Deval Patrick Is Too Liberal To Beat Kerry Murphy Healey

Anyone remember that argument?

Mr. Gabrieli, Mr. Reilly, care to chime in?

Thought not.

When You're Down Double Digits You Gotta Go Double Barrel

Yep, Deval's pissed.

And Murph is hiding. (Remember when they wanted to have people call her "Murph"? I'm going to go back to that, because it's funny.)

Instead she's putting her whipping boy Tim O'Brien out to get flogged (does this guy have a crappy job or what?) and by the looks of this statement, they're setting themselves up for a bigtime backlash. Here's why:

The media (read: the Globe, Phoenix, Weekly Dig, South End News, Valley Advocate, T&G, Eagle - i.e. anyone but the Herald) is now going to focus like a laser beam on finding out who leaked this story to the Herald. And that will get out - don't even think for a minute that it won't. And when that happens, Healey will be branded a "liar" for not telling the truth about her sources. Now, maybe this is why she's not saying anything and is instead putting her campaign manager out there -- so that when the source is revealed, she can fire him, yada yada.

But I think there will be some reporter out there who will want to find out the source. I can bet you that the Globe would love to front-page this on Sunday if they can. If it turns out it was the sex offender registry office, that will tie back to Healey too, because she's the titular vice-chief of the executive branch.

And how could it NOT be Healey/tied to Healey? I mean, who else has the motivation to spend money on an opposition researcher to investigate Deval's family?

Remember, someone here had to make a conscious decision and say: "Yes, let's investigate and do criminal background checks on Deval's family members."

Make no mistake - that decision was affirmatively made by someone with authority - the question is what authority. Perhaps it was the Republican Governor's Association, perhaps another group. But someone who can undoubtedly be easily tied to Murph made this decision. And it will cost her her chance at being Governor.

I just can't see any way this ends up helping Healey - she's going to get burned in the end and people are now so used to campaign revelations that they don't get as worked up about Horton-Swift-Boat-esque events as they used to. There are a lot more important things going on in this world too, and people know it.

Hey, when you're down double digits you gotta go double barrel, I guess...

Green-Rainbow LG Candidate: An Inspiration

It's been prety quiet around these parts for ol' Hoss. Real world time pressures have kept me from posting as much as I could over the summer.

But this morning's Globe profile of Green-Rainbow Lieutenant Governor Candidate Martina Robinson has prompted me to stir. She is truly an inspirational figure and we as Democrats ought to be ashamed of ourselves for letting her go.

Before I go on, let me state this: I support Deval Patrick and Tim Murray completely. I will vote for them in 4 weeks, I will continue to support them with my time and money. But I hope all of us take a look at Ms. Robinson when we think about how much we really have to complain about in life.

Martina has cerebral palsy, yet she is a three-time candidate for Belchertown Selectman. I, for one, hope she runs again so that we netroots-ers can propel her to victory. I hope she runs for Rtate Representative or Senator someday. She is someone who we need in the political realm in Massachusetts. Senator Berry has been a leader on disability issues, but he's as much of an insider up on Becaon Hill as anyone else.

Martina also has what could be the line of the race thus far and does a good job summing up what the LG actually does:

Compared with some of her greater challenges, Robinson said, the job she seeks looks pretty easy.

``I've chaired lots of meetings," she said. ``I can do that in my sleep."

As far as the LG debate goes, here's what should happen: it should be extended to 90 minutes, Ms. Robinson should be invited and given the opportunity to have an aide repeat her answers if she wants, and Tim Murray ought to be the first person advocating for her to be there. Let's face it: no one is going to watch the LG debate, so it doesn't matter if it's 30 minutes longer. And I would also hope that the broadcast networks wouldn't balk at adding 30 minutes. It's the right thing to do if it's what is necessary to allow Ms. Robinson the time she needs to answer the questions facing our state.

I strongly urge the Patrick/Murray campaign to advocate for this or a similar measure if it is not already doing so.