No, not the shoving or the funding from the healthcare industry lobbists or the loss of the union's endorsement (or Curt Schilling's) to her opponent. She crossed the line when she dissed Boston sports fans by mocking the idea of standing around in the cold to greet them outside Fenway Park, as her Scott Brown did a couple of weeks ago. There's something she's not getting here.
It's hard to understand a candidate this tone-deaf:
Dan Karipides wonders whether this may be strike three for Coakley:Despite that, there is a subdued, almost dispassionate quality to her public appearances, which are surprisingly few. Her voice is not hoarse from late-night rallies. Even yesterday, the day after a hard-hitting debate, she had no public campaign appearances in the state.
“As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?’’ she fires back, in an apparent reference to a Brown online video of him doing just that. “This is a special election. And I know that I have the support of Kim Driscoll. And I now know the members of the [Salem] School Committee, who know far more people than I could ever meet.’’Coakley bristles at the suggestion that, with so little time left, in an election with such high stakes, she is being too passive.
What amazes me here is the lack of awareness by Coakley and her staff. Baseball holds a special level of importance in Boston and in Massachusetts. Fenway Park isn't just some place that some silly local team plays. It is Fenway. Home of the beloved Red Sox. If you spend any time out and among the people of Boston you will hear and be invited to join conversations about the the Red Sox. It is part of the fabric of the city. To dismiss Fenway and the cold (and the people that it represents) as being beneath you is a staggeringly dumb thing to say in Boston. As expected, it is not playing well. . . .
I still don't hold out much hope that Brown can win this election. By all rights he should, but when the playing field is so far away from level it is almost vertical there is only so much you can do. But Coakley as continues to panic and continues to blunder, the chance of a walk-off home run for Brown increases, however small it may be.
(Forget for the moment what came after that particular home run.)
Linked by Larwin (thanks!)
*Update: Michelle Malkin calls the Fenway remark Martha Coakley's Marie Antoinette/JonCorzine moment.
Most recent posts here.
I wish it would sink her. But am afraid it won't. I think that Joe Kennedy is going to be a spoiler. Neoneo con suggests writing him to tell him to drop out. Yeah right!
ReplyDeleteI think Coakley's unnatural calm stems from knowing that Somebody is going to make sure she wins, regardless of the people's wishes. Rather like certain people's imperturbability about passing legislation that the majority of the American people oppose...
Who me, discouraged? Back to my crate to growl quietly to myself...
But you DON'T dis Fenway (I sat there as a toddler hollering for the Red Sox). As dumb as sneering at the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
This bash at the Sox fans is bad. It also shows more clearly than anything else so far (except maybe her blase attitude about the reporter being shoved to the ground) how very very different she is from Ted Kennedy. She's the one hammering him in this campaign, how she's doing it to continue his legacy. Well, I live in Mass, and Ted Kennedy ALWAYS stopped to shake hands and chat with people, he waved cheerfully from cars, and he took the time to listen to everyone. He was famous for it, and people loved him (guess that's why they kept voting for him). The thing is, he did this all year around, year after year. It didn't matter if it was an election year. Or "cold" out. She's just shown that SHE is the one not fit to take what they like to call "Kennedy's seat."
ReplyDeleteIt's the people's seat, now more than ever before. GO SCOTT BROWN!!
As a Mass resident I find it ironic that she's mocking the types of things that Ted Kennedy DID. We also have Sen. Kerry mocking "tea parties" while representing the hallowed ground where "tea parties" changed the world.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, What I don't understand is why things the Democrats have done, are doing, and will continue to do is not being challenged in court. I especially mention the health care scam. Does the gov. have the right to do these things, unchallenged, and become law?.....Tom Yerian
ReplyDelete