A vision question?? Poor Baker’s already screwed, and we haven’t brought up endorsements of child molesters yet. Tim Cahill says he isn’t a poet, and promptly proves it by talking about the suburbs.
Charlie Baker promises a commitment to “people who pay the bills”. I can only presume he means paying for his campaign ads.
I am going to try, really I am, to be fair to Jill Stein. But so help me, all these pauses, aspirated vowels, and run-on sentences aren’t helping her communicate.
Deval eschews poetry and talks up his record straight out the gate.
Please share widely!
Tim Cahill makes clear that only people who started a business should be in government. Accuses the governor of not seeing the middle class.
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p>Charlie Baker criticizes the governor for fewer teachers working, fewer jobs, less local aid. Apparently he’s trying to convince us that he’s not really Republican.
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p>Stein came to the debate with the “outsider” mantle clearly in her sights. Focuses on reforming health care, and not being “business as usual”.
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p>Deval passes on criticizing the others, but goes to defending his record. Has his own numbers on health care, state spending, and tex revenues.
Mrs. sabutai points out that Charlie Gibson has quite a pinkie ring. Gibson talks about voters being pissed about the bailouts that were started by Bush in Washington, DC (though he doesn’t mention that second half).
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p>Deval talks about meeting some unemployed people, who are fearful, not angry. Gibson corrects him, and asks why people have lost jobs under Deval. Deval says for a second time how hard he’s working; bad memories of Bush 2004.
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p>Baker is asked how he’ll help jobs. He’ll put a moratorium on regulations, and review every single one (while cutting government spending?). Baker says he’ll get more through the Legislature than Deval did. Granted, Deval needed a couple years to learn how to work with/against/despite the Legislature…but Baker’s gonna do better? Day one: “hey, a–holes, here’s what you’re going to do for me”.
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p>Tim Cahill takes his first shot at Baker — blames him for the Big Dig price explosion. Nothing more dangerous in a debate than a man with nothing to lose. Cahill is all for gambling. Why not? He picked Loscocco as his LG.
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p>Jill Stein is successfully occupying her chair.
She’s going to take money to be spent for shopping malls (?) on a revolving loan fund for green jobs/weatherizing homes to put people at work. Points to Stein for talking about programs and technical issues, though is getting perhaps too technical.
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p>Baker and Cahill again on constantly changing tax rates and regulations — “by the month”. Huh?
Someone’s reading the news. Gibson talks about the just-released memo and goes back to the 90s for a quote. “Why were you saying one thing in public [Big Dig not a problem] and another thing in private [Big Dig a problem]?” Baker tries to claim that…there is a budget deficit right now so…yeah.
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p>Deval Patrick was ready for this one: accuses Baker of “sticking [the memo] in a drawer”, calls him the “Architect of the Big Dig”. Cahill piles on, says Baker was lying/misrepresenting. Gives examples of how he publicized bad news.
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p>Gibson won’t give up on his points of view. He’s really injecting himself into this debate. Granted, it’s helping Deval Patrick, but it’s a rarity, something Jon Keller wouldn’t have done.
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p>Tim Cahill needs to put the cheap pen down if he’s going to gesture that much on screen.
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p>Stein hits hard on “giveaways” to film industry, Raytheon, Fidelity. She’s right, and stands her ground.
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p>Baker keeps talking about a $2 billion deficit. He also favors a referendum that will make that a $4.5 billion deficit — anyone gonna point that out?
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p>Deval Patrick gets away with calling Baker as “being in charge of the state”. Cahill again piles on, and clearly gets under Baker’s skin.
He seems not to care about the fact that the more he appears, the less likeable he is. Is he able to smile?
Stein starts by pointing out that Al Gore won, so it’s not a good comparison. She’s in great Nick Clegg mode right now — all the things they all support (health care status quo, casinos, charters). Stein also isn’t letting Gibson run over her.
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p>Cahill gets the same question. Appeals to the founders, who get by without political parties. Or electricity perhaps. Namechecks “Washington insiders”. Along with Baker blaming Patrick for the worldwide unemployment situation, these two guys don’t seem to realize the governor works in Boston. Cahill blames it all on the two-party system.
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p>Deval welcomes Stein and Cahill to the race.
Gibson seeks reassurance from Baker that he’ll be governor for urban residents (cough African-Americans cough cough). Baker says he thinks that urban issues need a strategy. To sit down and write a strategy. Problems he’s identified are public safety. Finally, Gibson calls him out for cutting taxes while preaching the more spending gospel.
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p>Deval is asked why local aid was cut, effecting public safety. He cites the “global economic collapse”, which sounds like a title card before a bad movie with radioactive zombie scavengers zooming across a wasteland. Says cops aren’t the whole answer.
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p>Cahill asked what he’d do about gun violence. Cahill says more cops, and claims cred as the only citydweller at the table.
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p>Baker thinks the “fundamental issue” isn’t gun control. Gibson goes after him on licensing guns, and Baker is taken aback and doesn’t have an answer. Baker says the biggest problem is witness intimidation.
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p>Stein cites the poor, incomplete testing festival that calls itself public education as impacting opportunities for urban youth. This angers Deval Patrick. However, he moves on to talking about investing in health care, education, and community as investing in people, not programs. His best moment.
Like most of his questions, Gibson asked it badly. I THINK what he meant is that we register cards with VIN #, so why not guns. But we DO that already with sserial number…Did Gibson think that the purveyors of gun violence are careful to register for their FID cards?
