished the silverware while other people fought fires, such as that blazer in Lynn. He wasn’t anywhere near it, which explains the recognition given him by the American Red Cross.
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p>As a fundraiser for the Democratic Party, O’Reilly just got free cocktails and didn’t do his part for earlier presidential candidates.
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p>As a criminal defense attorney, O’Reilly just had business cards printed up. That’s why the president of the Essex County Bar Association calls him a great lawyer.
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p>As a lobsterman, he just hung out at the pier. The money just showed up in his bank account.
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p>Let’s talk turkey. We have a small, screaming group here who care about nothing in Massachusetts (or apparently American) politics save for the political fortunes of our junior Senator. They are absent and silent until he is threatened, then it begins.
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p>They refuse to discuss the balance of the record, the idea that a shrewd voter looks at the balance of good and bad for either candidate — instead we are told to ignore the wrongs of John Kerry, and dismiss the good of O’Reilly. If you don’t play they’re game, they start with the slander. They set rhetorical traps, and ask questions whose answers will never be good enough. They refuse to answer reciprocal questions about their links with the campaign. They demand that we assume that the incumbent is doing a great job, and that he has nothing to answer for ever — even in a debate.
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p>It is a waste of time to engage with so much of the Kerry Clique. I will give Masshole this — at least he thinks about and writes about issues outside of Kerry’s career. He didn’t join up this summer to start slandering anyone who disagrees with him. I respect that.
you’re saying o’reilly’s resume = his accomplishments? i’m not trying to snark, but that is what your post boils down to.
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p>and no, i’m not part of the “kerry clique” as you well know. but i am seriously intreagued that no o’reilly supporter can come up with anything more concrete. for example, what political action committees was he on? how many signatures in support of marriage equality did he gather? what past legislation has he lobbied his legislators for, or even written letters to the editor about, etc. it reminds me an awful lot of super-ardent obama supporters being similarly unable to produce concrete examples of why we should believe obama was “with us”, and so falling back on his resume and self-description as “proof”.
As I’ve said elsewhere, the more I hear from EOR and his supporters, the less credible he seems. The campaign and candidate have a shrillness and lack of class I can only call Ogo-esque. Grandstanding moves like refusing to meet with Kerry’s campaign and paying for a windsurfing float take me from wondering about your qualifications to questioning your suitability for office.
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p>Kerry’s stand on gay marriage pisses me off, but running just on not being John Kerry isn’t enough to get my vote. On other issues I like him a lot. If you’re going to run against him, you have to show why you’re a better choice. It’s basic politics.
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p>So, in that spirit, please name 3 (I’d settle for 1) things that qualify EOR for office other than not being John Kerry. More importantly, please do it without slamming Kerry in the process.
Laurel, you are a valued interlocutor on this side, and I’m happy to answer your questions. I am saying that a resume is a listing of accomplishments.
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p>I just don’t know what you’re looking for. I guess I figure that if somebody shows up in 70 different courts in the state as a lawyer, he’s probably pretty good at it. I figure that being awarded by the Red Cross is one as well. I can try to track down a single law casefile or dollar figure if that would work for you. I can call Ed and try to get a signature number, or a dollar figure.
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p>I know I’m stuck on figuring out why we expect higher qualifications from O’Reilly than from Kerry, but I guess that’s the game we’re playing.
it wasn’t until i got to that last line in my comment above that my discomfort with o’reilly really crystallized in my own brain. he is playing the same “trust me” game that obama did and is still doing. i have no reason to doubt that o’reilly is a fine lawyer, but that doesn’t mean he a) really stands for what he says he does, and b) is any better than any other lifelong lawyer to replace kerry.
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p>so, i guess to answer your question, i’m not asking for anything. i’m just pointing out this observation, and of course the one i made earlier that his public demeanor is really unbecoming and off-putting.
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p>if o’reilly supporters want to take him at his word and count his legal career as adequate accomplishment, that’s fine. but don;t be surprised if others want some sort of warranty (list of non-resume accomplishments) that they’ll get what they’re being sold.
