Campaign-speak – the language spoken by professional political types – is a language that resembles English, but that often makes you scratch your head wondering if the people employing it really meant what they appear to have just said.
Consider the case of Amy Goodrich, the Baker campaign spokeswoman who recently declared that Team Baker was “happy to provide a platform” for a guy whose business went bankrupt allegedly because he drained a lot of the cash for personal luxury items while also violating the state’s wage laws. She’s got another doozy in today’s Herald.
See, the Herald story says that a variety of unions are declining to back Governor Patrick because he has taken stands that they don’t support. Flaggers, the Quinn bill, slots at the tracks, and some education issues are the big ones. As a result,
Massachusetts unions once wed to Gov. Deval Patrick are divorcing the Democrat as the final stretch of the contentious campaign approaches, with some jumping into the arms of independent Tim Cahill and others refusing to endorse at all with Labor Day looming…. Reached yesterday, [MA AFL-CIO] president Robert Haynes said because of the sour economy and Patrick’s failure to pass casinos, the union may endorse another candidate this time around. Similarly, the Boston Teachers Union, which backed the little-known Patrick in the primary in 2006, says it’s staying out.
Did you get all that? Patrick has taken stands contrary to what the unions wanted; as a result, they are not backing him.
So here’s Amy Goodrich:
“Charlie Baker is the only candidate who’s going to stand up to the unions,” Goodrich said.
Wait, what? But Amy, Deval Patrick already stood up to the unions. That is why they’re not backing him. In contrast, Charlie Baker did not stand up to the police unions, caving to them on both details and the Quinn bill in a transparent (and failed) bid to get their support.
So I gather that “stand up to” in campaign-speak translates to “cave into” in ordinary English. Got it.
I don’t stay up late to watch the stand up comedy routines. I very much appreciate the nonsense of campaign talk. Remember, “Read my lips: No new taxes!”; “Whip Inflation Now!”; then there was LBJ as the peace candidate…
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p>True, most of it is cookie cutter dribble that can be used by any candidate of any party:
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p>And the beat goes on.
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p>“Everybody lies, but it doesn’t matter because nobody listens.” –Unknown
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Repeat…
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David point out that under pressure Baker has caved to unions during this election. It’s Deval Patrick who has taken a principled stand on particular issues even when unions disagree. Don’t you want that in a governor?
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p>Address the question at hand.
In the past I wrote maybe a dozen comments on Charlie Rangel and the faucet was opened on me for being Charlie Rangel crazy… well you two are Charlie Baker crazy. You post a daily critique and I assume John must work for the Gov or his campaign.
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p>Either way, I just thought I’d ask if you would survive if Baker wins. I will survive if Deval wins reelection just fine which would be a valid question if I wrote a diary “every day” against him.
New post.
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p>I don’t work for Deval’s campaign, I would have disclosed if I were. I had thought that you would have known better that, astroturf is not my thing. Crissakes with the stuff I comment and post, no way.
This is a political blog in Massachusetts!
HA! I will believe that when I see it. Which hopefully I will in November. đŸ˜€
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p>Anyway, as has been pointed out before, this is a blog about Massachusetts politics, and the biggest story in MA politics right now is the Governor’s race. It’s hard for me to see why you are surprised by the frequency of our posting on that subject. What else should be capturing our attention? I really don’t give a crap about some congressman from New York. I don’t live there.
How’d you miss commenting on this gem…
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p>So ou don’t give a crap about anyplace other then where you live… Hmmm, I’ll be watching when you comment on national politics and remind you.
OOOOH, really? Gosh, I just CAN’T wait to hear what you will have to say. I’m sure it will be up to your usual awesome standard too! đŸ™‚
You justify the constant attack on Baker vs. other issues with…
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p>I gave you an example of a MA (where you live) Pol (Petrolati) and I guess you don’t give a crap about him either.
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p>My “awesome standard” will simply be to point our your inconsistency. Guess you won’t be commenting on Sarah Palin, John Boehner (next Speaker of the House)… since…
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p>How well will Obama do working with Speaker Boehner?
you seriously need to get out more.
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p>Get a life! đŸ™‚
If the political process in this nation results in a totally ignorant bozo like John Boehner being Speaker of the House, we deserve whatever happens next.
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p>We already had one generation of war criminals, liars, and torturers bankrupt our economy while making themselves wealthy. We already had a corrupt Vice President treating the federal government as his family business, awarding a made-up State Department job with a six-figure income to a girlfriend of his chosen protege.
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p>Returning these morons to power, if it happens, will demonstrate that the much-vaunted American political system has failed.
I don’t agree with the people saying we’ll take back the Senate but the House is a lock and Boehner will be Speaker. The Senate will get back to 1 or 2 vote Dem majority (but I could be wrong).
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p>I agree with us getting what we vote for. We’re suffering from it now and the majority of Americans have woken up and are slapping themselves for being so naive. 60 days away!
but teacher unions have hardly decided not to support Patrick. RMG noted the MTA’s endorsement at the time was given.
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p>The MTA, which is the largest teachers union in Massachsuetts, also supported the Patrick’s Administration’s applications for RTT funds.
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p>The AFT, which represents the Boston Teachers Union, doesn’t seem to have endorsed the Governor.
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p>I belong to the MTA, but from what I’ve seen, the AFT seems a bit more militant. On the other hand, if I had to put up with the crap dealt out to the Boston Public Schools, I might not support anyone for governor either.
…between the AFT-MA and the Boston Teachers Union.
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p>While the BTU is a local AFT affiliate, it is semiautonomous in its political work.
that we were debating which candidate was the strongest in standing up against corporate welfare and not be so willing to regurgitate all their lobbyist speak.
“I’m gonna… My opponent is a …
I don’t much care what the unions do. I’m from Gloucester, and as far as I’m concerned, Patrick and his Rat Patrol have abandoned children entrusted to his and his administration’s responsibility of safekeeping from harm. He has proved himself to be a political snake in the grass, slithering around among the values Republicans hold dear. His indifference to the plight of our public schools is brazen and appalling. Even if this were the only issue he has abandoned to politics over principle, that would lose my vote, but as it happens, I’m not happy with him in many ways. For the first time in my 37 years as a Massachusetts voter, I will be casting a vote for a third party candidate, knowing full well that it could result in the election of Charlie Baker. I’ve stopped believing it matters.
But I wonder whether it trivializes something that seems pretty important. I think the Right is caught up in a weird Orwellian moment where they’ve realized they can say pretty much anything they like, no matter how outrageous, and the media and society will not call them on it. That’s why you can have 9/11 Christians taking decidedly un-Christian views of their fellow man, Glenn Beck headlining a civil rights rally and calling the President a racist, and, as you show right here in our own back yard, Charlie Baker “standing up to unions” by giving in to the unions’ most unreasonable demands (the Quinn Bill comes most readily to mind and is perhaps least controversial here).
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p>I think the broader point is that our journalists are unwilling to report responsibly, afraid of seeming biased, and our corporations are too willing to give platforms to vile people for profit, without considering the social consequences.
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p>But enough of this rant! I liked the post.
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p>TedF