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p>Tell me, Sab – what WAS the question?
What would Baker do about urban issues. Baker didn’t offer any real answer, so Gibson asked about licensing guns. Baker didn’t answer that either.
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p>One question is why did Baker claim that most gun crime is committed with un-registered guns, when that’s a falsehood?
The fact that Gibson repeated it to Baker, and Baker evaded the statement rather than refuted was good enough for me.
Deval doesn’t favor it. We have other provisions. Asked what to offer to illegal immigrants, takes shelter in federal requirements.
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p>Baker says Arizona is “probably more than we need”, and Deval isn’t tough enough. Awesome shot of Cahill picking something out of his eye and examining it while Baker talks. Baker gets his Palin on — talking about common-sense legislation.
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p>Cahill is all for a “check their papers” law…if you’re pulled over, produce your documents.
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p>Stein talks about creating a “climate of fear”. The nice thing about not having a shot is that you don’t have to pander to others’ prejudices. Stein nails it: this is about getting people to fight each other in tough times.
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p>Deval “seconds” her. Back on comfortable ground. Talks about 80% of immigrants getting swept up in people being pushed to “turn on, not turn to each other”.
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p>Baker was in Brockton…and talked to some immigrants! Says they live in a climate of fear because of drugs and gangs, led by illegal immigrants. So more police powers will reduce fear. Deval name-checks to Brockton Gang Unit working with immigration.
Deval Patrick — deep slashes. “A calamity.” Patrick talks about reforms. Cahill says he doesn’t have a plan, except cutting everything.
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p>Baker wants to reduce these taxes, but not these, not now…but question 3 is too much too fast. Baker forced to clarify he’s against question 3. Baker asked how he’d save $1 billion from cutting the sales tax.
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p>Deval and Baker tussle on tax cuts. Deval talks about revenue coming back…”not everything in Massachusetts is bad”. Cross talk.
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p>Stein goes for “fair taxes”, which sock it to middle-income people.
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p>Cahill comes out against progressive taxes. Stands with the millionaires.
on top of a projected 2 billion deficit.
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p>The two combine for roughly 1 out of every 5 dollars the state spends, but the damage is actually worse than that, because so much of what the state spends (rougly 1/3 of the budget) isn’t discretionary spending and can’t be cut — debt service, contractual agreements and the like.
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p>In other words, if Question 3 passes, it’ll be a disaster.
and increase gas taxes, and cut about half a billion of spending.
One – shut down the state. Open the prison doors, close the school doors. Pretty much — there’s no way to meet federal requirements on education and public safety on this budget.
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p>Two – find the money elsewhere. Get a stay in court. Quickly pass a 3.25% consumption tax that mirrors the sales tax, but is different enough to not be affected by the law.
Cahill: Would be happy to have Stein as a doctor.
Stein: Cahill is courageous and passionate.
Deval: Baker is an engaged business leader, with good ideas.
Baker: A good American story.
other than he’s thankfully about to lose.
Stein got into her groove, and did very well for herself. Cahill didn’t target Baker as much as I’d thought, but got in some good hits. Baker seemed constantly angry, especially as Gibson kept squeezing him for answers to questions he didn’t want to answer.
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p>Deval Patrick got to remind people why they voted for him — sincere, passionate interest in the people of this state. Last-minute voters so often go on “gut feeling”, “like to have a beer with” type of thing, and Deval thrashed Angry Charlie on that score.
When he mentioned having given up his CEO position to run for Governor as though it were a favor he was bestowing on us that he was secretly regretting.
That comment of Baker’s struck me as so contrary to any hope he has of connecting with ordinary people.
During the one-word answer round.
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p>Most important virtue: Cahill says “loyalty”.
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p>Most overrated virtue: Baker says… “loyalty”.
I mean, when’s the last time a Republican governor was loyal to Massachusetts.
Baker Republican operatives stabbed Tim in the back, and Baker says the most overrated virture is “loyalty”
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p>That’s some cold, cold alpha male talk.
Baker thinks loyalty is overrated … except when it comes to party, apparently, since he’s all-in for Jeff Perry and Bill Hudak. OK, Charlie, whatever you say….
after Deval answered “compassion”.
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p>Really Tim, you believe that being loyal for its own sake is more important than exercising compassion? And who exactly are you loyal to anyway? Didn’t you jump ship from the Democratic Party? How loyal is that?
for the excellent play-by-play…
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p>ps…define “aspirated vowels”
I don’t think a guy like Baker who formulates ant-immigration policy based on a few stray comments he heard in the street’s of Brockton, is as smart as everyone says he is.
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p>You talk to people in the streets and you can, maybe, find out what they’re concerned about not about what’s actually happening. There’s a difference and Patrick knows it. Patrick pointed out the evidence and the work done by the State Police Anti-Gang Unit contradicts the hearsay Baker was laying out there like a virus he was hoping to spread.
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p>Also, if that Big Dig Questioning went on any longer either Charlie Baker’s water glass would have been completely drained or his furrowed brow was going to explode.
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p>Finally, why does Charlie Baker keep flashing his cuffs and gesturing like that It’s annoying as hell
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p>
Thank you very much. Awesome. You don’t miss a beat.
I think he’s been sharp and fair during this whole election, and during the debate he moderated.
Had to miss the first 25 minutes. Your take on the final 35 captured what I saw so well that it gave me full confidence in the part I didn’t get to see.
“Loveblogging” was worth the price of admission.