Bernstein is THE MAN

He has my eternal respect for this column:

Just 20 months ago, the citizenry of the Commonwealth voted -- in a solid, convincing 56-44 vote, in the highest-turnout election in many years -- to ban greyhound racing. You, or I, or Bobby D might disagree with that decision. We might feel bad for the affected employees, dozens of whom lobbied at the state house yesterday.

But the solid majority of voters clearly believe that dog racing is so venal, cruel, and degrading that it should be among that small category of atrocities we won't allow in our state. And they certainly understood, as they cast their vote, that people would lose their jobs as a consequence.

Read the whole piece, it's not that long and needs to be said. The Race Tracks should be closed, shuttered and gone now -- no last vestiges, folks. This was never about the dogs for the tracks, though, it was always about $$$ (and the dogs haven't made $$$ in a decade or more).... they only keep those doors open for the pretenses, in hopes of getting slots. We decided, as a state, to close those doors -- and the politicians here are bucking us.

General Question

Is paying a card-carrying member of the media to then become a media critic all that different than hiring someone from Citi or Goldman Sachs to run the US Treasury? Just like a Citi employee does not understand the policies necessary to save the economy, a newspaper guy - even from an alternative paper - will continually swing and miss on the fundamental problems killing the dead tree industry.

Post-Primary Wrap Up

Mike and I chatted up Tuesday's election on yesterday's episode of LeftAhead. The show ran around 40 minutes or so - Lynne had technical difficulties - and I used it to make the point that, thankfully, we're making progress in changing the tenor of Beacon Hill.

But enough self-plugging. It's time to plug this article by Chris Faraone in the Boston Phoenix. It's the best descriptive piece on Sonia's victory party yet, though I don't really know what b-boy demographic is (LOL). Gotta love those rascals at the Phoenix.

Oh No! The Media Didn't Get ALL the Attention!

David Bernstein, of the Phoenix, is just oh-so-frustrated that bloggers got 30 minutes of Deval Patrick's attention for the first time during his Governorship - as opposed to all MSM, all the time. Lynne has much more.

Here's my responce to Bernstein, a comment I left on his Talking Politics blog.

David,

First, how many press conferences has Governor Patrick had since he was elected? How many media interactions - interviews, press releases, etc.? Please, as a respected member of the fourth estate, please enlighten me. In the 2+ months Deval Patrick has been governor, bloggers have been given a little more than 30 minutes with the governor - basically, enough time for most - but not all - of the attending bloggers at Boston Latin to ask one question. Suddenly, he's going around the media? That's absurd.

Second, I find it downright offensive that you are suggesting he's wrong to spend time on his constituents. How dare he hold town meetings around the state! I mean, the nerve of him! Furthermore, it's even more offensive that you feel the need to dictate how much time he should or should not dedicate toward his wife. Isn't that a personal matter? Or, are you a psychiatrist close to the case?

Third, while your first point has some merit, it's nothing new or especially poignant. Furthermore, Charley is right when he says Sal DiMasi is partly responsible for this too - after all, he's the one trying to block the repeal of unfair corporate tax loopholes. The fact is Deval Patrick's entire campaign was littered with references to his outsider status and he continually railed against Beacon Hill politics. So, we should be shocked that he'd criticize Beacon Hill politics on Saturday?

Quite frankly, I expect more out of the Phoenix's political coverage. I could read this kind of stuff in a Frank Phillips article - and that's not exactly a good thing. Everywhere across the country people praise town meetings - politicians like Senator Feingold of Wisconsin have earned wide praise for actually caring enough about his constituents to hold town hall meetings. Why is it that in Massachusetts, suddenly Town Meetings are a bad thing? It's not about circumventing the media, it's about being accessible to the people. It's about respecting democracy. It's about doing his job.