For Boston people - This has to be the chutzpah of the year

[Mass]

''This will add some pizzazz to the ticket," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has endorsed Reilly's candidacy. ''Tom Reilly's biggest problem is that he is about as exciting as American bread. He is not charismatic. She is charismatic, and she is smart and bold.

I remember when Menino criticized Kerry's charisma during the campaign. Even if he is right this time, he is one of the worst person to complain about somebodyelse's charisma.

[TayTay]

1. Tom 'Mumbles' Menino never got over the convention thing

He was soooooo pissed at Kerry for threatening to not cross picket lines at the Dem Con in Boston. Menino had to solve that one himself. Ole Tom holds a grudge. He also better get his act in gear as those murder and violent crime numbers are creeping back up. Focus Tom, focus. (Plus, I thought it was a very bad move by Reilly. I am less impressed with Reilly than I was yesterday.)

Hey, did I tell you when I went to the Teddy Kennedy thing on the weekend that we talked about education and scores and testing and stuff. (Which is a real sore spot with me as I think the testing is, at best, a mixed thing.) Anyway, Massachusetts has the highest testing scores in the nation. The guy from Teddy's office also said that Mass has the second highest testing scores internationally. We are second only to Singapore.

Last time I talked about this we had a lot of Mass-souls talking about how worried we are about education in the Bay State. I am very worried about it too. But, every so often we do need to step back and say, well, it could be worse. (What, you think we were going to gloat? We can't gloat about education. It's always in danger of falling off the cliff. It is a huge deal around these parts and we fret over it incessantly. So, the highest of praise is not, Yeah! We're #1, it's the Eeyore thing, gee, well, I guess that's not too bad, but it'll probably get worse. It's a Mass thing.)

We're number 2? Damn, we have to work harder. We can beat Singapore if we just, ahm, work harder. LOL!

[Mass]

2. It was a pretty bad month for Reilly.

I did not like him very much at the beginning of the month and like him a lot less at the end.

I agree it is good that we are n2, but the problem is that, in doing so, we have left so many things on the side: less PE, less music, a task made harder for LD children who have to learn in order to pass the test and not to learn in the best way for them, less focus on the average because they will pass the test but are not genius, so why bother.

I have a hard time believing that MA is second in the world. From what I have seen in the two public schools my kids have been to, it seems difficult to believe. Was it in one subject only or globally? How do they compare non English speaking countries to English speaking countries? When you know that most European Universities do not accept US students out of high school because the levels are too low, I have to wonder where how these ratings are made.

[TayTay]

3. They came from Teddy's people

And yes, I agree on the list of what is wrong. (Boy oh boy do I agree. My husband was fuming made last week when the cherry sheets came out and he saw the local aide numbers for the year. We are treading water here.)

But, yeah, we are second in the world. (Second in the world and we have so many problems? OMG, that means there are people who are f*cked way worse than we are. That is, ahm, horrific.)

[whometense]

4. He handled the whole thing just terribly.

I had to agree with http://chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com/2006/01/meanwhile.html">The Chimes at Midnight, actually. I have a natural inclination to like Reilly; I feel he's sincere and hardworking. He can't afford to let the grinding gears show so badly, though.

[sandnsea]

5. You guys have lots to gloat about

Somebody in your state PR department needs to get a new campaign going. You also have the lowest divorce and pregnancy rates, isn't that right? If you could convince people Massachusetts is getting it right, it would go a long way to dispelling the hedonist liberal label. I'd much rather you guys were the beacon of hope in the US than Virginia, no offense to our local Virginians.

[TayTay]

6. And we have the 2nd highest educational testing in the world

Second only to Singapore, according to Teddy Kennedy's office. (I heard this last week at his re-election kick-off rally.) But we don't talk about it because it's bad form and we hate testing. So, we can be #1 in the US, #2 in the world and, ahm, it drives us crazy cuz it's just ickey!

Testing is ickey. It gives me the heebey-jeebies because it seems so rigid and I'm not sure it is 'real teaching' that stretches the mind and expands opportunities. We need to do more of that mind stretching thing. I'll stop now before I convince myself that this #2 in the world thing is a bad when it is entirely possible that a less introspective state might actually think this was good news. Sigh! (Massachusetts: The 'Unable to take a friggin compliment' State. Sigh!)

[Mass]

7. Apparently the race is in full disarray

if there are rumors from everybody from Kerry to Joe Kennedy and Jack Welch to enter the race at this point (I did not realize Welch was a Democrat?).

This week-end will be interesting, apparently.

http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4449282

Once viewed by Democrats as their best chance to win the governor's office in 16 years, Reilly has seen his status plummet to the point where some party activists have asked whether there would be a late entrant in the race. Top rival Deval Patrick also acknowledged his own past tax problems on Thursday.

Democrats gather Saturday to select delegates to their annual convention in June. A candidate need only get the support of 15 percent of the delegates at that meeting to make the September primary ballot.

Among the names mentioned were those of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Somerville; Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Lowell; Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston; former Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Boston; and former General Electric chairman Jack Welch, a North Shore native who now lives on Beacon Hill.

Aides to Kerry, Capuano and Kennedy said their bosses had no interest in joining the governor's race, while Welch's assistant said he was in New York for meetings but had declared "1,000 times" he had no interest in politics.

[rox63]

8. If the MA Dem Party can't pull off this race, they are truly hopeless

For such a heavily Democratic state to have had 4 rethug governors in a row is embarassing. How could Reilly have screwed up this badly? He could have had the race in the bag. But nooooo.... :banghead:

[TayTay]

9. That's the 2nd or 3rd time I've heard of Kerry's name

in connection with a MA Gov's race. (This came up before, but I don't remember which year. '98 maybe?) I can see Sen. Kerry not being interested, but I am a little surprised with Mike Capuano. He is not in love with being a Rep in DC. Maybe he is hoping we take the House this fall and he can actually do something in DC. That would be nice.

Sigh! And people wonder why a blue, blue state like MA has Rethug Govs. It's because the Dems can't stop imploding. Sigh!