For John, BLUF: There are a lot of untested political assumptions out there. Maybe we could say hope over science. Nothing to see here; just move along.
On their show on WGBH (89.7 FM), Jim Braude and Margery Eagan today talked with a couple of local pundits about the 2014 Governor's Race. At one point Ms Eagan said something to the effect:
Where else do they have to go?For one thing, they can stay home.
Even if they go to the polls to vote for the proposition on repealing the automatic increase in the gas tax with inflation, they can still skip right past the Governor's Race.♠ Look at the numbers for the last three senate races. A lot of credit to the Democrat Party Machine for turning out the voters after Attorney General Martha Coakley stumbled and skinned her knee. But also look at the last column and how many folks turned out for Senator Scott Brown who did not turn out for Mr Gomez—Mr Gabriel Gomez, Navy SEAL and fairly decent Republican.
Within Race | Gomez v Brown | ||
Ed Markey | 642,988 | 117,908 | |
Gabriel Gomez | 525,080 | ||
Elizabeth Warren | 1,678,408 | 229,228 | |
Scott Brown | 1,449,180 | 924,100 | |
Martha Coakley | 1,058,682 | ||
Scott Brown | 1,168,107 | 109,425 | 643,027 |
But, the Party Faithful did not have faith in Mr Gomez.
Members of the Republican Party, those registered and those who are declared Independents, have a way of sizing up a candidate and then either embracing that candidate or rejecting him or her. It could happen with Mr Charlie Baker in 2014. Mr Baker needs to be out and about, selling himself.
And, as an aside, a lot of us who are grass roots Republicans don't appreciate being referred to as "Crazies" by pointy headed pundits on NPR stations. Just because we think that John Maynard Keynes was wrong in this view of economics doesn't mean we are crazy. It may mean we saw it not work in Japan and wonder what the solution is. We may wonder why the Democrats, when they had the chance to jump at a Keynesian solution in 2009, opted for a $800 billion stimulus rather than the $1,800 billion dollar job proposed by the President's Head of the Council of Economic Advisor, Christina Romer.♥
Don't call us crazy. Call us what we are—thoughtful and inquisitive, and somewhat skeptical of the Federal Government.
Regards — Cliff
♠ Am I alone in thinking it is strange that the Secretary of State's Office doesn't have anything up on their website at this time on 2014 Ballot Propositions? I like the word "strange". It has a much better ring to it than "indifferent" or "incompetent".
♥ She later watered it down to $1.2 trillion, but even then it was rejected by the White House.
Oh, Cliff. They don't mean you. They mean the crazies you resist snubbing and sending back to whatever angry rock they crawled out from under when McCain nearly destroyed the hulking wreck of today's GOP.
ReplyDeleteSee Rand Paul, Ted Cruz & Michele Bachmann. Look under crazy.
If you want a local flavour, give Jim Buba and Sam Meas a ring.