There is a great post over at Flash and Yearn by Sachem Head that dives into an issue I've been curious about for a long, long time: the way politically active people categorize the various constituencies in Massachusetts.
Basically, he was attacked by a poster as being racist for referring to a portion of Reilly supporters as "Irish Power Brokers." While perhaps this description of Reilly's support may have been accurate wer Reilly running a generation ago, I think a more apt term is "Downtown Power Brokers." Or, more simply, "The Old Boy Network."
It's an interesting dynamic. On the one hand, the Old Boys can weild tremendous power. On the other, given the $500 giving limit, that power is reined in more here than in other states with higher giving limits, like New York.
What do you all make of Reilly being the Old Boy candidate? Do you agree? What about in the other races? In 1998, that same group got scared of Lois Pines and helped her win. But in 2002, it didn't help Steve Murphy or Jim Segel beat an unknown county treasurer.
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2 comments:
I'm glad for your thoughts, Hoss. I delved back into this subject in another post today.
Hoss, the whole "Old Boys" and "Irish pols" networks and other such cliches are as offensive as if one were to say that Deval is the HNIC or that he is just a creation of the white-liberal guilt network. We just would not tolerate such remarks about and African-American or other minority. In fact it would likely be termed a hate-crime. But it seems to me as if you gave no thought whatsoever about leveling such remarks at a white male, who happens to be hetero and the son of Irish immigrants.
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