General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How about we save the purity tests for blue states? [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)Look at the OPPONENTS of those three you mentioned. Notice anything, particularly?? Hmmm?
What was their gender, again? Hint--they weren't packing meat and two veg.
You don't have a sense of the reality in MA. You're thesis is way, way, WAY off.
Ted Kennedy won elections with EASE in MA since 1962 when he went to the Senate-- even when he was high as a kite on coke and booze, before he did the rehab thing. Why do you think this is remarkable that he could beat some clown from Michigan by way of Utah that pretended he had a connection (beyond pillaging companies) in MA. If you're a member of the Kennedy clan, that's good for twenty points before you even start campaigning. If you have a record of constituent services going back to the 1960s, you're NOT going to lose. Ted was part of the fabric of MA politics since Jack was a Congressman. I mean, why even bring him up? Romney spent a fortune on that race and STILL got his ass handed to him by a guy that was seriously messed up on booze and Colombian marching powder.
As for Bill Weld, look who he was RUNNING against, why doncha? No local Dem even wanted to oppose him because he was to the left of most of them in many respects. Your example. again, is illustrative of nothing. A carpetbagger with no ties to MA, from PA and OH, who never spent a minute in the state. No one knew that guy--and since Weld was such a screaming liberal (relatively speaking) anyway, it was six of one, half dozen of the other. Why fix what ain't broke? Having a GOP (fake) governor kept MA out of hot water in GOP presidential years (remember Jesse Helms' refusal to vet Weld as ambassador to Mexico?). And you apparently don't realize that in Weld's time, the MA governorship was a "weak executive" model. To some extent, it still is, though more authority has accrued to the corner office. Anything that the governor does that the OVERWHELMINGLY DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE doesn't like gets shot down. If the governor vetoes something that the OVERWHELMINGLY DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE wants, they override.
It sucks that we have to deal with Money Boo Hoo Baker because of the sexist nature of our Commonwealth, but the MA state legislature will keep that empty suit in check.