I married a girl from Newton, Massachusetts and I have family in Newburyport and Cape Anne. I've spent the last eighteen summers and most Christmases on Plum Island, Mass. My driving license is from Beverly and I took my test in Salem with a big State Trooper called O'Rourke. (I drove through a stop sign and could not parallel park and he passed me with flying colours.) So I think I know the Bay State a little bit. It was with incredulity then that I heard Democratic Senatorial Candidate for Ted Kennedy's seat, Martha Coakley, say live on radio that Curt Schilling was a Yankees fan. Curt Schilling. Curt frickin Schilling. Now, I am a Yankees fan and have spent far more energy than I should hating Curt Schilling. Curt Schilling was the Yankees killer in the 2004 ALCS (an event we shall never speak of again on this blog) pitching his games hurt and like Robert Redford in The Natural with 'blood' leaking out onto his uniform (in Schilling's case, his sock). Schilling won two World Series for the Red Sox which is two more than the revered Ted Williams ever did and the sock went into the baseball Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling is a god to Red Sox Nation; (he's also a right wing nut who wants to bring back the Witch Trials and thinks that The Flintstones was some kind of documentary) but for Martha Coakley to say that Schilling was a Yankees fan and then backtrack and then express befuddlement as to who Schilling actually is, played wonderfully into the GOP strategy of positioning her as an out of touch elitist. As soon as I heard her say that I knew the election was over. You don't diss Curt Schilling in Beantown. You might as well have got Ted Williams's frozen skull and played basketball with it. Oh wait someone's already done that. ...
Now that Coakley's lost the election the Democratic majority in the senate has sunk to a filibuster vulnerable 59 seats and Obama will not be able to pass many of the planks of his reform agenda. What a massive cockup. Couldn't the Democrats have found a candidate in Boston whose last name was Kennedy and who, oh, I don't know, likes the brews and an occasional visit to Fenway Park?
...
Because of the sock the game was lost, because of the game the ALCS was lost, because of the ALCS the World Series was lost, because of the World Series, the Presidency was screwed. (That and listening to the advice of Paul Krugman.) The Democrats of course have massive majorities in both houses but they are such lightweights they cant apparently do anything. I think its because they have no sock related icons of their own. Where have you gone Shari Lewis a nation lifts its lonely eyes to you.
76 comments:
I really don't think I should have read that Ted Williams thing before I went to sleep tonight. I would like to think it's a hoax, but it's just the type of thing that a certain frat boy type would do. Or wannabe frat boy type, which is practically anybody.
I am going to try and visualize Lamb Chop right before drifting off to see if I can compensate for that golf club.
Seana
Yeah poor old Ted. The Red Chinese couldnt get him but a couple of teenage dufuses did.
And yes Lamb Chop to the rescue.
McKinty, we need to have a drink. A Pliny The Elder if we can find one. I'm a producer in search of dialogue.
RocKwiz, another St Kilda institution, is one of our products......maybe the Esplanade for a pint? Joe. Renegade Films.
Joe
I'm always down for a bevy. You ever go to The Local on Carlisle Street? They have some mean IPA's from W.A. Slap you on the face and call you a bad boy mean.
Plum Island? Wow. Is it anything like it's described in...er...Plum Island by Nelson DeMille?
I'm curious about the Paul Krugman comment. Honestly curious. I don't dispute it, but I wonder what you were referring to when you said that Pres. Obama had listened to Paul Krugman. I've got no desire to get into any kind of political debate, I was just hoping to maybe learn about something that I'm unaware of.
Thanks!
It was a cringe worthy interview. I was embarrassed for her.
by the way--fifty grand is a great book. Loved the first scene with Mr Jones. Great character
Te Schilling comment wasn't even her worst. When asked a few weeks ago why she wasn't campaigning more vigorously, she said, "What do you think I should do? Go down to Fenway Park and shake hands?"
Well, uh, yeah, dumbass.
The Democrats thought they could throw any old sack of laundry out there and win, and now we're all going to pay for their hubris.
