Charlie Baker needs to get the needle pointed the right way, not the extreme right way.
by Kevin Sowyrda, political commentator
Gossip in Bean Town, more critical to survival than franks at Fenway, is telling us that newly born gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker is about to ink a deal with G.O.P. hit man and Lee Atwater wanna-be Rob Gray to run his campaign for the corner office. If "you know them by the company they keep" is applicable here, Baker's about to alienate more than a phalanx of party activists - and Democrats - who remember Gray for political tactics that don't seem in sync with Baker's reputation as a moderate Republican, high on ethics and committed to a think tank governing style.



Sure, it's inside baseball. The average voter isn't going to que on election day to vote for or against a candidate because their campaign chieftain is Gray, Rubin, Morris, or whoever. But in a town where the primary sports are Red Sox Baseball and Beacon Hill Intrigue, this story is juicy, and will only get better.

Watching Gray in action at the state house was always like Francis Ford Coppola's, 'The Godfather.' I don't know of any bleeding horse heads deposited into the beds of Gray's enemies (of which there are too many to enumerate), but all the broken toes still healing from Rob's political stampedes would, alone, be enough to Bring Baker's HMO company to its knees.

Sure, he says he was offered a high ranking position in the White House after toiling for George Bush and Dick Cheney on the campaign trails of New England; though a number of G.O.P. operatives tell me that his claim was dubious -a spin effort worthy of Gray who counts as his clients the Toiletry Foundation of America......really.

So how and why the Rockefeller-like Republican Charlie Baker goes to bed with a G.O.P. right winger is a hard question to answer, especially given Gray's penchant for rewarding his mentors in a less than conventional manner. After pocketing plenty of easy cash from no heavy lifting contracts via Mitt Romney's graces, Mr. Gray, famous for his trade mark jeans and penny loafers minus socks, showed his gratitude by joining John McCain's presidential operation. Et,tu Brute?

Finding Republicans willing to share their distaste for Gray was as easy as finding a new reality show on TV. But trying to get one to go on the record was not a realistic expectation. For a disheveled little man, Gray intimidates a fair number of political operatives who don't care to incur his wrath but are nonetheless loaded with anecdotal information as to why Gray is the best thing to ever happen to the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

"He's the reason Kerry Healy lost", said a former high ranking Weld Administration official who asked not to be named because......well maybe she doesn't like horse heads in bed. Gray managed Lt. Governor Healy's gubernatorial bid in 2006, which went down in flames; especially after her media war created more controversy than votes. Gray's so called "parking garage ad" warning citizens about the dangers of being raped was lambasted by critics for racist undertones. "I think it was extremely negative and I think the parking ad was so over the top. It was racial. It was scare tactics that if you don't elect her then everybody else will be week on law enforcement," said the former Weld Administration insider who worked in the corner office.

So is it all a harbinger of the type of campaign Charlie Baker will run - one of those Willie Horton specials that has us rolling in the gutter; or atleast rolling our eyes? If Gray is in total control, yes. Gutter politics is where Gray's needle is pointing to. But should Baker actually be in this to win, he needs a broader path. "Charlie's success would be found in people viewing him and his campaign as a moderate operation," media consultant and '06 Kerry-Healey supporter Jan Saragoni told me on Tuesday morning.

In any event, Baker's facing a Pork Chop Hill of a campaign. Despite the fawning coverage his drinking buddies still toss his way from the city's broadsheet, Baker is hardly the eight hundred pound guerilla he's portrayed as. While it's fun for the G.O.P. establishment to make fun of businessman Christy Mihos as a pushover in waiting, I'll put my money on Christy any day of the week. Don't put it beyond Mihos to give Baker a shellacking. Mihos is independently wealthy and ran for governor in 2006, while Baker's campaign experience does not extend beyond his riveting race for Swampscott selectman.

Come the general election, Governor Patrick could become the man to beat, with an Independent Tim Cahill siphoning off votes from the Republican nominee. Then again, the governor still has a lot of damage repair ahead of him after squandering so much political capital on cynical patronage ventures; and my sources say that Mihos is taking solid advice from campaign guru Dick Morris and is in this thing to win, having learned from his mistakes in '06.

For my money, Baker's the candidate of the Boston Globe and the Republican Party preaturians. This crowd makes a roar now and then - and they're great to meet for chocolate martinis at the Hampshire House - but they rarely pull off touch downs in the final quarter.

How much more of this monarchist-like flummery can we possibly endure???
Case in point, today's web edition (is there any other) of Politico.com where we are tutored on the actual dangers a president faces when he is, well, "perfect" (article link is - http://www.politico.com/news/s...

