Politics Etc.

Warren for President in 2016; Confessions of a liberal; Keating kool

TODAY's quote: "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea. Keep a Big Hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along." - Elizabeth Warren.

New York Times: Warren possible 2016 Presidential candidate, touts YouTube

By Walter Brooks

  Confessions of a liberal

Back in the day, Kurt Vonnegut (left) and I (right) founded a local anti-war group named "Citizens for Participation in Politics" and picketed our then-Republican Rep. Hastings Keith over his support for the Vietnam War. It was the 1970s and we were all so young.
      Naive lefties that we were, we didn't notice our group's initials bore an obvious resemblance to Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, or the CCCP of Soviet Union fame.  - Walter Brooks

She has yet to win the Democratic Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate to oppose Republican Scott Brown, and still the Sunday New York Times mentions Elizabeth Warren as one of the possible candidates for the Democrats to run for President in  four years.

The newspaper reports, "plausible newcomer for 2016, Democrats say, is Elizabeth Warren, who advised Mr. Obama on the creation of a consumer-protection bureau for financial products and is now running to be a senator from Massachusetts (against Scott P. Brown, the incumbent and a Republican hero).

"She can deliver a punchy case for economic fairness, which has already made her a YouTube sensation. Obviously, she first would need to unseat Mr. Brown."

Worse campaign in state history

Despite all her publicity in the national media, her campaign is the worse one I've ever seen - worse than John Kerry's forgettable 2004 campaign. One would have to go back to the Endicott "Chub" Peabody debacle in 1964 to see one worse, and remember what happened to Chub.

Her website sucks, Brown's is great, her staff is unreachable, and this writer is confused how anyone as sharp as MS. Warren isn't aware of how poorly she's being served.

Her staff may still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Read the New York Times story here.

Bill Keating left Quincy at the right time

Congressman Bill Keating moved recently from Quincy to his longtime summer home in Bourne to be a resident in the newly formed 9th "Coastal" District which replaces his present 10th District plus the additional South Shore towns from Wareham to Fall River.

Stephen Lynch (D) on left has an opponent, Matt Temperly (R), in the 8th District.His former hometown, Quincy was removed from his old district and added to the the newly constituted 8th Congressional District.

The Patriot Ledger reports that Matias Temperley, a 30-year-old a native of Argentina who lives in Quincy and is an Iraq war veteran, has announced he will challenge U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in November.

Lynch has represented the area for a decade and was unopposed in his bid for reelection to a full term in 2002 after defeating a nominal challenger in the Democratic primary.

He has been reelected four times since then, running unopposed in 2004 and 2008, and defeating a nominal Republican challenger in 2006. Lynch was challenged by Mac D'Alessandro, New England political director of SEIU in the 2010 Democratic primary, Independent Phil Dunkelbarger (who challenged Lynch in 2006 and 2010), and Republican Vernon Harrisson in the November General Election. Lynch won the Democratic Primary Election of 2010 in spite of the Boston Globe's endorsement of D'Alessandro. 

Read the Ledger story here.

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