From Schilling’s 38 Pitches blog:
If she hasn’t done it yet, Martha Coakley may have just killed her campaign.
She’s apparently been trying to win the title of Worst Political Campaign Ever, and she might have just clinched it with her little dig at Scott Brown over Fenway Park.
The appearance characterizes Coakley’s approach to this truncated race. Aware that she has little time for the hand-shaking and baby-kissing of a standard political campaign, she has focused instead on rallying key political leaders, Democratic activists, and union organizers, in hope they will get people to the polls.
~snip~
Coakley bristles at the suggestion that, with so little time left, in an election with such high stakes, she is being too passive.
“As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?’’ she fires back, in an apparent reference to a Brown online video of him doing just that. “This is a special election. And I know that I have the support of Kim Driscoll. And I now know the members of the [Salem] School Committee, who know far more people than I could ever meet.’’
There are just so many things wrong with that statement.
It shows her elitism and arrogance unbelievably. Aside from the apparent feeling that the seat belongs to her just by virtue of her party, she just admitted that she doesn’t need to bother meeting with constituents because she’s meeting people like Kim Driscoll, and political leaders, and Democrat activists. I guess they’re the ones that matter, huh? I know it’s a “special election” and all, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t need to fight for this seat. Prancing around with this mindset of “Oh, I’m a Democrat, therefore Ted Kennedy’s seat just automatically belongs to me regardless of what the people think,” is idiotic. Acting as if she doesn’t need to give her constituents the time of day is ludicrous. She can make all the snide remarks about Scott Brown shaking hands with people in the cold that she wants, but that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re trying to get elected. She seems to have forgotten that she’s trying to get elected in Massachusetts, and not in Washington D.C. — if she remembered that, maybe she’d spend more time trying to impress Massachusetts voters and less time rubbing elbows with the Democrat establishment, Big Pharmacy lobbyists, and union leaders. Most normal politicians, Republican or Democrat, do go shake hands with voters. Even if it means standing in the cold outside of Fenway Park.
The fact is that Coakley’s campaign is in total disarray at this point and the gap between her and Scott Brown is closing. Are the four days left until election day enough for Brown to close that gap? At the rate that Coakley’s campaign is producing unforced errors, it should be more than enough time.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Chamber’s ad for Scott Brown
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0110/Chambers_ad_for_Scott_Brown.html
January 14th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I’m really losing patience with this woman. She’s a horrible AG, a liar, and now she thinks meeting the citizens is below her. I swear if MA elects her we should just give up on the state entirely.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Scott Brown: ‘Momentum’
January 14th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
What’s really funny is the comments there and at Shilling’s original source. Here is just one erudite example:
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
January 14th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
MarK – in Massachusetts and Boston, that is a BIG deal.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
#5,
You are correct.
Perhaps you misunderstood my point? I was referring to the fact that people will deliberately distort and misconstrue a message they do not wish to hear. In this case, what they do not wish to hear is Coakley is screwing up her campaign by being an elitist. Since they don’t want to hear that, they deliberately twist the criticism to mean, “She disrespected Fenway Park”.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
6
I’m going on record that disrepecting is worse to hear than a horrible campaign. People would rather hear that she’s screwing up and a bad canididate than the fact she disrepected Mass culture. The quickest way to Bay Staters hearts is through the Soxs.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
“Coakley’s campaign is producing unforced errors”
Right on, Kavon.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Monopolies always get lazy and produce a ton of unforced errors. That’s the Democrat party in MA.
Exhibit A is Barney Frank. He’s a walking, talking unforced error.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
It’s probably been posted elsewhere on this site, but did anyone else see the video that CLEARLY (or as clearly as possible) shows that that Meehan guy actually DID shove the reporter onto the ground? It’s posted over at Reason.com at http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/13/ugly-race-for-the-peoples-seat. If you watch right around the 1:40 mark in the video, it’s pretty obvious that the Meehan guy just goes WHOOSH with his arm and shoves the reporter out of the way, causing him to fall.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Fenway park is like the Sisteen Chapel to Bostonians. I know this from experience: Once I got a new job with a company based in Boston, and when they took mwe out to dinner, I asked, “Why do they have that big ugly Citgo sign right along the skyline”?. I need not say more. Made myself look like a fool…did NOT know it WAS Fenway Park!
Anyway, regarding this race – - Coakley will probably win because there is too much democratic guilt, sentimentality, etc. over Ted Kennedy. I hope she doesn’nt but she probably will.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Lol I’ve heard about 10 times in the last week that Coakley has done something to ruin her campaign.
I wish he campaign was in “total disarray” but if anything the nationalization of the campaign in helping her.
My question is that when she wins by at least 5% will you all come on here and admit you were completely wrong? I will if Brown wins (which of course I hope he does).
January 14th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
It will be close either way is my wild guess.
But what is not a guess is that the victor’s camp will say, “I told you so!”
Welcome to politcs.
January 14th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
13. *politics* Massachusett’s style!
January 21st, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Coakley really did not see this as an election but just a formality. The idea that she needed to earn a U.S. Senate seat apparently upset her patrician sensibility. The issues she dealt with were to coin the phrase, “so yesterday”. We are in a depression, not recession and she sees no value in shaking the hand of a constituent? Herbert Hoover was never that bold and calous! Is this to say a democrat does not work? No, her attitude of entitlement forced many to rethink thier votes. She is a nice lady, but demeanor and brazen attitude toward those who would put her in office could not be ignored. An elected official that ignores the electorate is bound to wind up in trouble, if not creating trouble to begin with. The Republican party, which I love, has a valuable lesson to learn in this election too. Voters can change the status quo, but voters are interested in getting results. Comprimise with the democrats is reasonable and can be achieved, but fiscal responsiblity needs to be the main goal. Moderates from both sides of the isle need to get thier act togethter and start moving this great country of ours foward again. Extremeism as in the middle east cripples everyone and everything. We can not fall victim to that which we have sent troops to over throw and stop.