Hmmm, I don't know what to say. Maybe this will cheer you up or distract you or depress you further or sometrhing.
gb
Brian, I wonder if you are any relation to that Trooper O'Rourke who set Adrian loose on Massachusetts' highways?
Oh, and I would like to hear a bit about Krugman as well. I'm not interested in an argument either, but only because I know I couldn't hold up my end of it.
How about her line that Catholics shouldn't work in emergency rooms... She said this IN BOSTON. The woman has a tin ear.
Seana,
I guess I must be somehow distantly related to the fella. From what little I know of the family name, there are quite a few of us running around.
Anyway, sounds like my kind of guy from what Adrian recounted of the driving test.
Brian
Plum Island, Mass not PI New York as seen in Nelson DeMille and if you remember Silence of the Lambs.
Trooper O'Rourke was a good guy.
Sam
I think a lot of blue collar types are pissed off at the waste of the money in the stimulus. Money we got by borrowing it from China. My thoughts on Krugman and China are here.. Krugman actually says the stimulus wasnt big enough and we should have borrowed a lot more money from China. Talk about having a tin ear. People are pissed off that we're funding these spurious programmes we cant afford not by raising taxes or cutting expensive entitlements but by borrowing. Its madness. I actually think Paul Krugman might be a Chinese agent as China is the only place thats going to benefit from all this borrowing over the long run.
This article in the NYT explains what I mean.
John
I liked it when she started going after Schilling but then when I realised she didnt know who he was...aaaaggghhhh!!!
Dana
Yeah. How about shaking a few hands. How about going up to a place like Lowell and shaking a few hands there too. What an eejit.
Ger
Depress me further. The song will raise a couple of million bucks. Meanwhile The Edge (ugh) is still building his two hundred million dollar mansion in Malibu. Bono still has tax free BILLION. Dont write a song just use some of your ill gotten gains to help out you cheap bastard.
Seana
See above. I'm not opposed to Keynesianism in general but it has to be done with prudence and intelligence. Borrowing money from China and giving it to people so they can, for example, buy Japanese and German cars (the cash for clunkers scheme) doesnt seem very sensible to me.
How about raising the retirement age by a year or two, mothballing an aircraft carrier or three, sticking ten cents on the top rate of income tax - hard stuff like that instead of just borrowing more and more money.
Holden
Catholics shouldnt work in emergency rooms... Honestly.
There are dozens of bloody Kennedys, couldnt you have grabbed one of the goofy bastards and run him or her instead?
The Kennedys of today are not the Kennedys of yester-year.
I'm reading James Ellroy's American Tabloid now so I'd have to say the Kennedys of yester-year weren't the Kennedeys of yester-year.
I grew up in Montreal where I had to spell my last name one letter at a time to every government official I dealt with. But the one time I got arrested in Boston (now it's a funny story over beers - one of the other guys arrested is the model for "Get" in Let It Ride) I got as far as "M-C-" and the cop spelled out the rest.
Adrian,
I'm crying at the loss, even though I'm just as dumbfounded at Coakley's tin ear-ery. She won the primary because of entrenched party backroomery - (but she was not a hack) - but her candidacy was put out there like a certain governor candidate from years past that made all us Dems run to Republicans. That name is John Silber. He caused Weld to win, and the Dems could not come up with a viable Dem alternative for gov after that for a couple o' decades.
I think a lot of blue collar types are pissed off at the waste of the money in the stimulus.
I have to comment on this because I'm so mad at the blue collar types. The ones on the south shore are a bunch of whining whiners. For instance, when a city member pushed the idea of a wind turbine on Hull, yeeeears before it was slightly popular, those same fishermen, contractors and handymen, all of them men, bitched like bitches at the local coffee shop I went to every morning, about the cost of the turbine. They made incessant fun of the guy who was proposing it:
"he kept saying, 'but I have a vision. I've a vision.' I tell you what. I've got a vision too. A television."
I heard that same lame ass joke all around town for what seemed like weeks. It was like I was surrounded by mental rejects who wore headphones that played nothing but that one joke 24/7 and all they could do was repeat it.
Now the turbine pays for itself, or will shortly, and everyone's proud of it. Completely forgetting that the blue collar types were dead set against it.
