Remember when it seemed fairly certain that voters in November would have to choose between Clinton and Bush dynasties? Over the last nine months, voter anger and dissatisfaction have laid waste to that aura of inevitability on both sides of the aisle. Among the big winners Tuesday night were the pollsters. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders went into New …
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Suffolk trustees botch the job
Suffolk University board members should be ashamed of themselves. They are passing up the chance to put the school back on the map as a proud and storied urban university and a meaningful player in greater Boston's civic life. Its inbred board, concerned only about its own power, has launched an attack to undermine the school's new …
Fleeting impressions from Trumpless debate
Fox News may have missed Donald Trump. Its viewership was down to 11-13 million viewers, half what they got in the first debate last fall. (The Democrats' debates have had only eight million viewers, thanks to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's scheduling them at low viewership times to protect Hillary Clinton.) But, if the eyeballs were …
A fan’s lament
I feel as if I’ve been hit by a truck. Hung over, despite the fact that I had no alcoholic beverages yesterday or all of last week. The Patriots have let me down. Me. Personally. It was hard to get out of bed this morning. If only the Pats had beaten lowly Miami in their …
The milkman’s son rises to the top
Ed Markey's 40+ year political career has come a long way. His biggest state legislative accomplishment (a bill eliminating part-time district attorneys) incurred the wrath of then-House Speaker Tommy McGee, who threw Markey off the Judiciary Committee and moved his desk into the hall. Markey, a tall and skinny 29-year old two-term state rep from Malden, went from …
Baker: boring is good
Charlie Baker says that some folks think he is boring, and that's fine, thank you very much. The style of his State of the State speech confirms that assessment. His delivery, while polished, was flat, with monotonous pacing and few tonal variations. The most significant exception was his discussion of the opioid crisis, in which he …
Marty Walsh hitting his stride
Halfway through his first term, the Mayor of Boston and the city are looking good. Both Marty Walsh and the city have grown significantly over the past two years, as reflected in his State of the City speech on Tuesday. Walsh's laundry list of accomplishments is real: record housing starts, including record affordable units; violent crime …
Dems debate hidden between football and Downton Abbey
You had to be a 32nd degree political junkie to find and watch the last Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses. Thanks to Hillary godmother and DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, last night's Democratic debate had 7.8 million voters, about half the audience for the first Democratic debate in October. While, as my friend Dan …
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Republican debate the same, only more so
Donald Trump has changed his messages not one iota. He stands by every single outrageous thing he has said and is absolutely unfazed when challenged. That may be what his supporters like about him. Last evening's unpleasantly raucous and poorly moderated debate on the Fox Business Network was dominated by Trump's head-to-head with Ted Cruz, and …
Tone trumps facts in State of the Union speech
The past and future came together in the nation’s Capitol last night. It was a Paul Gauguin moment: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? The President of the United States gave the best State of the Union speech of his two terms in office, and South Carolina Governor Nikki …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 