No, they are not speaking of former President Abraham Lincoln, but the rather newer President Barack Obama who is a "better father", a "better husband" and practices "better" dieting. For all we know he never suffers flagellant moments like the rest of us. So Politico scribe Eamon Javers has gone where no man has gone before, and delved into the potential political pitfalls for a president who is just too omnipotent for his own good. "The industry seems to be in collective awe of Obama," the author writes. Seems to be? Ya think? Really?

Even the bonafide conservatives are yielding to his Excellency's prowess in all things temporal. Tucker Carlson told Politico, "People naturally defer to others they think are superior."

The propaganda gets even thicker - even sickningly sweet. Newsweek's editor Evan Thomas recently proclaimed to fellow Obama sycophant Chris Matthews that the president is basically a Deity. "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God," said Thomas - though strangely he had no rosary beads in hand as he was providing this twisted take on the state of American affairs.

This historic Hyperbole on Obama is getting so thick, I can finally relate to the Great Molassis Flood of Boston in 1919 when a Molassis tank the size of Heaven burst, killing 21 people. It wasn't pretty, and neither is this sticky, political flood of pure propaganda that's beyond even the hype Hollywood used to brainwash millions into thinking Justin Timberlake is actually talented.

At what point in time does the press get tired of playing the role of White House Communications Director? It's a post now vacant - but not really, given Charlie Gibson's innumerable softballs at Wednesday's infomercial at the White House, where ABC gave the administration a free, in-kind contribution so they might air their politics, minus any opposition.

And who said the folks at the old Pravda never found new employment?

For my money, don't hold your breath for serious discussions and responsible media coverage of the highest office holder in the Republic. Though many of my progressive friends seem to be more exhausted than my G.O.P. brethren regarding this ridiculous love fest, I don't see it dissipating. I mean, it's sort of like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - there may have been bumps in the road but they never fell out of love with eachother.

Accordingly, Governor Sanford has a silver lining to keep in mind as he's hunkered down after his revealing his intercontinental activities. He wasn't going to win anyway. Who could? Maybe Jesus, but I'm betting the press would still side with B.O. They'd definately scour Nazareth and conjur up some scandal.

You can't beat a president, or a candidate, who has the the press corp hypnotized.

Just ask Hillary Clinton.

Democratic scandals are opening the door for a Mihos comeback.
by Kevin Sowyrda
Former House Speaker Sal Dimasi's perp walk last week, and his Monday arraignment, reveals more than the surreal fact that the South End can boast two former legislators and a current city councilor facing serious time in federal prison. Though it's probably yet to dawn on the gubernatorial head, I see it as a growing migraine for the chaotic and highly disappointing political machine belonging to Governor Deval Patrick and a boost to his likely G.O.P. adversary.

But first the meat of the matter. Sal DiMasi's gone rogue in the eyes of a grand jury because Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks convinced the panel that the recently retired commander in chief of the State House pocketed some serious quid pro quo cash courtesy of the software company COGNOS. The portrait is ugly; sort of like staring at an Andy Warhol painting for way too long. DiMasi allegedly used a funny funneling scheme to garner a little under $60,000 in exchange for navigating some beefy state contracts to COGNOS with the approval of unsuspecting - we think - Patrick Administration politicos. News reports say that various gubernatorial lieutenants were successfully lobbied by DiMasi on behalf of COGNOS and the governor has stated that he himself had some vague conversations with the x-speaker regarding the matter.

If found guilty, DiMasi would get out of prison right about the time Barack Obama's daughters are in their thirties. Really.

Speakers being indicted in Massachusetts is about as unusual as Kirstie Allie going on a diet. We've just sort of become used to it. But just on the face of it we can see that the DiMasi indictment is far more egregious than the legal sledge hammers brought down on his predecessors Charlie Flaherty and Tom Finneran in past years.

The Flaherty indictment was quintessential proof that you really can indict anything including a bologna sandwich. During the "scandal" the Boston Globe reported that then U.S. Attorney Donald Stern spent about seven million dollars dissecting Flaherty's life on the planet, only to come up with a teaspoon full of dirt - that his tax preparer had made a minor error on a federal return dating back to God knows when. In Finneran's case, he was less than candid in a civil deposition, but no one's yet to pin any old fashioned, Tamney Hall like bribery charges on the Mattapan Democrat. Finneran's "sentence" is having to work at WRKO with the irascible Howie Carr, where Carr regularly berates Finneran as the station's resident "convicted felon". That should be sufficient purgatory for anyone.

