Stockstradamus AKA Stocky’s Blog

In that hard hitting interview with Emily Rooney the other night Gov. Do-Nothing said he had the votes right now to pass his casino plan.

Oh really? Those meanies at the Globe decided to actually check that claim out. What they found is not surprising. 

An informal Globe poll of all 19 members of the legislative committee that will consider Patrick’s proposal showed that it would probably get a negative vote that could prove difficult to overcome.

“There’s a lot of strikes against it,” said Representative Barry Finegold, a Democrat from Andover and a member of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies who does not support the governor’s plan to license three casinos.

…

Twelve members of the committee said they are inclined to vote against the proposal, unless wholesale changes are made, such as reducing the number of casinos in the plan, giving more gambling proceeds to cities and towns, or allowing the state’s racetracks to add slot machines. Three members said they are leaning in favor of the proposal. Four said they are on the fence.

So, of 19 members of the committee that has the power to kill his proposal, 3 are leaning in favor of it.

Do they teach Math at Milton Academy?

I know the Guv has been getting affirmative action handouts his whole life and has never had to play by the same rules as most people but this is ridiculous.

His entire administration is riding on these Casino’s getting built and producing the revenue he claims they will so one would think he’d have a better handle on the prospects for approval by the Legislature. A Legislature consisting almost entirely of members of his own party.

You’d also think that with the stakes so high he’d be busting his pampered ass working on getting this approved. Let’s hear  from some of his fellow Dems in the Legislature:

Patrick’s administration said it has been speaking with legislators, but most of those on the committee said they have not been contacted by the governor on the issue.

“It’s interesting to me that the governor proposed it, but he has not been crusading for it,” said Representative Ellen Story, a Democrat from Amherst who is opposed to the proposal. “He proposed it, and that was almost the end of that.”

This preening shmoe of a Governor has been handed things his whole life. Once he was plucked out of the Chicago projects, being smart + Black (not necessarily in that order) has been enough. Has he ever had to work for anything?

Once these casinos go down in flames, what then?

Despite all these obvious shortcomings, Stocky sees a bright future for our Preening Shmoe Gov Do-Nothing. Unfortunately for the Citizens of Massachusetts and the United States in general that future involves the U.S. Senate.

Could there be a more fitting job for an empty suit windbag like Deval? Forget Emily Rooney, he belongs in front of the bright lights of Tim Russerts show. He would be perfect for that. Pontificating endlessly, sanctemoniously lecturing everyone on what they need to do while never doing much of anything himself. 

Sounds a lot like the current job description for John Kerry. Or Barack Obama.

What we have is an Obama in waiting. AKA Obama Lite. 

Reach for that, Guv.

Emily Rooney did all of her fellow journalist’s proud by forcing Gov Do-Nothing to submit to a viscious waterboarding on her WGBH Show Greater Boston last night.

As has been documented recently, Emily is renowned as one of the toughest interviewers in the Boston Media. As John Gonzalez from Boston Magazine wrote a few months ago when talking about Emily and Jim Braude:

They have well-earned reputations as two of the toughest interviewers in town.

…

I’ve been on both your shows, and it’s not easy. Do you realize how direct you two are? It can be intimidating.

…

But when you’re trying to get information out of people, and maybe you have someone on the show who isn’t used to that style, do you ever consider easing up on the waterboarding?

Yes, take it from Johnny, that Emily is one tough bitch. So last night she has Deval Patrick on her show and opens by noting that it’s been nearly 1 year since he took office.

(Oh, this should be good, you’re thinking. Wait till she asks him what the fuck he’s been doing for a full year and why he has nothing to show for it.)

Well, first she spends 5 minutes talking about his junket to China. Then she soft peddles a question about him taking campaign contributions from the same old cronies as his Republican predecessors which the Globe recently reported on. Gov Do-Nothing can’t stumble his way to a good enough excuse so Emily chimes in with:

  “You’re not going to turn away money from groups if they haven’t done anything illegal.”

Thanks Emily. Your invitation to the Gov’s “Holiday” Party is still intact.

Then it’s on to more “waterboarding” as she prefaces a question on the Casino debacle with:

“I’m sure there are things you do every day that the public has no idea about and it’s hard to measure accomplishments …”

Yes, Emily. It’s certainly hard to measure accomlishments when there are none.

After nearly 15 minutes Emily notes that she’s almost out of time but she’ll try to “summarize” Deval’s 1st year in office. The Gov giggles at a reference to his Cadillac and gold plated drapes as Emily gets back to her “waterboarding” with this final question:

“What are some of the things that emotionally make you feel good about your leadership of this state?”

