In this week's Phoenix, I size up the ongoing feud between Herald columnist Howie Carr and "Ernie Boch, III," his mysterious Blue Mass. Group-based tormentor. (Note: EB3, as he's frequently called, is no relation to car magnate Ernie Boch, Jr.) In the process, I argue that Carr doesn't really seem to understand his nemesis--and that, despite some strong ideological and biographical differences between the two, there are some noteworthy similarities as well.

You know today's Globe story about Carol Aloisi's questionable State House job? The one that caused great dismay over at Blue Mass. Group?

Well, Jim Aloisi--the state transportation secretary, Big Dig veteran, and brother of Carol--doesn't like what the Globe wrote. Or, it seems, the way the story played out at BMG.

Quick--guess the source of the following blog commentary:

Post #1: It really makes me physically nauseous to read stuff like this:

Her title was chief of staff, but she had no staff and reported to no one. That did not prevent Carol Aloisi from collecting a $60,000 State House salary for six months, until a state representative found her--literally--sitting in his new office and put her to work.

Over at Blue Mass. Group, blogger/attorney David Kravitz makes a pretty compelling case that Barack Obama's "rein[ing] in" of signing statements (to paraphrase today's front-page Globe headline) isn't much of a change at all.

Writes Kravitz:

[T]he memorandum basically preserves the position that if the president believes that a part of a bill is unconstitutional, he can refuse to abide by it, even as he signs it into law.

In the wake of Mitt Romney's Times column on how to fix Detroit, Blue Mass. Group's David Kravitz suggests that Mitt Romney take over as GM's CEO:

It's perfect. GM needs new management; Romney's free; he's a turnaround guy; he's from Detroit; his dad ran a car company; he's already got a national profile, which would really help GM; he's already filthy rich, so he could take the job for a pittance.

Today's presidential must-read: a sharp piece by the AP's Glen Johnson that examines John McCain's deeply ambivalent relationship with Washington, D.C. The whole story is good, but the lede is pure genius:

John McCain embraces and expels Washington like an accordion player belting out a song.

Squeeze in and he touts his vast knowledge of the capital city.

Earlier this week, Blue Mass. Group's Bob Neer concluded--on the basis of interviews with three female, pro-Hillary Clinton Massachusetts DNC delegates--that the prospect of disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters not backing Barack Obama is a bogus invention of the GOP and a complicit media.