MITT & MASSACHUSETTS

You might not have heard of this one yet, but it's causing quite a stir
up here in Mass. Our present governor is Mitt Romney whose father
George Romney was a Republican primary candidate for president
back in the `60's or `70's but never got the nomination. Well, Mitt's
a personable fellow, handsome, with a photgenic family and might
have some presidential aspirations of his own. The trouble is, like
his father before him, he's been sort of vague on his stands on issues
and tries to pass himself off as a moderate. For example, he says
while he doesn't agree personally with abortion, he supports a
woman's right to choose.

The story broke today that his top political advisor says in the
conservative National Review Magazine that Mitt pretended to be
Pro-Choice in order to get elected.The bovine excrement has hit
the fan and Mitt will make a statement tonight. But, interestingly
enough, he hasn't fired the political advisor. Yet.

Most folks outside of New England might not be aware that
despite its reputation as a citadel of the Democratic Party, Massachusetts
has had mainly Republican governors for the past half century. The
two Democrats who've held the office in my adulthood were Endicott
Chubb Peabody, a Yankee Brahmin, and Mike Dukakis who was a
much better governor than presidential candidate.

Mitt came in as a supposed political outsider and promised that there
was a new Sheriff in town to deal with the rascals of the Democratic
controlled House and Senate, and promply made the worst move he
could have made.

He pissed off Billy Bulger.

Billy Bulger was the Senate President for many years. A short man
with a very high i.q. and quick wit, he also happens to be the younger
brother of Whitey Bulger. You might recognize the name from when
John Walsh runs segments on Whitey who's been on the lam for
over 10 years and is on the FBI Top Ten Most Wanted List. If Whitey
knows where the mob bodies are buried (hell, he most like buried them
himself), then Billy knows where all the political skeletons in the closets
are. Even when he retired, he was still giving Mitt fits and the men now
running the State House are Billy's handpicked successors.

So, when the Legislature pased a bill authorizing stem cell research,
Mitt vetoed it and the veto was overidden the next day. And of course
he's the governor of the only state in the union to legalize gay marriage.
Poor Mitt. He's gotta do something to get the conservatives to even
consider him for a presidential run.

You might wonder why an overwhelmingly Democratic electorate keeps
electing Republican governors who can't really accomplish anything.

Simple.

We're sadists.