(Or Massachusettes, as all the cool kids spell it these days.)
Boston-based talk radio host Michael Graham ponders if the optics of the Weekly Standard’s John McCormack getting shoved — apparently by a campaign staffer of Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts state attorney general, who does nothing while a crime is committed in front of her, could be a game changer — to coin a phrase:
For the first time since the race began, I’m prepared to say a Scott Brown victory is a real possibility.
Just two weeks ago, I said “absolutely not.”
One week ago, I was thinking, “Well, it’s a long shot, but maybe . . .”
But everything changed yesterday.
The video of the Coakley staffer — most likely DNC hack and former Kerry campaigher Michael Meehan — shoving The Weekly Standard‘s John McCormack to the ground, and then repeatedly shoving him again and again in view of AG Coakley, is a watershed moment. It could turn out to be a campaign killer. [More on Meehan at Hot Air — Ed]
First, it highlights the fact that Coakley had left Massachusetts to attend a lobbyist fundraiser in D.C.. Taking big bucks from Big Pharma in the middle of this fight? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Then there’s the guy who got shoved. McCormack is the reporter who asked the question about Afghanistan that literally stopped Coakley in her tracks. After a few blinks of incomprehension, she answered by asking, “Does anyone ELSE have a question?” This issue is a disaster for Coakley because it reveals her utter lack of experience or (apparently) basic knowledge on foreign policy, just two weeks after a terrorist successfully got on a U.S. airplane.
And perhaps most damaging is the power of this example. If I were to summarize the attitude of the typical Massachusetts resident right now, it would be “tired of being pushed around.” Our governing class doesn’t even bother to pretend to pay attention to the people. The last-second rule change on Senate elections is just the latest example of political arrogance.
There are many Massachusetts voters who will see McCormack being shoved, and shoved again, and think, “I know how you feel, buddy.”
This is absolutely a disaster for the Coakley campaign.
Though the Boston Globe, which like most in the MSM these days clearly has a higher calling than, you know, actually reporting news, is doing their best to minimize the damage for Coakley.
And for what it’s worth, Scott Brown just picked up an endorsement from a prominent figure in the Boston sports world — who in the past has typically leaned left.
Update: As David Hogberg adds as Investor’s Business Daily, “Since the event took place in D.C., Coakley presumably has no jurisdiction and so can’t have Meehan arrested. But there is still action she can take”:
First, will she dismiss Meehan from her campaign?
Second, will she call the D.C. police or the district attorney and ask them to investigate and agree to testify against Meehan? Seems like the least she could do.
And of course, as John J. Miller writes, Coakley could get in touch with McCormack and agree to sit down to an interview with him, which would go far to publicly mend fences. But that’s asking a lot of a Boston Democrat.
Update: “First Coakley, Now Kerry: Panic In Mass.” Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty has a little sport with the state attorney general — “Martha Coakley: People Are Stalking Me”:
You know, it’s a shame Martha Coakley doesn’t know anyone in law enforcement if there really is genuine stalking going on, instead of the routine cases of politicians fleeing questions they don’t want to answer. If only she were a prosecutor or state attorney general or something. Her latest:
Coakley, a Democrat, is in a red-hot race for U.S. Senate against GOP rival Scott Brown, where a poll out today places the two only 2 points apart closing in on the Jan. 19 special election. The post-fundraiser fury has now sent both camps scrambling.
Coakley said she is not “privy” to the facts surrounding the incident involving reporter John McCormack last night, who wrote about the episode outside the Sonoma restaurant in an online dispatch titled: “We Report, We Get Pushed.” McCormack wrote he was pushed to the ground by a man he says is linked to Coakley’s campaign while he was asking her questions.
“I know there were people following, including two from the Brown campaign who have been very aggressive in their stalking,” Coakley told reporters during an appearance at Kit Clark Senior Services in Dorchester. “I’m not sure what happened. I know something occurred, but I’m not privy to the facts. I’m sure it will come out, but I’m not aware of that.”
She’s not privy to the facts, even though this happened right in front of her, and in the photos, you can see her looking at McCormack on the ground.
Heck of a slogan, though: “Martha Coakley: Because she’s the victim in all of this.”
Heh.™
Update: Interestingly, the dogs aren’t barking at Media Matters over a journalist getting roughed up. Wonder why?
Just 48 hours ago, Media Matters was fretting about “right wingers” taking critiques of “left wing media bias” so seriously that they might become “unhinged” and take “physical action against journalists.”
Apparently, when liberals take “physical action” against conservative journalists, that doesn’t merit a peep from the moral exhibitionists at Media Matters.
Go figure.
Update: And speaking of Kerry, Ed Morrissey spots, “Coakley’s death-penalty flip-flop … flip.” Hey, sometimes you have to cut your conscience to fit this week’s style.
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