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  • May 29, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    See my previous post for explanation. We now turn to former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan's new book, "What Happened."

    Q: Do the scathing accusations in McClellan's new book hurt the Bush administration?

    A: Only in the sense that a dead squirrel in the road is "hurt" by the 18th car to run over its carcas.

    Q: Then why are they flooding the media with current and former White House figures to dispute the claims and denounce the author?







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  • May 29, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    I was scheduled to be on Jim Braude's NECN show tonight (with one of my favorite Republicans, Todd Domke), but have been bumped because of the T-crash story. I was supposed to opine on this weekend's meeting of the DNC rules committee, and on Scott McClellan's new book. I'd hate to deprive you of my insights, so I will interview myself on the topics for your edification.

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  • May 28, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Ted Kennedy has seemed so energetic and active in recent months, it was easy to assume he would serve out his current term, and even get re-elected in 2012. We can all still hope that will be the case. But news of his brain tumor has forced us to think about the possibility that Kennedy may, at some point in the relatively near future, have to leave the senate.

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  • May 28, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    I can't speak with any authority about his abilities, but City Hall folks have not generally given me a high impression of Dennis Royer, who Tom Menino recruited from Denver to head the city's public works department two years ago. His department is in all kinds of trouble over workers committing payroll fraud, and Royer hasn't exactly seemed to have gotten things under control.

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  • May 27, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Political junkie that I am, there's little I like more than a third-party nominating convention. I particularly enjoyed watching portions of the Libertarian Party (LP) convention on CSPAN over the long weekend. While it didn't approach the 2000 Reform Party gathering for pure political theater, it was a fascinating chance to see people struggling with the direction of a movement.

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  • May 23, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    Republican candidate for Senate Jeff Beatty is accusing his opponent in the GOP primary, Jim Ogonowski, of voter fraud.

    In a letter to Secretary of State Galvin, Beatty passes along a claim of a false signature on Ogo's nomination papers -- and adds that there are "deceased persons’ signatures on additional James Ogonowski nomination papers."

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  • May 23, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    Where there's smoke, you'll often find fire, and when something stinks, you'll often find somebody shovelling crap. This morning Frank Phillips wades through the stench of the Buzzards Bay wind turbine deal, which I mentioned in my story on DiMasi and the House in early April:

    ...it’s not just environmental groups who are worked up over a maneuver that critics call an outrageous handout to DiMasi’s personal friend, developer Jay Cashman.

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  • May 21, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    Rachel Kaprelian of Watertown is a rising star in state politics, and I've thought for some time that she was frankly too hot a property for the state house of representatives -- where she has risen to be first-division chair.

    Had risen, I should say, because today Deval Patrick named Kaprelian the new registrar at the registry of motor vehicles.

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  • May 21, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- out tomorrow, online now -- I write about the California Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage. I suggest that this is a much bigger development than people seem to think, judging by the relatively tame response. But this is not just a second state accepting gay marriage. It is quite possibly the turning point against unequal protection under the law on the basis of sexual orientation.

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  • May 20, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Martha Coakley -- a superdelegate to the DNC -- announced this afternoon that she is going to vote for Hillary Clinton.

    Coakley would be on the short list of likely candidates for US Senate, if Ted Kennedy's condition requires him to give up the seat.

    Hillary Clinton is immensely popular in Massachusetts, and her endorsement or assistance would be invaluable for a Senatorial candidate here.



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  • May 20, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Statements from pols in response to the Ted Kennedy news are flying across the transom. Congressman Barney Frank's begins with this odd wording:
    “The news about Senator Kennedy’s health is disappointing to most Americans..."
    Most?




  • May 20, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    After the 2006 elections, I wrote of reasons to think that the country was about to enter a period of Democratic Party ascendance. (Quite a prescient piece, I might add.) One of my points was that, due largely to which seats were coming due for re-election -- just 12 Democrats compared with 21 Republicans -- the Democrats were likely to make significant gains in the US Senate in 2008.

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  • May 20, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    AP had it first, and CNN now confirms.

    I don't know much of anything about glioma, but I do know that the family has been hit by cancer several times. Joan Kennedy had surgery for breast cancer not so long ago. Their daughter Kara had lung cancer, and son Ed Jr. lost a leg to cancer as a child.

    Ted's a fighter and survivor, as nobody around here needs to be reminded of.


  • May 19, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    I didn't catch Sonia Chang-Diaz's campaign kick-off event yesterday, but the text she sent today shows that she squeezed the word "change" into her speech nine times.

    She downplayed the lapses and misconduct of her opponent, state senator Dianne Wilkerson, which provided the grist for Chang-Diaz's 2006 run -- although she did slip in a reference to leaders "that represent our shared progressive values AND uphold high standards of ethics and accountability."

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  • May 15, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    The California Supreme Court has issued its much-anticipated ruling, and says that the state cannot limit marriage to opposite-sex couples -- specifically, that the state's "in-all-but-name" domestic-partnership law is not good enough.

    Needless to say, I have not yet picked through the entire 172-page ruling. I'll have more to say later.

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