Bill Weld offers perhaps the least surprising endorsement of the 2010 election season.
Weld added: “I think I’m not taking anything away from any other candidate . . . but I think Charlie Baker is different. People with that much ability and that much devotion and that much sand and gravel don’t come along all that often.”
Gosh, that sounds awfully familiar…
“It’s not that I don’t think Rudy Giuliani and [Arizona Senator] John McCain are both great Americans; I do,” said Weld, referring to other top-tier figures mentioned in the GOP race. “It’s just that I think Mitt Romney is going to be and should be the next president of the United States.”
Oh wait, and then there was….
“John McCain is a very good guy,” he said…. [but] “It’s not often you get a guy with [Obama’s] combination of qualities, chief among which I would say is the deep sense of calm he displays, and I think that’s a product of his equally deep intelligence,” he said.
Fortunately for all of us, Weld’s endorsement of Obama came too late in the election cycle to have any deleterious effect on Obama’s chances. đŸ˜‰
Seriously, does anyone really care who Bill Weld wants to be governor? I respectfully refer you to one of my all-time favorite BMG posts, written on the occasion of Weld’s endorsement of Romney, which featured this biographical precis of the guy who Jay correctly points out is not generally viewed as a “superhero”:
This, to refresh our recollection, is the guy who improbably became the Governor of Massachusetts when the Democratic party nominated the worst candidate in modern history (John Silber), thereby driving swarms of Democrats to vote for the guy who wasn’t Silber. Weld, who quickly became bored when he realized to his chagrin that governing required actual work, then went for John Kerry’s Senate seat and lost a not-very-close race; resigned his office to pursue the ambassadorship to Mexico even though it was obvious he’d never get it; became CEO of a sad little college in Kentucky that ended up under federal investigation; and ran a highly improbable and quickly-failed campaign for Governor of New York. Jon Keller offers this warm remembrance:
When I asked him last fall if he had any personal regrets over the [Big Dig] tragedy, Weld said “no, the project was on-time, under budget, and being properly handled at the time I shuffled off.” Wow. The man is either a world-class liar or in a pathological state of denial.
Allow me to offer a modest “but”…
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p>In the kabuki of candidacy, wouldn’t Weld’s failure to endorse draw fire?
That’s why it’s the least surprising endorsement of the 2010 election cycle. If Weld didn’t back Baker, it would’ve been a huge indictment of Weld’s own governorship.
that Weld brought up “sand and gravel” – as if we needed to be reminded once again of Charlie Baker’s connection to the Big Dig!
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p>Thanks Gov. Weld……
The new “Charlie for Governor” slogan: “First and Finest.”
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…should be considered an endorsement of the candidate for whatever job he/she is using the governorship as a stepping-stone to. So, what’s Weld really endorsing Charlie Baker for? Ambassador to Mexico? Canada? If elected governor of a U.S. state, wouldn’t he have to serve at one full term before running for president in 2012? Oh, wait, I guess not.