Emotionally makes him feel good??? Is this the Governor being interviewed by one of the “toughest interviewers in town” or are these 2 teenage girls talking about their boyfriends?

That’s just fucking pathetic. Can anyone imagine Mitt Romney or any Republican being asked that question?

The Great Black Hope answers by noting what a ”Great Team” he has along with some other insignificant nonsense before Emily literally teases him about his property tax relief campaign promise. Yes, Miss Waterboard finally brings up Gov Do-Nothings signature campaign promise 30 seconds before the end of a 20 minute interview. Wow. That Emily really is one tough bitch. 

And Gov Do-Nothing does not disappoint with his answer. You see, it’s all the Legislature’s fault that there has been no property tax relief. Gov Do-Nothing promises to try to get the Legislature to focus on that next year.

Not his fault. Nope. Not him. It’s that incompetent legislature. Of course “the Legislature” probably would say that there is no money available for Property tax relief. Which brings me to the single biggest lie of the Deval Patrick campaign.

He said many times that he would find $750 million of waste in the State budget and that was how he was going to fund property tax relief. Not only has he not cut state spending, the first thing he did when he took office was restore cuts that Romney made.

This guy is such a blatent lying moron that he hasn’t even appointed some phony commision charged with finding the mythical $750 million in waste. And why should he when even the “Toughest interviewer in Town”, Emily Rooney behaves like a Bill Clinton Intern instead of a journalist when she has an opportunity to hold the Governor accountable.   

This State is mind bogglingly (is that a word?) pathetic.

Gov Do-Nothing gets asked about the piss poor performance of the Commuter Rail service and responds with this, from the Sunday Dec 9th Globe:

“You haven’t heard me screaming?” Governor Deval Patrick said, only half-jokingly, when asked about the late trains during a recent news conference.

Ummm, no Gov. we haven’t heard you.

Not to worry though. Gov Do-Nothing has been screaming so no doubt long suffering commuters will get their satisfaction as the Gov cracks the whip.

Or Not.

Just in on Monday Dec 10th:

The company that runs Boston’s commuter rail service will get another three years to transport 72,000 suburbanites to their jobs every day, despite a recent spate of delays that has caused uproar among passengers.

Thanks a lot Governor!!!!!!! Good work!!!! Your screaming really helped!!!!!

Christ Almighty. This guy is a fucking disaster.

Joan Vennochi gives a nice slap to the dumb voters of Massachusetts in her Sunday Column:

BARACK OBAMA is promising to change politics as usual in America. As Massachusetts already knows, that can be one tough promise to keep.

Last year, Deval Patrick promised to do the same, when he ran for governor. Voters bought the message, making him the first Democrat in 16 years to win the corner office, and the first black candidate to do so.

What dummies we all are. Well, not Stocky. I didn’t vote for Deval but the rest of you sure are dopes.

Joan takes a small swipe at Deval later in the column:

Obama has held elective office on the state and national level, so he has much more political experience than a neophyte like Patrick.

Neophyte. Not very endeering. That Joan sure is tough on our Governor and the rubes who fell for his campaign spiel.

But what about Joan? Let’s hit the way back machine and find all those columns she wrote during the campaign warning us not to be fooled by the Great Black Hope’s Hype and accurately describing his lack of experience….

Damn. The friggin machine must be broke again. I can’t find a single Vennochi column like that. In fact, all I can find are column’s where Joan is fawning all over Deval like Bill Clinton on an intern.

Revisionist history at work in your Boston Globe. Be a Woman Joan. Admit you’re a dope too.

More on Deval:

Howie Carr takes time off from his much less listened to radio show to make a point that Stocky has been making for months:

What exactly has the guy accomplished in his first year in office?

Exactly nothing if you ask me.

Gov Do-Nothing is back from a “critical” trade mission to China where he set up an office to do who knows what. Sounds like more good jobs at good wages for Deval suckups and campaign contributers.

What a joke this guy is.

All this is detailed at devalpatrickwatch.com

One of the Hazzards of doing this blog is actually reading the Boston Globe editorials. That’s something I never used to do. I come across enough shit during my day to get my blood boiling without reading that crap.

However, in the interest of the greater good, I now read them. Or some of them anyway.

