Romney's Republican Socialism

Into the breach of the health-care debate stepped former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Monday morning -- and he took a stance that blended conservatism with socialism.
Before then-Gov. Romney helped pass a bill mandating Massachusetts residents to obtain health insurance in 2006, "a lot of people who were able to buy (insurance) just went to the hospital (emergency room)," Romney said on Laura Ingraham's radio show on WRKO-AM (680). "We said, 'No more free riders.'"
This came off as conservative chutzpah from a one-term governor (2003-07) who failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and whose support of statewide health insurance could further hurt his presidential prospects in 2012. For it sounds like Romney is playing defense by casting his cooperation with the Democratic-dominated state legislature in a Republican light as his party tilts ever more to the right on health care.
Laura seemed like she wasn't buying it, telling Mitt, "Sometimes experiments do fail" and that the bill was "not exactly the way I'd have fashioned it." She did concede that "I do like this state's trying new ways of going about things."
And it sounds like even Romney's would-be heirs in the Bay State are abandoning his standard. Romney noted that State Sen. Scott Brown, the GOP candidate in the special election for Ted Kennedy's former US Senate seat, was "one of those who supported the bill." Something tells me that Brown, sounding ever more conservative with an election looming on Jan. 19, won't appreciate Romney's bringing up the past. (Especially since on his own campaign website, Brown says he supports the 2006 Massachusetts health-care law.) And neither will the national Republican party, no matter how much Romney spins it.

Pagliuca: Hoop Dreams for a Senate Seat

Pagliuca Senate Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

Meet Stephen Pagliuca. He's the co-owner of the Boston Celtics and a long-shot Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy. Satan gives Pagliuca some political pointers in the latest episode of “The Devil Made Me Blog It”!

Mass. Dem Senate Primary: Personal Perspectives

One week from today, voters in my home state of Massachusetts will winnow the field of candidates for the Senate seat held until earlier this year by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. The primaries for Democrats and Republicans take place next Tuesday.
I've seen two of the Democratic candidates for the seat up close -- Attorney General Martha Coakley and Congressman Michael Capuano. When I met Coakley at a Democratic State Committee meeting last year, she came off as very approachable for a member of the press. Capuano, whom I heard at an appearance at Harvard 10 years ago, when I was an undergrad and he was beginning his first term in Congress, seemed blunter. Addressing an audience of students, he stressed that selflessness, not ego, should motivate people to enter politics.
Seems like voters find the styles of both Coakley and Capuano preferable to the two other Democratic candidates, Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca and City Year head Alan Khazei. In a poll last Tuesday, Coakley led all Democratic candidates with 36 percent, followed by Capuano (21), Pagliuca (14) and Khazei (14). We'll see if these results hold true on primary day.

Volunteering for McCain -- I'm Lovin' It

McDonald's Cartoon
Originally uploaded by rbtenorio

McCain and McDonald's -- these are the two themes Satan tries to tie together, using his liberal friend's fondness for both the Arizona senator and a No. 2 value meal (Quarter Pounder with cheese) in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"! Merci to my muse for suggesting a Red Sox connection as well. I got the poll numbers from RealClearPolitics.

PS - On a serious note, my best wishes go out to Barack Obama for his grandmother's health.

State and community colleges need support

The political leaders of my home state of Massachusetts -- Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Sal DiMasi -- want to make budget cuts due to a worsening economic situation. One area that could be affected is state and community colleges.
Budget cuts, which Patrick will announce at 5 p.m. today, "could trigger ... tuition hikes at public colleges and universities," the Boston Globe reports. "(Higher) education administrators are scrambling to reduce spending after receiving word from state officials that their subsidies will be cut by an estimated 5.6 percent."
Patrick, Murray and DiMasi should leave state and community colleges untouched. The young people of Massachusetts, whose parents may face uncertain job prospects, need affordable educational venues. Attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst or Bunker Hill Community College keeps tuition bills down -- and increases the likelihood that undergraduate talent will stay in Massachusetts after graduating. The fact that state and community colleges offer such excellent academic centers as the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black History and Culture at UMass-Boston is an added incentive.
I call on Patrick, Murray, and DiMasi to avoid making any cuts to this vital section of the state budget, and encourage anyone else so concerned to do the same.