But what we are likely to see in the DiMasi trial will make the past legal proceedings against Flaherty and Finneran pale in comparison. Dimasi’s alleged crimes are just too naked. A bunch of hacks cruising on yachts and hitting golf balls while deciding who gets what state contract and what they'll pay up for the favor. Is it really all that different from organized crime? And, are any of so naive as to assume that COGNOS is the only company for which DiMasi was twisting arms?


But there are other insinuations emanating from this indictment which warrant thorough investigation by the U.S. Attorney, as well as the state's attorney general. The speaker, whether it be Sal DiMasi or Harry Potter, does not have the magic to get state funds into any business purses. It is the sole purview of the administration to award contracts and dispense state funds. What Patrick staffers did or didn't know as they inevitably approved millions of dollars in contracts for COGNOS has to be vetted to the full satisfaction of the public. And that very process will not produce the perception Deval Patrick wants or needs as he gears up for his 2010 reelection bid.

Sensing trouble on the horizon and still licking his wounds from polling data showing he’d likely lose a primary battle to potential challenger Tim Cahill, Patrick recently hired the proverbial 800 pound guerilla to retool his political machine. Barack Obama’s ‘08 campaign manager David Plouffe will try to keep the guv afloat, just as a heavy weight Republican strategist has joined the campaign of an already announced G.O.P. contender.

Republican Christy Mihos was sadly ignored by many in the media when he blew the whistle on Big Dig corruption. He ran a solid campaign for governor in 2006, and has announced a political second coming with the help of former Bill Clinton confidante Dick Morris. It’s a brilliant move for the convenient store magnate. Mihos bringing Morris on board shows that he’s serious about running a more comprehensive campaign next year; and Morris is no babe in the woods, having given birth to political careers from here to Tel Aviv.

When you consider the current environment, it’s remarkably similar to 1990 when an unlikely Republican named Bill Weld was lifted to the governor’s office on a wave of voter discontent with how the Democratic establishment was running state affairs.

This year, the issue is corruption on Beacon Hill and the need for change. If Mihos drives that message home, and he has the credibility to do it, he’ll be a worthy opponent to Patrick in 2010.

Race is everything.
by Kevin Sowyrda

We're living in a crude time of racial centric politics. Nothing new, you say? Then check out the recent news concerning judiciary appointments in both Washington and Boston.

Everything is race. The only thing that matters in Obama era politics, in governing, in policy making, in political appointments and in the media is your race. And for the first time in history, it's not Caucasian imperialists who are directly reaping the benefits of their light skinned complexion. But in a more cunning, indirect way, it's the liberal establishment - the still mostly white, modern day power brokers - who are using the race of minorities to squelch the Conservative opposition and achieve the progressive agenda. It's as effective as it is Machiavellian.

Case in point, this week's presidential nomination of New York Judge Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor wasn't picked because she's the reincarnation, in female visage, of Justice Brandies or because her intellect overshadows that of Stephen Hawking. She was picked because she's a Hispanic woman and Barack Obama, who remains in perpetual campaign mode, is sufficiently brilliant to realize that he can have all the liberal sycophants his appetite desires if he picks the presently in fashion, once out of fashion, brand of color.

That's because anyone who opposes this new color du jour must be a racist.

If you bring up Sotomayor's almost surreal ruling in Ricci vs. DeStafano, where in a painfully oblique edict she obliterated the test results for a group of Connecticut firefighters because an insufficient number of minorities were able to score high on the test, you'll be branded a racist quicker than Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow can coordinate their talking points with Rahm Emmanuel at the White House.

If you querie Sotomayor about her ruling that convicted felons should be able to vote, you'll definitely see Chris Matthews getting the wrong type of tingle up his leg and suddenly you're shish kabob on the Peacock Network.

If you dare to ask Sotomayor if she was being a little bit too polarizing when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life", the Washington Post is going to call you Hispanic Hater of the month and quote an anonymous source that you use the "spik" word while imbibing at South Boston taverns.

So the nomination process will be as smooth as silk. We'll hear the usual suspects on the senate judiciary committee gush, with tear filled eyes, about Sotomayor's up from the boot straps story. That one always resonates when it's about a liberal nominee. Sadly, we can't talk about up from the boot straps stories of more conservative jurists like Clarence Thomas, who grew up in impoverished Pin Point Georgia and was homeless as a little boy after a fire burned down his family home.

And it's even a twofer. As political scientists on both sides of the aisle predict that the Hispanic vote will only continue to swell, a savvy politician like Mr. Obama is not going to be outflanked by Republicans, who have previously forged cordial relations with Hispanic Americans because of the G.O.P.'s historic position on Cuba. Those policies are as moribund as Fidel himself, and Obama knows that a quota system for Hispanics is the new route to that growing demographic and a key ingredient for his 2012 prospects.

