Deval's DeVille: the subtext

Published Feb 16 2007, 05:30 PM by Adam Reilly

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Hey, what's the deal with blacks and Cadillacs?!?



I know. "DeVille" sounds like "Deval." And the Herald just whacked Patrick for using a helicopter (!) to fly from one end of the state to the other--just like Jane Swift, except that Swift used a helicopter for personal reasons, and Patrick didn't, but whatever.

That said, there's an obvious thematic similarity between today's Herald cover story and Ronald Reagan's old welfare-queen shtick. The Gipper wanted us to think that black women who should have been living within their means were using government handouts to buy fancy cars. Here, we've got a black governor who should be living within the state's means ("The example of being frugal really needs to start with him," says Republican state senator Richard Tisei) using goverment money to lease a fancy car.

One other thing: the Herald gives us the base price for Patrick's car ($42,000) and for the Crown Victorias favored for government use ($26,000). But they don't give us the base price for the car ex-Gov. Mitt Romney drove--which, according to an unnamed Patrick aide, is no longer in production. That information would be helpful.

Brady's sexcapades top Globe; all hell breaks loose

Happy Boston Newspaper Guild Day

13 Comments

• themofo said:

  I am supremely confident that if Patrick were white, he'd still get the same treatment from the Herald and Howie. They're playing up tired stereotypes about Democrats, not blacks.
  February 16, 2007 6:32 PM

• fish said:

  yes -- it's the limousine liberal thing -- and the carbon imprint for rich dems thing. and the symbolism thing. plsu the herald got on romney good for his SUV caravan.
  February 16, 2007 7:19 PM

• Gonz said:

  Yeah, Adam, I think you're reaching here. The Herald's helicopter/car coverage strikes me as nothing more than predictable(liberal governor with toys and no compunction = mindless fun for the Herald). But I don't think it has anything to do with race. The Herald is lazy, and this is easy, and that's about all.
  February 16, 2007 8:34 PM

• Rick in Duxbury said:

  Reaching is too kind a characterization. As long as an idea that YOU consider to be implicit is suddenly "subtext", the rap on agenda-driven "progressive" journalists isn't going away. One would think you'd have bigger fish to fry.
  February 16, 2007 9:15 PM

• fish said:

  The herald is hardly being lazy -- that's a very predictable criticism from an ignorant quarter. this story was topic A among the entire press corps at patrick's news conf. today. the AP moved a long story on it and deval acknowleged that the car was a bad symbol for a guy who's into symbols. the helicopter story, the car story, and the story about how deval has a a $75K job on the state for a scheduler for his wife (!) all speak volumes ab. deval.
  February 17, 2007 3:03 AM

• O-FISH-L said:

  Adam, c'mon now, there's a racial component to the reporting on Deval and the Cadillac? With the chopper and the Caddy, what's Deval's "carbon footprint by now?" Hilarious. Kudos to the "irrelevant" Herald for breaking the chopper story, the Cadillac story and the full-time $72,000 aide for Deval's wife story. If you want to be a latter-day civil rights reporter, find out why the producers of "Heroes" have chosen to give the Iranian-American husband of Dixie Chick Natalie Maines an Italian surname on the show. Coincidence or trying to "protect the brand?" Signed O-Fish-L not to be confused with the above FISH
  February 17, 2007 6:40 AM

• O-FISH-L said:

  I forgot to add, reports of the Boston Herald's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Pat Purcell has found a workable business plan and it's called Deval Patrick. Who ever said that John Kerry alone is the gift that keeps on giving? Hogwash!
  February 17, 2007 6:50 AM

• DMP said:

  Hey Adam, The lease for Deval's pimped out Caddy costs the Commonwealth $1,166 per month. Romney's car cost the state $623 per month. Big difference. There is the answer to you question (see the link to the AP story below). Also, why can't Deval just use the car that Romney used? The only exlpination that I have seen from Deval's hapless flack is that the heater was broken in the old Crown Vic. Is Deval too busy with his ambitious agenda to have his minons take the car to the shop? http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/02-07/02-17-07/08state-region.htm
  February 17, 2007 6:28 PM

• Shanimal said:

  Adam- I read your story about the cadi-gate. No idea why you bring race into it. No idea why what Mitt drove matters. I'd like to see you get down to the real issue on this: This is what Deval has written on his website (today): "Practice What We Preach. As a major owner of buildings and land, and as the owner of fleets of vehicles, the Commonwealth will model the behavior we ask of our citizens. In my administration, state government will model what it asks of its citizens. As the state replaces its vehicle fleet, for example, new purchases will be hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicles." This is the issue: In this case, like in just about every single other decision he has made since coming into office, is a flat out lie from what he said while campaigning! His cadi is not hybid OR fuel-efficient! Is there racism involved with flat out lies? I don't think so. He is just a classic far left liberal who lives by "Do as I say, not as I do."
  February 18, 2007 7:48 PM

• Say what? said:

  "That said, there's an obvious thematic similarity between today's Herald cover story and Ronald Reagan's old welfare-queen shtick." You've got to be joking. Do you seriously think that the headline writers and reporters at the Herald wrote this story with race in mind? They were raising legitimate questions about a politician. As far as I can tell, there's no evidence to suggest otherwise. I just hope you're trying to wow us with an excercise in mental gymnastics rather than seriously suggest that there's any similarity between Reagan's ignorant remarks and the Herald's reporting.
  February 19, 2007 4:19 AM

• Peppy the Wonder Dog said:

  Are you still pissed Convey didn't hire you or something? People are talking about this, and the Globe had a moritorium on it for some reason.
  February 19, 2007 5:25 PM

• Adam said:

  Not at all, Peppy--the Phoenix is a better fit for yours truly. I'm not really a Scrappy Tabloid kind of guy. More important: you're absolutely right that people are talking about this. I'd say it's been dominating the news cycle. And the Globe does seem to have ignored it, except for yesterday's Levenson piece (which, if I remember correctly, failed to credit the Herald) and today's Walker column. To answer a question raised earlier, I don't think the Herald ran this *because* of the subtext I mentioned. I do think plenty of Herald readers will have picked up on that subtext--witness the use of "pimped-out" above--and that the Herald brass knew this would happen in advance. Still, I'll admit it's a much better story than I first thought. Especially coupled with the news about the dedicated staffer for Patrick's wife. (I still think the copter stuff was blown out of proportion.) What really sold me was Shaminal's citation of Patrick's web site (see above). Finally, and since I'm eating some crow here: O-Fish, you win. The Herald's not "irrelevant." The anonymous source I cited when Convey took over was wrong, and I put his error into print.
  February 19, 2007 7:00 PM

• O-FISH-L said:

  Thanks Adam. It takes a big man to eat crow and admit it. That said, I think the Herald took one on the chin when the NY Post scooped everyone on the Brady Baby story. See my comments under your Brady post.
  February 20, 2007 1:07 AM

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