Reply #14: I had thought earlier in the year that I would have the chance [View All]

[TayTay]

to see a lot of Senators' Kennedy and Kerry this year. (Teddy is up for re-election to the Senate and we have a smoking Governor's race.) I just didn't think I would be seeing this much of them. (I think I have now gotten, ahm, involved here with various and sundry events.)

Massachusetts Democrats are more motivated than I ever remember seeing them. Part of it is, truth to tell, anger at what happened two years ago. (Part of everything that happens is a grudge match. It's a long, long story.) Romney and Healey went way out of their way to criticize Sen. Kerry at both the Dem convention in Boston and at the GOP Hate Fest in NYC. (Way, way out of their way, the friggin bastids.) So, it's time for some payback for Romney, which will come, and for Healey and her payback should come this year. (Remember, I never, ever said I was nice.)

Anyway, Mass Dems, being the cantakerous lot that they are, usually kill each other in the primaries and then wind up broken, bleeding from attack ads and out of money for the seven week General Election sprint. This year, the Ultimate Powers have decreed that there will be no 'killer primaries' that render the Dem nominee for Governor 'broken and bleeding.' These cookouts are a way of showing that the Ultimate Powers are watching the races and raising money to give to the winners, if they behave themselves. I cannot tell you how much I adore this action. I wish we did this in '98 when Scott Harshbarger ran for Gov. Of all the missed races in MAss that Dems should have won, that one still hurts. Harshbarger was and is a clean government guy all the way and the Big Dig would have had real oversight with him as Gov. Sigh! We cannot allow another one of the hacks to get in that office.

So I am overjoyed to attend the cookouts. Matt Kennedy, Uncle Ted's grand-nephew was at the one I went to the other night and boy oh boy has he ever progressed as a speaker. (Cute kid. Looks like a Kennedy. A real sweetheart to deal with. I like him and his brother a lot. I'm glad he put off grad school and decided to manage Sen. Kennedy's campaign instead. Good experience for him and it's kind of nice to see the Kennedy's re-building in the state. They are, after all, the heart and soul of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts. That is no slam on anyone else, just a cold hard fact.)

I am also glad to see Sen. Kerry use his 'star power' at home to get some money in the pot for the Dem nominee and just to see him out and about with the rank and file. Anyone can go to this event. You just walk up, fill out the card, and go in and have some hot dogs and beer with Sen. Kerry and whoever else from the Dems shows up. (Usually, Sen. Kerry tends to attract other Dems. Might be a Congressman or two in the area, plus a slew of local office holders. My husband got introduced the other night as 'one of our great Democrats' at the other cookout. LOL! These are so much fun.) There will be a series of speakers who will stand on a bench or a gazebo floor or something and they will either get a small microphone or have to shout. (Everyone just shouted the other night, no mics available. They stood on a garden wall and just talked really loud and got heard. LOL! Ahm, perhaps something a bit classier is in order for Sen. Kerry, but still, it's a cookout. I'm wearing jeans, it's very low-key.)

This is retail politics at it's best. Show up, hear some great red meat speeches about how much Republicans suck and how badly the friggin bunch of bastids have ruined the state and how great the chances are that 'we' can retake Congress and the State House and the Governorship. (Okay, we own the Statehouse, but there are still some of 'them' infesting the place, so more work must be done.)
I wish I could bring you all. I am expecting some good hearty speeches and a good, very laid back time. Just hanging out with 'our great Democrats' and having a good time, talking politics, probably some about the Red Sox and stuff like that. Ah me, what a nice way to spend a summer's day.