MA Dems who stay home on Tuesday will be rejecting someone who actually gives a shit about you

[BeyondGeography]

Can you say the same thing about Scott Brown?

I live in North Central Massachusetts (North Worcester County). In December, 2008, we got crushed up here with an ice storm you had to see to believe. I woke up the night it hit and thought a gunfight had broken out in the woods behind my house. "Pop pop pop pop pop pop" for hours as tree branches snapped off and trees broke in half, peppered with the occasional explosion as a falling one his a pole and blew a transformer.

It was awful. Roads were impassable. We were re-doing a floor in my house and had a dumpster in the driveway and I spent hours out there breaking up old wood to burn in the fireplaces, trying to keep my pipes from freezing. No electricity for days.

I live in Leominster, and we got hit bad, but the towns who really suffered were our nearest neighbors: Fitchburg and Lunenburg, to name two. We had the same storm, but we didn't have the same utility company. I have National Grid, and they mobilized their fleet and had scores of trucks out there, crews working round the clock. My electricity was put back on by some great guys from Michigan (who told me that 0-16 might be forever, but so was 18-1...football fans will get that).

Our neighbors had Unitil, whose response was pathetic.

Martha Coakley went after them...hard...as soon as the problems became apparent. Martha Coakley worked her butt off to get that power back on, threatening lawsuits (I do believe she actually recouped damages from Unitil for those towns) and twisting arms. She did good work for the people of North Worcester County in our time of crisis.

I put this out there because I'm really sick of the insults I'm hearing against the woman. She's been a fine public servant, hard-working, composed, professional. She was the first AG in the country to go after predatory lenders in the housing bust. She went after the contractors who shafted us on the Big Dig. She's a fighter, her heart's in the right place, and I'll be DAMNED PROUD to cast my vote for her on Tuesday...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/16/825797/-Coakley...something-you-should-know[/div class = excerpt}

[NJmaverick]

1. Those that stay home and let the repukes take Ted Kennedy's seat

will tarnish TK's name and what he stood for.

[ObamaKerryDem]

17. +1

[flamingdem]

22. +2

[Little Star]

2. I will proudly be casting a vote for Martha on Tuesday. n/t

[Aramchek]

anyone who purposely stays home to 'send a message' to Dems is a piece of shit. End of Story

[alc]

5. I agree

If you want to send a message, show up and write in who you think would be a good candidate. Staying home means you're lazy. Voting is how you send a message, whether it's for Coakley or not.

[Lord Helmet]

6. +1

[IndianaGreen]

14. How about those that stay home because they know their votes don't mean anything

because the rich and powerful will always get their way. Millions of Americans that had dropped out of the electoral process came back in 2008 hoping for change. They may be going back to where they were before.

[Pirate Smile]

16. They are idiots if they think it doesn't matter which party is in power.

[Aramchek]

18. or Naderites, but then again, Naderites are Idiots

[Hamlette]

20. and those who have participated in the process for 5 minutes (since 2008) can stfu

while those of us who have worked our butts off and made our contributions for 50 years try to clean up the mess you gave us by voting for Saint Nader.

[IndianaGreen]

23. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can win without independents

and independents come in all shades and shapes. GOTV will determine the winner on Tuesday, and election which should have never been a close contest.

[Hamlette]

26. Huh? I thought you were mad at Obama and the dems because they were not like Nader, your Saint.

now you're saying they should go after the independents?

Make up your mind. Did you fuck the base or the independents?

[treestar]

28. Well then they really would be getting what they deserve

Each vote adds up and does mean something.

That's ridiculous. Over the top.

[donheld]

32. It's like cutting their noses off to spite their faces.

[Laelth]

3. Being pissed about the direction the Party is headed is not a character flaw.

It is the predictable result of repeated mistreatment.

More here: http://firedoglake.com/2010/01/16/ma-sen-weve-seen-this-movie-before/

:dem:

-Laelth

[treestar]

29. Mistreatment isn't a good way to describe political disagreement

We the people govern, if we act like passive victims, that's why we don't have influence.

[skids]

4. Repug robocall going around MA

I answered it straight.