Massachusetts deserves the pin up truck driver it got. But then again, it doesn't.
Also, you jab at Krugman, but for years he was right. Conservative asshats were wrong about a whole bunch of things. He was a voice in the wilderness at a time in the US when it was unforgiveable to question our dear leader or any of his policies. I don't think anyone in the public is free from critique, but I'd just like to add that he did a job that was most admirable during the worse of our times in the US.
(signed, Sheiler - who can't get the anonymous name to change)
Holden
Well the current generation has had fewer ex marital affairs for sure.
John
Joe Kennedy Snr was the worst. A defeatist Nazi fellow traveller who was repulsive in every way.
Robert Kennedy was the good one I think, but of course if you believe James Ellroy (which I dont) (spoiler alert) J Edgar Hoover and the mafia had him shot.
I believe everything James Ellroy writes.
I believe everything I read.
Sheiler
Yeah but wasnt it Ted Kennedy who opposed the wind farm off the Cape because it, er, spoiled his view?
Krugman was right about the banks and Bush wasting money (Bush turned the surplus into a deficit pretty sharpish) but honestly if you're going to do a stimulus do it honestly - raise taxes.
John
I think The Cold Six Thousand is the best of the trilogy by a long way. There's a flatness about Blood's A Rover which is disappointing.
Adrian,
Busted.
Yes, St Teddy has been opposing the wind farm off of Nantucket sound.
But I felt the same revulsion voting last night and seeing masses of men (my cousins and uncle and I kept wondering where the women were) on tv at the scott headquarters, yelling. I wasn't mad that they were excited. I just felt that they were glad to not have voted for some broad in the election. Sort of like the whiners at the coffee shop railing against the turbine.
I also had the same feeling when Jane Swift lost her bid as governor to .... Mitt Romney. I was no fan of hers. She was a Republican and not a good one. But the way the Republican party in MA treated her, a sitting governor, felt like they wanted to make room for the man. Because he was a man.
But this all might be sore grapes. Sour losing.
I should also note that if I have a baseball preference, it is for the Red Sox. And I watched Schilling pitch that game while bleeding. I could not believe that Coakley even went there, knowing she didn't even follow sports.
Anon
No I think you're onto something. I laugh when these millionaire white guys try and portray themselves as outsiders.
One of the few good things about The Departed was the screenplay's attempt to show the racism bubbling beneath the surface in working class Boston. I think there's a fury that, oh my God, the President is black and, Jesus Christ, the Secretary of State is a woman!
The GOP seems to do a good job of destroying working class solidarity by tapping into white male angst. When I lived in Newburyport I would deal with my white male working class angst by driving up route 1 and going to Bob's Tactical Indoor Shooting range and firing off a box of .38 shells at a target, then I would go to the driving range and knock off a big basket of balls while drinking Sam Adams. Finally I'd take some more Sam Adams and kayak out into the middle of Newburyport Harbor and watch the sunset. It worked wonders.
Anon
I assume that's still you Sheiler?
More brilliance.
Now The New York Times is going to charge us for reading Bono's rambling editorials.
The Local sounds good Adrian.
95263300...started by ex tv producer!
joe.
Joe
That make sense. TV producing and pub ownership both need knowledge of the dark arts.
I'll give you a buzz next week.
A
Did anyone listen to that 'This American Life' podcast on the birth of cryogenics? Let me tell ya, don't listen to it while you're eating jambalaya.
I think Schilling genuinely admires Lou Gehrig...but geez, what a goof to make. You cannot underestimate the pathology (or psychopathology?) of Red Sox fans.
Don't worry--I am not going to listen to that one, Matt. I also have cancelled my standing order to have my head cut off and frozen in the event of my demise.
I think the New York Times is howling at the moon with their latest revenue generating scheme. I don't know what they should do, but this isn't it.
I have to say I never did understand the rationale behind the Cash for Clunkers scheme, except for the fact that the idea of wrecking cars and then giving people cash to buy new ones was sure to be a crowd pleaser.