Locally, the racial centric trend is no less intense and obvious than on the national stage. Carmen M. Ortiz has just received the papal blessing from Ted Kennedy and John Kerry to be the new U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. The panel that recommended her clearly intimated that Carmen, one of three finalists, was actually second in qualifications to prominent local jurists Michael Keating and Martin Murphy, but that her status as a Latina gave her the edge.

Atleast they were honest.

There's a more civil way to debate.
by Kevin Sowyrda


Miss California and Barack Obama have something interesting in common. They are both opposed to gay marriage. It didn't cost Obama the presidency, but it probably did cost Miss California two things; the bigger crown she was expecting at the recent Miss America contest and any hope for a decent dialogue on her position, with which I take strong exception.

The public pillaging Carrie Prejean has suffered at the hands of liberals who forget what the word really means has been painful to view. The lynching's been led by, among others, the insufferable duet of Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto and MSNBC democratic commentator Keith Olberman, who believe that when a woman disagrees with the gay boys and the not so gay boys she's to be shreded like so much bad pork. But first some background for those of you who've been underground, hiding from the Swine Flu that's going to end the world as we know it.

Miss California or Prejean was asked by Gay Blogger Perez Hilton, who was serving as a pageant judge at the April 19 Miss America contest, what her position was on Gay marriage. Prejean articulated this frank and diplomatic answer. "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." When you think about it, Prejean's response hardly differed from Obama's recent words on the subject, “marriage is only between a man and a woman.”

But Prejean doesn't have that Obama Teflon and now she knows what a fish feels like when being prepared as sushi. No sooner had the pageant concluded that Perez got the hate ball rolling by posting a Rosie O'Donnell like video on his web page where he called Prejian a "bitch" and some other childish derogatives, none of which should be flabbergasting given the source. Hilton's bite and infamy date back to before August 17, 2007 when he reported on his web page that Fidel Castro had died and further insisted that he was the first person in the world to report it. He's right. He's the only person to have reported that. Hilton is also nothing less than a lightening rod of controversy not just because he declares living people dead but also for outing notables in the world of pop culture gliteria, and not because they've ever lifted a finger against the Gay Community. There's no way Hilton has any anger issues going on, is there?

So not to be outdone in the category of venomous castigators, Keith Olberman invited his soul mate Michael Musto to his cave at MSNBC to dissect Prejean further; for her physique and a host of other taboo, personal issues. It's the type of commentary Rush Limbaugh would have shyed away from. Here's how the dyspeptic Musto described Prejean. "This is the kind of girl who sits on the TV and watches the sofa. You know, she thinks innuendo is a Italian suppository. Can I keep going? On the pageants now, they really should have easier questions, like what’s your middle name or what show was Seinfeld on. I mean, this girl’s a ding-dong. I didn’t even like her earrings." And it degenerated further. Said Musto, "they also paid for Carrie to cut off her penis, and sand her Adam’s Apple and get a head-to-toe waxing. I know for a fact that Carrie Prejean was Harry Prejean, a homophobic man, who liked marriage so much he did it three times. Now he’s a babe who needs a brain implant. Maybe they could inject some fat from her butt. Oh, they have?"

Olberman revels in this potty mouth routine and chimed in with some old fashioned woman bashing typical for his caustic demeanor, including a stream of references to Prejean's breasts and the completely outlandish thought that Perez Hilton is now an "intellectual giant" for his performance as a hard hitting beauty pageant official.

It's disgusting. When men are allowed to pile on like this and eviscerate a woman whose crime against humanity is stating her opinion, the true meaning of liberal has been perverted by people who are no more liberal than was Jerry Falwell. All their doing is churning the pot of hate speak in an attempt to vilify anyone who dares to subscribe, however tactfully, to an opinion that differs from their own theology. Olberman preaches ad hominem that that's what the Republicans do. Clearly he's projecting. It's what he himself does as do so many of his liberal comrades who don't know what liberal really means and have spent the past days nailing Carrie Prejean to the cross.

Liberal means a woman should be allowed to freely and independently say what she thinks without men ridiculing and demeaning her to the point that the transcripts begin to read like sordid material written by Larry Flynt for Hustler Magazine. Liberal means people who disagree with you are your opponents, but not your enemies. To travel the other path is to go the way of Nixon.

For the life of me, I don't know why the Miss California-Prejeans of the world should be bothered if a Gay couple marries. It seems to me we've got ample supply of hate in this world and anything we can do to foster loving and committed relationships should be inviting to all. But there's something intellectually degenerate about countering those who dissent on the marriage issue by employing debating tactics from the Iranian Parliament.

We're better than that and any woman, even Miss California, should not suffer such violent, verbal abuse at the hands of the male dominated liberal establishment.