Charlie Baker Will Not Seek Reelection in 2022 (Holyoke: housing, racism)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by WestieWhitie

Well, if by his own party you mean the party of Trump I’m all for that faction getting destroyed, they’re the reason why commie whackadoos and Farrakhan-level racist freakazoids have gone from being on the outer fringes to being mainstream.

No not the party of Trump. He attempted to oust (some successfully) quite a few good people with much to offer the state and the balance they offered that it so desperately needs. Couldn't allow for any "dissidents" though. No different from the "Trumpkins" or "commie whackadoos" you speak of.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Yeah, that could do it. But it's hard to imagine that a real-world candidate (even a sub-Coakley caliber candidate) would be openly campaigning on that. I can see a candidate campaigning on the 'ol "tax the rich!" platform, but raising the gas tax has regularly proven to be a no-go in MA and no candidate with a real interest in winning will run a campaign touting that promise. A increasing the sales tax is counter to a progressive agenda (it disproportionately impacts the poor), so it's unlikely that any potential "Defund the Police!" candidates would also be proposing a hike in the sales tax. There's nobody in the conversation on the Dem's side of aisle that realistically stands a chance at losing to Diehl.

There could be plenty of pocketbook issues like that. My natural gas bill just went up 21% and my electric bill is pretty much highest in the nation. We shut down all the coal plants in the name of pollution and switched to natural gas electricity generation. I have giant pipeline surcharges on both my electric and gas bills. I’m not going to look fondly at an anti-pipeline candidate. That’s my dominant energy cost. It’s not like electrons from HydroQuebec are flowing into the grid to control electricity prices after Maine shut the transmission line proposal down. You don’t want me to use natural gas? Then buy me a geothermal forced hot water system and pay for the panels on my roof. It’s 300 feet to the pole on the street. I’d need my 100 amp service upgraded including a new panel for all the 220v circuits for heat, hot water, and range.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by WestieWhitie

Well, if by his own party you mean the party of Trump I’m all for that faction getting destroyed, they’re the reason why commie whackadoos and Farrakhan-level racist freakazoids have gone from being on the outer fringes to being mainstream.

You've got that backwards. Trump couldn't have existed if the Dems hadn't gone way off the deep end of the left and jumped in bed with multinationals the latter of which many Republicans did as well.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

You've got that backwards. Trump couldn't have existed if the Dems hadn't gone way off the deep end of the left and jumped in bed with multinationals the latter of which many Republicans did as well.

Eh...

Trump didn't start populism but he made it more to the right. Remember Perot? Nutty sure but hardly controversial. Actually did do a good business and knew what he was doing. Pat Buchanan was the same time and yet never really got anywhere. Read the book Game Change. Palin was picked because she was an attractive middle aged woman. That opened the door further. Mayor of a town of 9,000 to be vice president? Um.... yeah.

We also keep having this belief that somehow if someone has a suit and is in business that somehow they know what to do. Some actually believe that dictatorships get things done..they don't. Read up on them and frankly they don't work. You have to have trade, relationships with neighbors and communication. is it really asking for too much to not be an #%@?

Anyways Trump copied his act from Wally George. If you were in southern california in the 80's you might know this guy. Read the article, watch his old shows and it literally was copied soup to nuts by Trump.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog...p-wally-george

[WestieWhitie]

You're not wrong, there were plenty of Dems ready to go off the deep end. Trump was the one who filled their pool with water and now they make a loud splash instead of a dull thud. All that neomao and straight up farrakhan insanity was unimaginable even under Obama.

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

You've got that backwards. Trump couldn't have existed if the Dems hadn't gone way off the deep end of the left and jumped in bed with multinationals the latter of which many Republicans did as well.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by WestieWhitie

Well, if by his own party you mean the party of Trump I’m all for that faction getting destroyed, they’re the reason why commie whackadoos and Farrakhan-level racist freakazoids have gone from being on the outer fringes to being mainstream.

Wow! I'm sensing maybe some common ground here after all!

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

You've got that backwards. Trump couldn't have existed if the Dems hadn't gone way off the deep end of the left and jumped in bed with multinationals the latter of which many Republicans did as well.

Trump's election was a white backlash to 8 yrs of a Black president. Unfortunately it unleashed latent racism and xenophobia in his base out into the open, and like the proverbial toothpaste, it can't be shoved back into the tube now. That's what the GOP has become at the national and many state levels.

[MrDee12345]

I think some of you seem to forget that nutty neo cons pre and post 9/11 and the Tea Part back when Obama was President. They did whatever they could to stop any and all progress, and they were more than happy to block bills they once supported just to get a win for the GOP.

The Dems just caught up on their crazy train with their woke nonsense.

I'll still almost always vote Dem on a national ticket because there are at least some Dems willing to work to get things done (from time to time). I simply can't stand national level GOP more than I can't stand Dems.

But, if Baker were to run for President as a GOP, and he doesn't pull a Romney and sell out his home state, I'd certainly consider voting for him.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by MrDee12345

But, if Baker were to run for President as a GOP, and he doesn't pull a Romney and sell out his home state, I'd certainly consider voting for him.

Baker has absolutely no chance at surviving the national Republican primaries in 2024 so it's really a non-issue. There's just no appetite in the Republican Party at a national level for someone like Baker. If he's too moderate ("RINO" even) for the MA Republican Party, he's downright progressive on a national level.

I'm sure he has a team analyzing options, but his best bet for a Presidential run is probably as an Independent. If the national parties keep moving to the poles the way they have been, the notion of an Independent candidate actually contending might not be so crazy in the not-so-distant future. But I doubt 2024 is the year we see much headway on that front. If we're forced to pick between a "Squad"-like Democrat and a Trump-like Republican in 2024, maybe that'll open the doors for someone other than a candidate from either of those two parties in the future. But again, I highly doubt it's 2024.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

It’s not like electrons from HydroQuebec are flowing into the grid to control electricity prices after Maine shut the transmission line proposal down.

They actually have been since 1986. More would help of course.