So I got to see Bill Clinton last night at WPI in Worcester. He was exhausted (Haiti work) but it took me about 5 minutes in the room with him to understand how he became President.
he was followed by Martha Coakley, you know, that "terrible" candidate who's a "hack" and [add any insult you want here...it's fun and hip (yeah, I know, I'm old...okay, so it's whatever "hip" is today...).
So AG Coakley had the pleasure of following Bill Clinton to the podium.
Read on, please...
She was great. She was warm. She spent the first ten minutes talking about our better natures and how we have to help our neighbors in Haiti. She talked about the stark differences between her positions with Scott Brown and took no cheap shots at him at all.
She was aggressive, passionate, inspiring and most of all, portrayed herself as someone unafraid to roll up her sleeves and do the hard work.
I appreciate that, and I believe it.
I live in North Central Massachusetts (North Worcester County). In December, 2008, we got crushed up here with an ice storm you had to see to believe. I woke up the night it hit and thought a gunfight had broken out in the woods behind my house. "Pop pop pop pop pop pop" for hours as tree branches snapped off and trees broke in half, peppered with the occasional explosion as a falling one his a pole and blew a transformer.
It was awful. Roads were impassable. We were re-doing a floor in my house and had a dumpster in the driveway and I spent hours out there breaking up old wood to burn in the fireplaces, trying to keep my pipes from freezing. No electricity for days.
I live in Leominster, and we got hit bad, but the towns who really suffered were our nearest neighbors: Fitchburg and Lunenburg, to name two. We had the same storm, but we didn't have the same utility company. I have National Grid, and they mobilized their fleet and had scores of trucks out there, crews working round the clock. My electricity was put back on by some great guys from Michigan (who told me that 0-16 might be forever, but so was 18-1...football fans will get that).
Our neighbors had Unitil, whose response was pathetic.
Martha Coakley went after them...hard...as soon as the problems became apparent. Martha Coakley worked her butt off to get that power back on, threatening lawsuits (I do believe she actually recouped damages from Unitil for those towns) and twisting arms. She did good work for the people of North Worcester County in our time of crisis.
I put this out there because I'm really sick of the insults I'm hearing against the woman. She's been a fine public servant, hard-working, composed, professional. She was the first AG in the country to go after predatory lenders in the housing bust. She went after the contractors who shafted us on the Big Dig. She's a fighter, her heart's in the right place, and I'll be DAMNED PROUD to cast my vote for her on Tuesday.
I didn't vote in the primary - I'm unenrolled in MA and like it that way. I didn't vote because I liked them all - yep, all four of them. Coakley's closest challenger, Mike Capuano is a great rep and would make a great Senator.
Scott Brown wrote an editorial in the Boston Globe calling for across-the-board tax cuts and railing against our national debt...seriously. He may be a fine guy - seems like it - but he's a trickle-down koolaid drinker. He is indeed a Bush Republican, and, sorry, no thanks. We've heard that song before, and it was a sad one.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. And I might share a knuckle sandwich with the next clown who says "pinch your nose and vote for Coakley."
Bob
UPDATE: Look, I wrote this to remind folks that there's a lot at stake and to show a different side of Martha Coakley than we're seeing everywhere. I really have no desire for a "fight" with people who supposedly want the same things I do...in that, I apologize for the "knuckle sandwich" comment; it was a joke, a common expression of frustration up here in Mass, and not a threat of actual violence.
But the real reason for this update:
http://www.marthacoakley.com/...
Go. Donate. Volunteer. Dammit FIGHT.
If Brown wins, HCR could go down, and it won't be revisited again for a generation - no one will have the guts to touch that third rail.
If Brown wins, there will be no worthwhile JOBS package through the Senate.
If Brown wins, there will be no meaningful environmental bills through the Senate.
If Brown wins, the GOP will freeze government worse than they have for the sole purpose of getting a landslide come November.
Fight THEM now, argue amongst ourselves LATER. Please.
Peace,
Bob