I'm sure some less fortunate characters could have put those clunkers to use (rather than destroy them). There were times in my life when I wished I’d had a POS car – any POS car – to get around in.
Holden, exactly. I know it was supposed to illustrate some kind of carbon footprint point, but I've heard that its actual impact was fairly minimal. More here.
Matt
I think I mentioned once before how I was out for a walk once in Plum Island. An old man drove past me, stopped his car, waited for me to catch up, pointed at my hat and said Yankees suck before driving off.
Holden
At least Roosevelt's Kenyesianism gave us the Tennessee Valley Authority and the WPA. Cash for clunkers - give me a break.
Seana
Destroying servicable cars for the sake of destroying them is to my mind unAmerican.
BTW Dont forget how awful Brown is. In his victory speech he said we should be spending MORE money on defence and CUTTING taxes.
Coakley lost because the people believe that Congress is not listening, is pursuing an elitist agenda, and we don't want one party rule. If Travis McGee were still alive he would have not choice but leave his houseboat in Bahia del Mar and go to Washington to sort this mess out.
He does seem like the kind of poltician who says, "Things are working fine for me, and that's all that matters."
To get back to your dire prophesy, though, Rachel Maddow was pretty good last night at pointing out the Dems do actually still have 59 seats in the Senate, and she and Senator Stabenow went back and forth a bit about how relying on that magicial 60 had not actually been to the benefit of getting any substantial policy passed, because it is not a united front.
Scott Brown is also an illustration to you dads of what not to do to your daughters when you have a public forum to humiliate them in.
It just seems like the Dems have the lead and are going into a prevent defence.
John, I don't know what a prevent defense is, but I would say that any tactic that lets you get hamstrung by the likes of Lieberman is not working.
I’m just completely flummoxed by the angst that Democrats are feeling after losing this one senate seat. I know there are deeper implications than just a senate seat, but hey, you still have the senate, the house, and the presidency. The republicans haven’t had a majority in the senate like Democrats have now since 1923. And the vast majority of the media supports you most of the time (all but one network).
For truth in advertising, I’m a libertarian (little “L”) and the out-of-control spending on both sides of the fence makes my head explode.
This brain surgeon said his daughters were available on network television?
Classy!
Bright Wind
The people are idiots.
Seana
If Robert Kennedy Jnr runs against him in 2012 he's toast.
John
To continue your hockey analogy I thought Rahm Emmanuel would be like the twins in Slapshot but he isnt and they have no intimidators at all. Its pathetic.
Holden
I think I'm pretty libertarian too and I'm very worried about how our out of control spending in the last decade has basically kick started the Chinese economy. If we're going to afford our foreign wars we need to do with FDR did and raise taxes. If we dont want to raise taxes well then we should withdraw our troops. Borrowing money from China is not a good answer to these problems.
Matt
I thought Letterman had a good line: Scott Brown is like the uptight dad on one of those wedding comedies. If I know Massachusetts and I think I do, the buyers remorse is already starting to set in.
Is Massachucetts one of those places like Quebec where there's one big city and a lot of small towns and they don't have much in common?
We've spent more money in the last year than the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, and the Afgan war combined.
The people are idiots.
Spoken like a true elitist. :-)
John
Its exactly like that. One thing they like to do more than anything else though is complain. When Scott Brown doesnt put a fish in every pan and make the Patriots win the Superbowl they'll be calling for his head. Its going to be funny.
Holden
Sarah Palin's continued popularity leads me to no other conclusion. Still eventually they'll get it. We finally all saw through John Edwards.
No Adrian, the people are not idiots.
As Travis McGee noted (sitting on his houseboat in Slip F-18 at Bahia Mar Marina) "you can fool some people all of the time and all the people some of the time. But you can't fool all the people all the time."
The people see the danger of one party rule and they said no. And good for them - no reason to use Ted William's head as a kickball!
Bright Wind
Yeah I think Lincoln might have said something similar. One of the things I like about John McDonald is that he actually served in the War. He knew of what he speak. The closest Scott Brown has ever come to combat was a zipper that gave him a nasty nip during his modelling career - so when he drapes himself in the flag and says he wants more money for aircraft carriers and defence I sigh inwardly and wonder how he's going to pay for it all by CUTTING taxes. Coakely was a TERRIBLE candidate, but if you fell for Brown's shtick, well then, I'm afraid you are an idiot.
