Governor-elect Charlie Baker is off to a good start. He was gracious to losing candidate Martha Coakley on election night and the day after. He struck the right tone with Deval Patrick in discussing the transition. Pushed to announce his positions on everything, he has refused to get sucked into the illusions of hosting the …
Category: Politics
Election 2014 – is consensus as remote as ever?
Tip O'Neill famously said all politics is local. Yesterday, Republicans won big by turning that adage on its head. They nationalized state races and turned President Obama's unpopularity and his administration's failures into anvils around the necks of Democratic candidates. Even states that Obama carried turned against him. A happy exception to that trend was …
Continue reading Election 2014 – is consensus as remote as ever?
An open letter to Angela Menino
Dear Angela, Reams have been written and will continue to be written about your beloved husband, Tom; hours have been spent broadcasting his myriad accomplishments as Boston's longest running mayor. History will reflect on the many things he did to leave his imprint on the city and, indeed, the region. Future generations will marvel at the …
Getting a grip on ebola
New York City likes to see itself as informed and sophisticated, but the city's response to its first case of ebola was anything but. The headlines screamed "Ebola in NYC." News stories on television and on the electrified sides of skyscrapers flashed danger. Photos of the doctor diagnosed, who had ridden the subway, eaten at a …
Coakley v. Baker – almost a yawn
Tonight's televised benign if mildly tense debate between Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley was clearly a draw, which may have been the defensive objective of all concerned. Comfortably moderated by WGBH talk show hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, both candidates stuck to their well honed, but by now shop-worn messages, spoke calmly, and smiled wanly …
Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Today Boston Herald Editorial Page Editor Shelley Cohen has a heartfelt and candid apology for the racist cartoon it published showing President Obama in his bathroom squeezing toothpaste onto his toothbrush while a White House intruder looks on from the bathtub. The uninvited visitor asks, "Have you tried the watermelon-flavored toothpaste?" The intent of the cartoon two and …
Continue reading Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Gubernatorial debate: too crowded for clarity
WBZ performed its civic duty by including three independent candidates for governor in Tuesday's gubernatorial debate, but the three added little to the process. It's one thing to give everyone equal access in the early stages of the campaign, helping the independents get themselves known, make their views known, raise some money and perhaps gain some …
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Hang tough on casino repeal referendum
Apparently, the number of Massachusetts voters willing to accept casinos has grown from 37 percent to 53 percent, that according to a Boston Herald poll. I had even begun to think that, well, if Springfield needs jobs and wants casinos, why repeal its opportunity to have them? Same thing with the slots parlor in Plainville. …
Congress: a profile in cowardice
Will it take a Baltimore Orioles/Washington Nationals World Series to bring members of Congress back to Washington soon? If so, it only highlights Congress' cowardly unwillingness to exercise its Constitutional responsibility and vote on the ISIS war. This least productive, shortest session of Congress ended with no debate on President Obama's new response to the terrorist threat roiling …
Silly season in the Governor’s race
Forget the gaffes, and get to the issues. Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker reportedly referred to Fox TV reporter Sharman Sachetti as "sweetheart," and she and other women have taken umbrage. Massachusetts' National Organization for Women (NOW) has blasted his "sexist treatment of a female reporter." Baker said he "was kidding" and later apologized. Sounds …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 