Thanks for clarifying that for me as well, Laurel. That’s the most lucid case for Kerry I’ve seen so far on this site. As you know, I’m loathe to take a chance on an unproven when there’s a perfectly grounded alternative with a great track record available…that was my reasoning for Reilly and Richardson, later Clinton. I guess it comes down to whether a voter thinks Kerry has a great track record.
So, please tell us one reason why EOR is that guy. It’s not being held to a “higher standard” — it’s the fundemental duty of a challenger.
the question that has been asked what feels like a million times here without any meaningful response:
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p>What accomplishments can you offer as evidence of Mr. O’Reilly’s commitment to progressive issues?
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p>If you can’t answer without attacking John Kerry or me, that’s fine. Perhaps someone else can.
Do people really expect O’Reilly to have a voting record to compare with Kerry’s? Sure he served on the Gloucester City Council and School Committee, but I don’t think there are many votes in those bodies about the issues he is talking about. Like many candidates, especially new ones, he introduces himself with biography. However, I have not heard him talk about accomplishments so much as beliefs. The premise of his campaign is that he simply has different views from Kerry on certain issues, said beliefs being more in line with the state party platform. He wants to give Democratic voters the option of choosing someone who may more closely reflect their views.
i think the problem is that not everyone is convinced that what you think of as his beliefs isn’t just political posturing for the sake of getting elected. it is a difficult problem to surmount for someone who has never held political office. doing things like the windsurfing parade float just fuels the flames of doubt in the skeptical. the guy isn’t doing himself any favors if he isn’t working to show that his beliefs have a history going back farther than his dislike of kerry.
The excesses of frustration are hurting O’Reilly, and hurt him when supporters such as myself express them. Of course, given how much cash O’Reilly gave Dean four years ago, I think it’s hard to believe he’d have invested so heavily in the most anti-war, pro-gay rights viable candidate in 2004 unless he agreed with that platform.
Lots of slamming opponents and rating people down… To be clear, I’m not a Kerry supporter. I am hugely skeptical of EOR based on his behavior, and, frankly, the nastiest of his supporters, especially you.
The quotes from fellow lawyers, the Red Cross award, his fundraising record…I’ve posted all that. I’ve given one negative rating to somebody who attacked me personally. I’m not much of a rater…you can check my own record.
I’m looking for one example why EOR would be a better Senator than John Kerry. As lightiris said, having a list of core beliefs which happens to match the MDP platform does not make him a great candidate. As I said in the Ogo discussions, I want to a senator who can get things done, which means I want to hear accomplishments. He was an elected official in Gloucester… what did he do there to advance, e.g. gay rights?
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p>-Paul
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p>p.s. You gave me a 4 and have ragged on pretty much everyone who’s questioned EOR’s credentials. I’ve been on here a long time and am most certainly not part of the “Kerry clique.” I expected better from you.
If somebody says, “I believe x, y, and z” then as far as I’m concerned that’s all there is to it, unless you can produce evidence such as a voting record that contradicts such statements.
if you’re the very trusting type. me, i’ve been burned by too many lying strivers to ever be comfortable taking an untested pol wannabee at their word ever again. at least, not for something so important as u.s. senator.
Even in my personal dealings I take to heart the concept of innocent until proven guilty, benefit of the doubt, etc. Those are moral concepts to me, not just legal concepts. Unfortunately, God did not bless me with the ability to read minds, which it seems that those who don’t believe him without evidence to back up their disbelief are claiming to do. Cynicism is emotionally too painful for me.
Is it online? Where can I find it? I would like to read it. Being unenrolled, I really hadn’t cared until now. If I may ask a somewhat related question? Would you folks back O’Reilly if Kerry was the VP nominee? Why?
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p>All due respect intended.
link.
For the immediacy. I have it.
Reminds me of the good old days on RMG with all the Beatty-Ogo banter.
think he’ll ever run for office again?
Should have realized he was running for an office that needed signatures state-wide. My friend was accosted twice in the same Lowell Market Basket plaza. At least Jeff Beatty knows what he’s doing.