1) Are you registered to vote in MA
2) Do you agree that marriage should only be legal between a man and a woman in MA

However, should anyone want to try and keep their dialer occupied, if you answer anything other than yes or no you'll be asked to say yes, no, or please repeat. I don't know how many times it will repeat, nor what it says if you pretend to be a hater.

The call will identfy itself as from some sort of ministry or something, I forget exactly. Male voice.

[IndianaGreen]

13. robocalls have a tendency to turn off voters

I wonder if anyoen else took notice of the "ministry" thing you mentioned. Churches will lose their tax exemption if they get involved in partisan politics.

[HillGal]

7. Interesting, Lynn Samuels on her Sirius radio show endorsed Brown

she's for single payer and thinks the current health care bill should be defeated.

[karynnj]

10. If she endorsed Brown, she is an idiot

and yes I say this knowing who she is.

[BeyondGeography]

11. Putting Brown in there gets us one step closer to real HCR...more quality thinking from Lynn Samuels

:silly:

[IndianaGreen]

8. Rejecting the people's choice of a public option has consequences

Martha Coakley, through no fault of her own, has become a symbol to independents of what is wrong. They are lashing out at anyone right now, and Coakley is collateral damage. Blame the HCR spectacle in the Senate for the backlash.

TPM has the following:

We checked in with a host of Massachusetts voters and TPMDC readers who offered their assessment of the Coakley campaign, with the most frequent description being "lackluster":

Reader BL told TPMDC that Coakley made a "huge mistake" to "basically let Brown run unimpeded from December 8 until around January 6," giving the Republican nearly a month to define himself.

Reader CF disagreed, saying the race is hinging on independents who are not happy with what's happening in Washington. "She may have run a lackluster campaign (and that is attributable to her), but any Dem would be having a hard time."

Reader BP of Boylston plans to vote for Coakley "without a shred of enthusiasm," saying her campaign feels "incredibly stale and conventional" compared with Brown's which seem "fresh and appealing by contrast."

Reader PM said Coakley was "invisible" until last week and that her fight now "looks like bitter nervousness."

Reader VS said, "There is simply no enthusiasm in the campaign" while GF claimed to be "terribly uninspired by Coakley."

Reader SD "will vote for her while holding my nose."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/dems-offer-possible-reason-for-tight-race-for-ma-sen-martha-coakley-they-just-arent-that-into-you.php?ref=fpb

[girl gone mad]

9. Sounds like the party would rather attack the candidate..

than take any responsibility for their own failures. CYA time at the DLC headquarters.

[Hamlette]

21. WE didn't reject the public opion you ninny, LIEBERMAN did

quit tarring all of the party with the actions of the blue dogs.

[IndianaGreen]

24. The Blue Dogs were not the ones that put Single Payer off the table

and the Blue Dogs were not the ones that rejected reconciliation.

[Hamlette]

27. right, was it your lover Nader? Dennis?

HCR did not fit the rules for reconciliation. Of course you know that. You'd just rather be bitter. At dems. Because they were mean to you when you voted for Nader in 2000.

Take a cold dose of reality and come back tomorrow when you know what you're talking about.

[treestar]

30. First you claim it's the PO, then give a bunch of quotes that the

campaign is not good enough.

[Dinger]

12. K & R!

:patriot:

[timeforpeace]

15. Is she just completely incapable of showing that?

[PM Martin]

19. Vote for her already!

[IndianaGreen]

25. Good for you!

Coakley is being made the scapegoat for the idiots in the Senate. A Brown victory will be a disaster on many levels having nothing to do with the Great Health Insurance Bail Out the Senate voted for.

Coakley deserves to become the next US Senator for Massachusetts. HCR is another matter altogether.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

31. This is the huge tragedy I mean someone actually came out to vote for Nelson but they'll stay home..

for a great progressive like Coakley I mean come on MA i know they already have the health plan but it does function, Obama's version will cut costs even further. We've come to far to turn back now..."the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die"

[Grand Taurean]

33. If you support Barack Obama, you most certainly can support Martha Coakley.

Coakley is on the good side on economic matters.
She is for gay rights.
I vote in every election against Republicans and reactionaries.