So how’s that “plain spoken” Donald Trump thing working out for you guys?
One of The Donald’s early selling points was that he didn’t sound like other politicians. Unlike the policy-heavy, ultra-triangulated, focus-group ad nauseum-tested pablum his primary opponents were so fond of spewing, Trump had a high-octane, largely unfiltered message, short of specific but heavy on rhetoric, that endeared him to a segment of the population tired of the same old-political-same old.
I wonder how those people feel now after this past weekend, when news broke of a 2005 tape where Trump was caught on a live mike spewing comments one would be more likely to hear in a junior high locker room than on the grandest debate stage of them all. There has been a lot of whining about the abominable tone of this race and lots of speculation as to how two such unsavory characters as Trump and Hillary Clinton wound up 270 electoral votes away from the nuclear launch codes.
I would suggest that those asking those questions take a long look in the mirror, because, in a lot of ways, we did this to ourselves.
When a country becomes more obsessed with money and celebrity than responsible governance, this is what we end up with.
When we become more concerned with what goes on with the Kardashians than in Congress, this is what we end up with.
When candidates win by focusing entire campaigns based not on what they can do, but how bad their opponents are, this is what we end up with.
When people vote based not on what a candidate says, but whether they’d like to have a beer with him, this is what we end up with.
When we continuously elect and re-elect congressmen and senators more concerned with jamming money in their pockets and advancing party agendas than creating a better country, this is what we end up with.
When we have an electorate that has a tough time processing messages conveyed in anything over 140 characters, this is what we end up with.
And when newspapers and TV and radio stations focus on stories that are more flash than substance — and generate huge market share as a result — this is what we end up with.
So, by all means, be as disgusted as you want with the choices this year — just don’t make the mistake of ignoring the role we, as a society, have played in creating them.
I’ve been covering western Mass. politics for years, but I never realized that Ireland and California were part of the 1st Congressional District.
But according to the Federal Elections Commission campaign filings from the most recent quarter, the “Richard E. Neal for Congress Committee” spent quite a bit of money in those destinations while running a primary campaign where the incumbent had no opponent.
According to the Schedule B itemized disbursements, on April 7, Neal dropped $1,510.74 at the Westbury Hotel Dublin and another $416.01 at the Omni Hotel in San Francisco, reportedly as “primary” campaign expenses.
Two days earlier, Neal reported spending $987.80 and $81.67 at the very swanky Circa 55 Restaurant in Beverly Hills on food and beverages consumed during a fundraiser for a race that, it bears repeating, did not exist.
That is not the case in November, however, and the elections commission revelations did not escape the attention of Neal’s Libertarian challenger, retired GCC Economics Professor Thomas Simmons.
“I’m dumbfounded,” Simmons said. “I could scarcely believe it when I saw it, and this is just one quarter. Who knows what else there is that we don’t know about?”
Simmons would love the chance to ask Neal about the matter directly, but the incumbent clearly has Simmons on the “pay no mind list,” refusing to debate or even acknowledge his opponent, a tactic often employed in his day by Neal’s former colleague, retired First District Congressman John Olver.
“I’d love to debate, but my priority now is getting to meet as many people who actually live in the district as possible,” Simmons said. “And I’ve received a lot of support and positive feedback already. … I’m in this thing to win it.”
And if he manages to, my guess is the Simmons victory party won’t be held in “La-La Land” or on the Emerald Isle.
Chris Collins, who worked in local radio in a number of capacities, has observed political life in Franklin County for years. He also is a former staff reporter for The Recorder and a Greenfield native.