Shadow Boxing

Through a stroke of good luck, I was fortunate enough to attend the debate last night in Faneuil Hall. If you are passionate about the issues of this campaign and are waiting for a debate that features more than Christy Mihos doing his stand-up routine and Grace Ross spouting what can only be defined as socialist agenda, don’t hold your breath. From the entrance of the candidates (Kerry Healey was booed and Deval was praised as if he were the second coming), to the lack of control displayed by David Gergen, to the inane and motivated, unfair and unbalanced questions, it was an exercise in futility and felt more like a high school pep rally than a debate between gubernatorial candidates vying for the corner office. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can be disappointed. And although I feel Kerry Healey did a good job defending herself and her issues, and at times felt that both Ross and Mihos helped her out, Deval Patrick and his supporters (who whooped and hoo-hawed like they were at a taping of the Jerry Springer show) once again got the last ‘scripted’ word, and refused to debate Kerry Healey one-on-one. In all honesty, in a one-on-debate he will lose (and that is what he is afraid of) and he will have to answer questions that have been left out of previous debates because there are too many candidates and not enough time to get to issues that matter to the voters. The fact that Deval won’t debate Kerry Healey has nothing to do with whether or not it is fair to Ross and Mihos, it has to do with the fact that he does not care what the people want, it is about what he wants. Anyone that thinks either Deval or Kerry Healey will not be governor is living in a dream world and the talk of it being fair is another liberal ploy at political correctness. I find Ross and Mihos interesting but they waste my time with answers that I don’t care about and deflect the pressure from Deval answering the questions we need to hear from him. The inclusion of parties in races other than Democrat and Republican are perfectly fine, but when their poll numbers show them with no chance of eclipsing the two parties, their platform should not be included when they do not represent a majority of the people who are going to vote.