No one has the balls to tell the American people the truth: we need to raise tax to win this war, we need to cut entitlements, we need to raise the retirement age to save social security. This is a time of austerity and we need to start acting with some prudence as a nation. Anyone who says we can have our cake and eat it too is a liar or a fool. And you believe them well more fool you. IMHO
Looking forward to it Adrian. Have practiced both those dark arts and with all its pitfalls, producing wins hands down.
Wouldn't it make more sense if IMHO was written imho? It would seem more sincere.
Adrian,
Yep I was the 2nd anonymous commenter too.
I envy your experience of drinking beer and kayaking. I never saw any of that action in Newburyport, but hung out a lot for beers and fried crap in Essex. I loved seeing people park their kayaks at the docks to restaurants and drink and not worry about getting home.
Vermont seems to be evenly split by Yankees fans and Red Sox fans. It's jarring.
Holden, MA has all different kinds of personalities here - as exemplified by the wide variety of Boston accents. There is no one Boston accent.
Also, Ted Kennedy, despite his banning wind turbines on the Cape, was an excellent senator. It's really really painful for those of us who loved him to have him replaced by Senator Jock Itch.
My father was an Adlai Stevenson Democrat, and hated the Kennedys from early on. Although oddly we ended up with one of those Kennedy painted on velvet rugs that were popular, and I really don't know quite how that happened.
But I think that both Robert and Teddy grew a lot from their youth and Ted despite his many faults does seem to have been an excellent senator. It's a particular gift that not all politicians have. I'm not sure that anyone could have followed directly in his footsteps, so maybe it's just as well that a feckless Republican came in just to remind everyone what it really takes to be a top drawer senator.
I feel bad about the last link I left on this thread. This one will make up for it, though.
Me and the wee bro are going on a film set hunt at lunchtime.
gb
Ger
What a great title. It sounds like a really worthy piece of work. They can be assured of at least one positive review from this blog even if the film isnt so terrific. Often its the thought that counts.
Sheiler
Yeah its a beautiful thing sitting on the Merrimack watching the sun set, toasted out of your brain.
Seana
I still feel that Robert Kennedy was the bigger loss. JFK was dangerously obssessed with scoring chicks for far too much of the time. RFK could have been one of the truly great presidents.
I'm with you on that last. And I think he took a longer journey from who he began as to who he became than almost anyone. It's one of the great what ifs.
I always thought that Bono book sounded interesting though I haven't read it. It will be fun to see a movie set in Belfast too.
Seana,
You couldn't leave well enough alone...you just had to make a favorable mention of Bono to Adrian?
Adrian? Look! Beer! B-E-E-R. Beer. Sam Adams in Denver Taco John's Middlesex Plum Ice Cream dead bodies Irish Boston Beer (whistle whistle).
Uh, no, Sheiler--it's called I Killed Bono. That's why I got a pass.
Sheiler
Yeah its called Killing Bono which can only be a good thing.
I should always look before jumping.
Sheiler, I appreciate your trying to deflect attention in any case, though I suspect that once the hitmen have been sent, they can't be recalled.
Yes, Killing Bono. I Killed Bono would obviously just be wish fulfillment.My recollection of the review is that it's about the frustration, resentment and just plain envy of a being in the music scene in Dublin and being a friend of Mr. Hewson and not making it at the same time U2 soars to fame.
Similarly, Kathy Chetkovich wrote an excellent essay in Granta called "Envy". She writes about being a moderately successful short story writer who happens to also be the girlfriend of Jonathan Franzen. Very candid good piece. And they're still together even so.
Dana, that comment about shaking hands at Fenski Park was poking fun at Brown for standing around in the cold shaking hands. The NHL has one and only one outdoor hockey game per year. It was at Fenski this year. When set up for hockey they can cram 78,000 people in there not to mention the millions of people that watch on TV.
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