Saturday’s Globe Editorial Gem really needs to be read in full. Here it is: 

THE MOST significant actions by the Legislature in its last week of formal sessions this year included the passage of bills to hold the Massachusetts presidential primary on Feb. 5, a month earlier than usual, and to provide greater protection against predatory mortgage lending. Hardly earth-shattering, to be sure, but many important bills are still in the pipeline. A better test of legislative performance will come in February or March, when lawmakers have a window to act on these bills before turning to next year’s budget.

The most enduring decision by the Legislature came in June. The representatives and senators, acting in constitutional convention, decided not to place a proposal banning gay marriage on the ballot. This 45-151 vote, supported by Governor Deval Patrick, put the full weight of state government behind the Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing these marriages. This is a lasting victory for liberty and equal rights.

Beyond that, the session that ended this week could at best by called workmanlike. The Legislature approved a sound budget and began tinkering with the laws to provide cities and towns with better tools to address financial problems. But the new laws to bring more local government employees into the state pension and health insurance systems are not enough to reduce the growth in local property taxes. And the Legislature rejected Governor Patrick’s attempts to offer communities new sources of revenue. The lawmakers will need to revisit the issue next year.

The governor and legislative leaders are properly concerned about economic development. The mortgage lending bill would impose a sensible degree of state regulation on an important part of the economy. Other crucial issues failed to get on the legislative fast track, most notably Patrick’s plan to assist the biotech industry. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s package to assist renewable energy production sped through the House, but hasn’t cleared the Senate. Another issue that needs attention is the governor’s anticrime bill, with its provision for mandatory supervision after release from prison.

And then there’s casino gambling, an issue with implications both for revenue and for development. Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray like the concept; DiMasi doesn’t, but what source of revenue does the speaker have in mind to fulfill the obligations of state government? The governor filed his proposal too late for action this year, but a decision shouldn’t be avoided in 2008.

Among its last significant actions of the year, the Legislature approved the governor’s plan for a Commonwealth Corps to encourage volunteer service and provided $15 million more for home-heating aid - good but easy votes. Let’s hope that, in January, lawmakers will come back refreshed from their holidays and ready for harder decisions.

The title of the editorial is “Quiet Times on Beacon Hill”. Another way to phrase that would be:

Not a fucking lot got done this year on Beacon Hill.

And who’s fault is that? Why the Legislature of course. According to the Globe. Hmmm, I seem to recall something significant happening at the beginning of this year…. wait… I’ll think of it… give me a moment … OH YEAH! WE GOT A NEW FUCKING GOVERNOR!!! A Democrat who got elected in a landslide and ended 16 years of Republican control of the Governors office.

Glory Be!!! Let’s review all his accomplishments!!!! Wait. The Globe did that in their editorial. Only they pinned the blame on the Legislature.

According to the editorial, the Governor was just a supporting character in all this. It seems the Globe status quo is to give the Gov a free pass. The soft bigotry of low expectations coming into play again.

This is a change of tactic for the Globies. Let’s look back to February to this Frank Phillips piece detailing the disappointment the moonbats had with their Great Black Hope’s performance.

Some Highlights:

“He has been exceedingly cautious in trying to determine what his first priorities are,” said Jeffrey M. Berry, political science professor at Tufts University. “So much so that he has already lost a little momentum.”

Patrick advisers concede the governor has not followed the usual tradition of strong media management during his first days in office. But they say that he has been active on a host of major issues, including the daunting task of closing a $1 billion deficit in his first budget. That work — along with a series of other initiatives — will be evident in the next few weeks, they say.

“This is not a governor who is focused on quick headlines in the press that provide little benefit for people’s concerns,” said Kyle Sullivan, his press secretary. “He is focused on developing thoughtful public policy for the long term. Stay tuned.”

 We’re still tuned in Kyle. Any Updates?

But to many who are watching him closely, Patrick appears to be struggling to find a pace and theme to launch his administration.

“A honeymoon period is a unique interval, and he will never have another opportunity of such uncritical acceptance,” Berry said.

Patrick’s untraditional approach has some of his backers worried. “It’s odd,” said one old political hand from the Dukakis administration, who is active in the state Democratic Party. “You go days without seeing him in the news.”

Days without seeing him in the news? Try weeks. How long was his vacation at his mansion in the Berkshires? A Month? Was he working on our property tax relief out there?

Furthermore, he said, Patrick doesn’t need to make a bold move because he secured his image during his two-year campaign for governor, which ended in his landslide election.

“Patrick was elected essentially because he developed a thematic image of himself,” said Goldman, host of a national program on Bloomberg Radio. 

