A Deval Patrick Watch?

I think I just wrote my last "Globe Watch" column. After reading this website, I doubt I'll ever be able to use the word "watch" in a headline again. Seriously, I've heard of Massresistance Watch and my Globe Watch columns, but do we really need a Deval Patrick Watch? Is Deval Patrick so bad that we need to keep a close eye on him?

Massresistance Watch exists to protect the rights of people and "watch" hate groups. Agree with their positions or not, they exist to protect the very rights of people. I like to keep an occasional eye on the Boston Globe to make sure they accurately portray the news and resist the temptation to use media-driven labels without facts (i.e. how newspapers frequently refer to Senator McCain as moderate without any evidence or support). If people didn't "watch" newspapers, Judy Miller would still be writing about how great the war in Iraq is on the front-page of the NY Times, using leaked half-truths from Scooter Libby to bolster her neo-con agenda. If people didn't "watch" hate groups, Matthew Shepard would have died in vain.

However, do we need to "watch" Deval Patrick? D. R. Tucker, a blogger who recently posted a comment on this website, thinks so. According to him, Deval Patrick is a doomsday candidate who needs to be watched, just like a corrupt media and hate groups that support killing gay people.

Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick has run a campaign marked by unrestrained scorn for those who disagree with the liberal/progressive vision, and unrestrained glorification by members of the Bay State press corps. [Emphasis mine]

Apparently, Deval Patrick must have been lying when he told Joe Schlief, a Young Republican and conservative who frequently comments on this website and is a fellow student at UMASS Dartmouth, that 'I want your vote.' Apparently, answering Joe's question honestly and with great respect at a recent speech given at UMASS Dartmouth equates to "unrestrained scorn." Apparently, when Deval Patrick talks about erasing partisan squabbles and having a clean campaign, where we ignore 'right and left' and focus on 'right and wrong,' he really means to scorn everyone who doesn't agree with his every position. Apparently, my every assumption about Deval Patrick has been wrong!

The Deval Patrick Watch blog also includes articles on how Deval is probably just running for Senator in his Gubernatorial bid and is too liberal to win this current election, but is also clearly going to win. So which is it? Is he going to win or not? Today, he's definitely going to win; Chris Gabrieli and Tom Reilly should just give up (this according to him, I think both could still win and did okay during the debate).

DR Tucker, consider this a reply to your emails. I hate to call out a website because of its premise. In fact, I've never done it before. There have been many websites I've disagreed with and many more people I've disagreed with. But the idea that Deval Patrick needs a "Deval Patrick Watch" website is absurd.

I get it - you don't like Deval Patrick. Well, who do you like? Instead of having negative blog after negative blog, why don't you use your wisdom and divine us all the best candidate to vote for and tell us why. My guess is you'll say Kerry Healey.

Massachusetts is too important to pay attention to websites like the Deval Patrick Watch. In fact, I shouldn't be posting this blog at all. I'm giving the issue too much attention. However, I can't consciously ignore these sorts of campaign tactics.

I've written several negative blogs about Tom Reilly, but he isn't inherently evil. There's no wicked intentions behind the man that would make me think it necessary to create a "Tom Reilly Watch" blog. Heck, I wouldn't even write one for Mitt Romney - and I think he'd eat his wife if it would help him win. Massachusetts needs real solutions for its real problems. Deval Patrick Watch does nothing to help solve those problems and only serves to further the partisan divide and frequently express the "unrestrained scorn" it claims to be guarding against.

It would be one thing if there was a shred of honesty on the "Deval Patrick Watch" blog, but the entire premise of the website is off. Where is the scorn? Where is it? Please, just give me a few quotes of this scorn. Show me where he compares Mitt Romney to Hitler or advocates 2nd class treatment for anyone in this country? If Deval Patrick has been one thing during this entire campaign, it's been respectful. He's even had praise for Mitt Romney at every venue I've seen him speak.

I suggest to anyone who wants to blog that they be honest with their readers instead of trying to twist the truth. If you're going to make blanket statements about candidates that will do them real harm, feel free to back it up. Otherwise, the only one who is doing the scorning and being disrespectful is you.