Election campaigns bring out the best in some politicians, the worst in others. Charlie Baker seems firmly in the latter group. So we were shocked, but not surprised, when the Globe last week asked the four gubernatorial candidates who their role models were. None of the answers was inspiring. Cahill-G.W. Bush; Patrick-Michael Bloomberg (!); Jill Stein-Mel King; and Charlie Baker-Rudy Giuliani. Why Rudy? Quoth Baker: “Through imagination, sheer force of will, and grit and determination, he proved that somebody could govern New York.”
This would be Rudy (“a noun, a verb, and 911”) Giuliani who brought in hyper-sleazebag Bernie Kerik (now in durance vile) as New York City police commissioner. The Rudy who placed New York’s Emergency Command Center at the World Trade Center, where it was destroyed on September 11, 2001. Yep, the guy really knows how to run a city.
But Charlie, your role model is also the Rudy Giuliani, styling himself “America’s Mayor,” who ran a hopeless, hapless, and helpless campaign for the presidency in 2008 in which, after spending millions, he ended up with zero delegates. Your role model has consistently been one of the most divisive, corrosive, islamophobic, politicians in a very crowded field. Not to mention his personal life. But Giuliani’s public life is so despicable that we don’t need to go into his personal life. Great judgment and character call, Charles Baker.
Mel King sounds like a interesting guy–what I’d call a local hero, but I had to google him.
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p>The rest? WTF!?
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p>Michael Bloomberg? From an education policy point of view, that scares me. Mayoral control in NYC has been awful and ineffective. Is this where the Governor is coming from on his educational policy?
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p>Cahill may be as intellectually challenged as G.W. Bush, but who’s he trying to impress? Most Republicans have forsaken America’s worst president. No votes there.
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p>Rudy Giuliani is three-quarters hype and one-quarter chutzpah.
Wow.