Notes From D. R.

Weekend Box Office: Foreign Object

Borat tops the charts.

Excellence Of Execution

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death. More from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Power Line and Michelle Malkin.

TOP BILL

The importance of former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld's appearance on
behalf of Republican gubernatorial contender Kerry Healey yesterday cannot be overestimated.

Weld broke the Democrat Party's hegemony over Massachusetts politics in 1990, when he defeated former Boston University President John Silber to capture the Corner Office. As a result of his leadership, the state experienced a much-needed economic turnaround; his 1991-1997 tenure as governor is still remembered for the manner in which he made residents of this state proud
to live and work here.

As Weld suggested, it's hard to imagine such pride remaining if Democrat Deval Patrick, the ideological sibling of former Governor Michael Dukakis, replaces Mitt Romney as governor. It is manifestly obvious that Patrick, a politician not troubled by tax increases and union power, will suffocate the state's economy if elected, causing more businesses--and more workers--to flee to lower-tax states.

Patrick has spoken in the past about the importance of "economic justice"--yet it seems self-evident that the only way of ensuring legitimate "economic justice" is to elect a governor who will work to reduce taxes and create an environment that's hopeful for, and not hostile to, the private sector. As Weld noted, that governor would not be Patrick.

Weld's win was the vaccine the state needed to protect itself from the virus of unrestrained fiscal "progressivism." A Healey victory will ensure that the state remains healthy.

UPDATE: More from Hub Politics and the Boston Herald.

Tattle Tale

You've got to love the New York Times, eh? More from Michelle Malkin.

UPDATE: Will the US strike North Korea?

Show Me What You've Got

Congressional candidate Jack Robinson takes it to incumbent Stephen Lynch in last night's debate. More from the Globe and Patriot Ledger.

UPDATE: More on Robinson.

Talk Isn't Cheap

A Boston talk-radio host gets pulled from the airwaves.

UPDATE: WRKO-AM parts ways with John DePetro. It will be interesting to see who they select to replace "The Independent Man." My guess is that they will either select current Saturday-afternoon host and former Boston television station reporter Mariellen Burns (who knows Boston well and has an engaging, Deval Patrick-esque "likeability factor" that comes through on the radio) or, in what would be an interesting move, switch evening host Todd Feinburg to the morning slot and replace him at nights with Sunday night stars Gregg Jackson and Kevin Whelan of Pundit Review Radio. It would be fascinating to hear future talk-radio icons Jackson and Whelan go head-to-head with WTKK-FM main-eventer Michael Graham.

Of course, there could be a third scenario: WRKO, already under fire for supposedly being too conservative, hires a token liberal talk host. Depending on the results of Tuesday's gubernatorial election, they may feel unbearable pressure to bring on a pro-Patrick host. Could Marjorie O'Neill Clapprood be on her way back? More from Dan Kennedy, Bryan Maloney and Hub Politics. Also, more from the Globe and Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald.

Write It Down

Acclaimed novelist William Styron passes away at 81.

IT'S A TRADITION

If high black voter turnout propels Massachusetts Democrat gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick into the Corner Office on November 7, then one thing will be crystal clear: the notion that same-sex marriage could be the issue that splits black voters away from the Democrat Party must be discarded.

Ever after John "Stuck in Iraq" Kerry yielded 88 percent of the black vote in the 2004 Presidential election despite his kinda-sorta opposition to same-sex marriage, many conservative pundits held out hope that black religious opposition to same-sex marriage would stir more and more black voters to reconsider their rejection of the Republicans. However, the strong support that same-sex marriage advocate Patrick has received from blacks in Massachusetts should put this notion to bed once and for all.

While Maryland GOP Senatorial candidate Michael Steele, an opponent of same-sex marriage, has received strong support from black Democrats, such support has more to do with the Maryland Democrat Party's failure to deliver on its promises to black voters than it has to do with the gay marriage issue.

It's time to acknowledge that the issue of gay marriage alone won't cause black voters to seek a divorce from the Democrat Party. The fact remains that, after four decades of propaganda concerning the supposed institutional racism of the GOP, many black voters in Massachusetts and elsewhere are still reluctant to vote Republican. While conservatives are right to point out the hideous racial attitudes of Democrat stalwarts such as Robert Byrd and the late J. William Fulbright, they must recognize that such recitations of Democrat racism aren't enough to encourage black voters to turn right.

Next week, it's possible that both Steele and Patrick could win because of tremendous black voter support. A Steele win would be an exception to the rule concerning race and politics in America. A Patrick win, however, would indicate that Republicans still have a long way to go before that rule is changed.