Image. That’s all that matters to Moonbats. Listen to the sickly sweet campaign speaches and then feel so good about yourself when you vote for the Black Guy. Aren’t you just wonderful?

“People asked for a change, and they got it,” said Crosby, who worked on Patrick’s transition team. “They don’t have media-conscious, conventional politicians running the administration. But perhaps there is a trade-off. You don’t get the splash, but maybe still water runs deeper.”

Maybe that still water is no deeper than a soap dish.

Will the Globe even acknowledge the 1 year anniversary of Patrick taking office? Talk about putting a shine on a sneaker. How will they spin Gov Do-Nothings first year as anything but a disaster? 

Gov Do-Nothing Tipped his hand in a Herald story yesterday about supposedly eliminating police details on construction projects.

Like nearly all of Gov Do-Nothing’s proposals, it sounds good but I’ll believe it when I see it. Ask Bill Weld how his plan worked out.

The way this looks to play out, we’ll get a lot of bluster and chest pounding in defense of the poor put upon tax payers, right up until the proposal fails.

Then, as Gov Do-Nothing says in the Herald story:

“Our responsibility is to try to get all the waste and inefficiency out (of transportation agencies) . . . before we go to the general public for broad-based tax increases,” Patrick said.

Broad based tax increases. Nice.

I’m wondering if those tax increases will come before or after the property tax relief he promised us in his campaign.

Somewhere up on the North Shore, Muffy Healey is kicking back, ordering her 4th glass of wine and laughing her ass off.

Todays Gov Do-Nothing proposal is this:

Gov. Deval Patrick wants to spend a record $1.1 billion on housing-project repairs, construction loans and other upgrades to the state’s affordable-housing stock.

“Affordable housing (is vital to) our communities and our economy,” Patrick said in unveiling plans to spend $1.1 billion over five years on affordable-housing improvements. That’s some $250 million more than currently budgeted.

Patrick wants the state to sell $1.1 billion of bonds - a record affordable-housing request

Nice to see Gov Do-Nothing has taken time off from vacationing at his mansion in the Berkshires to look out for the needy.

Taxpayers?? Not so much.

As usual though, this swell sounding scheme to help the needy is likely to go nowhere.

Patrick’s plan has bipartisan support among lawmakers, but it’s unclear how the state can cover the plan in addition to projects already in the pipeline.

Massachusetts can by law only sell $1.5 billion of bonds per year, but Patrick has recently proposed spending billions on roads, bridges, university campuses and other infrastructure.

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation added that the state already has a $10 billion backlog of capital projects.

“The reality is that even if the Legislature approves (Patrick’s housing plan), the state doesn’t have the means to raise this money in the short term,” he said.

Just more sweet sounding pablum for the Moonbats. Is this Fucking guy going to accomplish 1 single thing before his term is up?

Casinos are a pipe dream. Property tax relief? Forget it. More Cops on the street? Forget that too.

What an incompetent fool. An intelligent guy who got passed along via affirmative action his whole life without ever having to actually accomplish anything.

As George Bush would put it, he’s been a victim of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

What excuse can he use for not doing anything? The entire state, including the legislature, is full of Moonbats just like him.

Let’s see what he ends up accomplishing in his 4 years. I can’t wait to see what the Globe uses to justify their endorsement.

Other than he’s a Black Guy.

This story got almost no play in the Boston Media. I couldn’t find it in the Globe or the Herald. Although it might very well be in The Herald and just buried beneath the piss poor new web site design.

We go to a bostonchannel.com item for this:

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a $280 million spending bill that gives pay hikes to various public employees, including the state’s district attorneys and himself.

 

But Patrick said he wouldn’t accept the 4.8 percent pay raise unless it’s recommended by an advisory panel he will appoint.

Previous mentions of this spending bill in the Boston Media noted that Patrick and his Lt Gov would not accept the pay raise. Now we find out that he will accept the raise IF it is recommended by a panel he will appoint.

We can add this to the list of Life’s sure things. Death, taxes and a recommendation for a pay raise for Gov Do-nothing. If you attempted to get odds on this from Vegas they would tell you to forget it. It’s a sure thing.

Does Deval actually think we are this stupid? Apparently he does.

And what about this nugget?

The spending bill also includes about $453,000 to double the governor’s staff in Washington so it can better direct federal dollars to Massachusetts.

Isn’t that what we pay Kennedy + Kerry for? What the fuck is all that money going to be spent on? I’m guessing we’ll have a few nationwide searches for new personnel that will end with new employees who happen to be supporters of Gov Do-Nothing.

Christ, this state is pathetic.