Romney rides the T- a must read

[midnight armadillo]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/07/22/hey_governor_welcome_to_the_t/

It's a burden for more than 600,000 of Governor Mitt Romney's constituents: the cost of a subway ride.

But asked at a news conference yesterday about the price of a token, Romney stumbled.

''A buck," he gamely responded.

That was the correct price -- in 2003. Informed of the $1.25 it now costs, Romney told reporters ''OK, I'll give you a quarter," then laughed and descended into Park Street Station.

Romney, who lives in Belmont and is frequently driven around the state by an aide, visited the T stop yesterday to reassure commuters that the Boston subway remains safe despite the latest explosions in London. But his gaffe had some commuters fuming once again about the increase that went into effect in January 2004. Others simply got a good chuckle out of it, and one straphanger had a theory about Romney's faux pas.

[wli]

1. Princess Nori rides the subway, why can't he?

What a crock.

[Ian David]

2. Interesting exercise: Compare T-Tokens performance as an investment...

against the stock market or treasury bonds.

In other words, if you'd bought $1,000 worth of T-tokens in 1985, and $1,000 in treasury bonds, which would have yielded a better return on investment?

[Ian David]

3. I love this part...

<snip>

The rest of Romney's day didn't go quite as planned, either. First, a homeless man harassed him on the way to the Park Street T, loudly demanding at the news conference: ''Are you running for president?"

Later came the ''cat lady" -- Heidi Erickson, locally infamous for allegedly hoarding cat carcasses in her Beacon Hill apartment -- who screamed, ''You killed my cats," and scuffled with transit police as Romney spoke at Park Street Station.
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02893062.htm


Romney was also asked by a reporter yesterday about when he last rode the subway. He could only recall recent press events at T stops.

''Let's see it was, we did it with the Charlie card and then also the . . . it was with President Travaglini -- I'm trying to recall," he said, asking aloud, ''We were at a station, what was it . . . Ashmont station? Ashmont station, it was Ashmont station . . . It's not my regular commute."

<snip>

'The reason he has all these people," she said, gesturing toward Romney's aides, ''is he doesn't know where the subway is. I wouldn't mind, but he never takes the train. Dukakis used to take the train."

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/07/22/hey_governor_welcome_to_the_t/

[seemunkee]

4. Massachusetts elitist running for prez

[KarenInMA]

5. How about taking the Green from Brookline to Lechemere?

Or, hey I know. Try to catch the 66 bus. Hop on the Orange line at night.

Park Street to Downtown Crossing? What's that 100 feet? Ass.

[midnight armadillo]

6. Naw, the ride's too long

Voters might actually pester him with questions, you know, like: " Hey Gov, when are you going to stop slandering MA on the prez campaign trail?"

[jmm]

7. I wish he was riding the 91 bus yesterday when

the driver cursed me out for helping a woman take her carriage on the bus, or the 450 bus from Haymarket to Salem when a guy frequently rode it and would sing the same song over and over for the entire ride, or the 86 a few weeks ago when two drivers were joking around about how you have to seriously injure or kill somebody to get a promotion in the MBTA and went on to talk about all the inspectors and trainers who've flipped their cars over and killed people, or the blue line when the guy at Wonderland told me I was violating homeland security, or waiting in the cold with me wen any number of buses never showed up or passed me by or on any bus or train with me when men (including drivers) told me what they were gonna do to me :eyes:...Maybe then the service would improve? Either that or he'd just have another excuse to trash Massachusetts when he's traveling around trying to start his presidential campaign.