SLAP SHOT

Margery Eagan, like Howie Carr and Peter Gelzinis, has been an institution at the Boston Herald--a voice that defines the newspaper. She's probably most famous for taking heat from conservatives, particularly traditionalist Catholics, for her progressive views on religion and social policy. I haven't always agreed with her take on the issues of the day--but there is a difference between disagreeing with her and personally attacking her.

In yet another depressing example of the extent to which ideological intolerance has defined coverage of the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, the pro-Deval Patrick website Blue Mass. Group today brutalized Eagan in response to her mild criticism of the site. Blue Mass. Group's overreaction to Healey's criticism exposes the operators of the site as being profoundly thin-skinned--and deeply hateful.

Earlier this week, Eagan criticized the site for reading racism into a sophomoric stunt recently pulled by a handful of Kerry Healey supporters. Eagan's criticism was fairly restrained--but in response, Blue Mass. Group attacked Eagan as a sloppy columnist, a borderline bigot, and an arrogant, self-loathing human being.

This line of attack is as pointless as it is perverse. Say what you will about Eagan's opinions, but she has proven herself as a reporter and as a columnist. It's fair to challenge her ideas, but there's no excuse for challenging her integrity.

This is not to say that Eagan is above criticism--no one is. However, there's something fundamentally unsound and fundamentally illogical about attacking Eagan's character in this manner.

Blue Mass. Group's response to Eagan is filled with blind rage--rage over the fact that Eagan, like her colleagues Gelzinis and Carr, does not bow down to Patrick as though he were a deity, rage over the fact that she has raised questions about Patrick's platform in her column and on her popular talk radio show, rage over the fact that Eagan had credibility long before Blue Mass. Group existed and will have credibility long after Blue Mass. Group is gone.

Eagan deserves far better than what Blue Mass. Group gave her. They should have responded to her claims with erudition. Instead, they responded with evil.

UPDATE: Another repellent Blue Mass. Group attack, this time on Kerry Healey's past in Florida. Plus, Hub Politics on Eagan.

A World Apart

Former South African President P. W. Botha passes away at 90.

Karl Rove Must Be Dancing In The Streets

John Kerry steps in it again. More from the Boston Herald, Jon Keller, the New York Times, Blue Mass. Group, Hub Politics, Power Line, Human Events and Michelle Malkin.

UPDATE: More from the Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Michelle Malkin and the Weekly Standard.

TWO THUMBS UP

I wholeheartedly endorse Kerry Healey for Governor of Massachusetts and Jack Robinson for U.S. Congress.

I've always found it deeply strange that those who support "diversity" in our institutions never seem to emphasize the need for ideological diversity. We often hear about the need for increased racial, ethnic, and sexual diversity in business and politics, but rarely do we hear about the need for the most important form of diversity in existence--diversity of ideas.

If Healey's opponent, Deval Patrick, is elected, it would represent a tremendous step backward in terms of ideological diversity in Massachusetts. The combination of a liberal Democrat in the Corner Office and a liberal Democrat-dominated State Legislature would not only be fertile ground for corruption, it would also represent the complete silence of any opposing views on Beacon Hill. If you feel that one-party dominion hasn't worked out well in Washington, D. C., why would you want to replicate such a scenario in the Bay State?

Speaking of Washington, D. C., it seems that rumors of the Republican Party's impending demise are greatly exaggerated. As Robinson himself has noted, it makes far more sense to have an independent-minded Republican representing the Ninth District than it would to have a politically inscrutable, and provably ineffective, Democrat like incumbent Stephen Lynch in that role. Residents of the District have spent five years waiting for Rep. Lynch to bring home the bacon; if he couldn't get the job done between 2001 and 2006, why should we trust him to get the job done between 2007 and 2009?

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts would be poorly served by having one party dominate the executive and legislative branches. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is poorly served by having an all-Democrat Congressional delegation. Why not forestall the former scenario, and bring an end to the latter?

I have criticized Patrick and Lynch over the past several months, but they are not dishonorable men. Both came from adverse circumstances to become figures of prominence. Both are living testaments to the value of hard work. Both men are shrewd, personable, and passionate in their beliefs.

Patrick and Lynch aren't evil. They are, however, more of the same.

To cast a vote for Healey and Robinson is to strike a blow for ideological diversity--the ideological diversity that keeps our electorate engaged, that keeps our democracy vibrant, that keeps our Commonwealth whole.

Healey for Governor. Robinson for Congress.

Together, they can.

UPDATE: WHDH-TV on Robinson vs. Lynch.