"She was not a good candidate, as almost everyone knows."

So why was he out stumping for a bad candidate? Oh that's right, he thought he was touting "Marsha" Coakley.

Ugh.

Patches is right with his criticism of Coakley, his endorsment and campaigning for her withstanding. Who takes a 6day vacation during a 5 week gen.election?? Anyhow, I doubt this election will get much national media attention. The Brown election was not during a normal election cycle and to be fair the MSM only jumped on about a week week an a half before election day. Loughlin will not be able to get the money Brown got, Brown was able to fundraise without other elections taking place and with spotlight brightly on him. Beating patches shouldn't be this hard, but it is. Loughlin is the best candidate to date that I've seen run against him. Its an uphill battle given the Patches war chest and inability to feel pain due to the oxy , but with a strong grassroots effort and strong public presence , he could pull it off.

It depends on the political environment come September. If the GOP has lost momentum nationally and doesn't think it can take the House, it may pick and choose its spots, and pump money into this race.
And don't count on Jon Brien for salvation from Patrick, after hearing about his wife's tirade at a Woonsocket City Council this week. That incident (involving state health care benefits for legislators) was an embarassment.

The other elephant in the room is the possibility of Buddy running:

http://www.projo.com/news/content/CIANCI_2010_01-11-10_SGH0FOS_v63.398818e.html

That would certainly be interesting and very likely would crush a Loughlin candidacy.

I thought Buddy couldn't run for office until 2014?

At any rate, if Vincent Cianci were to win another election, this state would prove itself eternally hopeless.

Actually, Stella Brien, the Vice President of the Woonsocket City Council, was questioning why Rep. Chris Fierro would not sign legislation that was reflective of a unanimous council resolution offered by the Woonsocket Taxpayers Coalition that would require any new public employee contracts to mandate a 25% co pay for health. It had nothing to do with legislators but rather the public employee unions. Nice try Rhody, go back to your little progressive blog.

And this is what makes politics politics. Had Coakley eeked out a win, Kennedy would be touting her. But because she lost, she was a bad candidate.

I just have to shake my head sometimes at politics. Do they really think we're that dumb?

"I just have to shake my head sometimes at politics. Do they really think we're that dumb?"

If Milton Freidman or Bill Gates or Condi Rice thought I was dumb, I'd have to reflect and resolve to "try harder". But imagine, we have Patrick Kennedy, Lincoln Chafee and Sheldon Whitehouse treating us like we're dumb.

don roach,
That Coakely, a Democrat, lost in Massachusetts appears to be de facto proof that she was a bad candidate.

I could be wrong, but we still have the 2010 election cycle to serve as proof. We'll see in November.
OldTimeLefty

Hey OTL, what's the fact that it is Massachusetts have to do with it? Didn't you hear, Massachusetts really isn't that liberal of a state.

Or was your hero wrong when he said that?

OTL, most of the independent (and yes, Democratic) Scott Brown voters I spoke with after the election said that they wanted to send a message to Washington. It wasn't really about the candidates at all.

-- "Do they really think we're that dumb?

The problem is that they're right (on average).

How many times has Patches been reelected?

How was Barack Obama, who folks knew nothing about, elected President?

Why has the General Assembly stayed Democrat for 70+ years, when the only things that the Democrats have accomplished is corruption, bad roads, bridges that are falling down, billions in unfunded pension liabilities, crappy schools and rankings for the worst state in the country in which to employ people, with the resulting amongst the highest in the nation unemployment rate (that doesn't even include those who moved out looking for work)?

First off,Patrick Kennedy seems to be one of the few Democrats who didn't see Brown's election as significant.
Secondly,Buddy can't run for Mayor or any state office until 2014.he can run for Federal office,but why?He makes a lot of money with WPRO and only has to answer to the owners,not the public or the US Attorney.I'd think he was real tired of doing that.
Coakley was indeed a bad candidate,but it may have not've made that much of a difference.
Loughlin isn't a cookie cutter Republican-he has his own point of view,and he seems to be more interested in presenting his ideas than in re-hashing the all too well known story of Patrick Kennedy's unfitness to hold any job,let alone a Congressman.Now that Ted is gone,maybe he'll be seen in the cold light of day.
I am sure that there will be a lowlife attempt to smear Loughlin.Kevin Vigilante was the victim of ethnic slurs by Bill Clinton.Hey,it was okay,right OTL?I believe you're both of Italian descent.Clinton mocked his name.How classy.
The national Dems don't really give a sh*t about Patrick,EXCEPT that he raises money for them by just breathing.
He still has a lot of seniors in thrall to him.They don't realize he'll throw them under the bus in a NY minute.
Just MAYBE he'll finally be seen for the degenerate nitwit he is.

So is that plan of Loughlin's to have the federal government bail out the state and teacher pension system going to be a hallmark of his campaign?

Does anyone remember that, or are we all afflicted with attention deficit disorder?

To Loughlin, it wasn't that the teachers and state workers have an overly generous pension plan that taxpayers can't afford. No it just needs to be "bailed out" by the federal government. (Is his wife a teacher by any chance?)

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather see Loughlin in office than Patches, but it's hard to get excited about a guy that endorses a bail out for the state pension system. That's no conservative. That's LIBERAL.

That's using the federal Treasury to buy union votes.

It IS, however, easy to get excited about a guy who talks about ENDING the state pension system. There is a guy doing just that, but the people of Rhode Island just don't seem to want to draft him to run.

Gotta agree with you Robespierre.

Calling for a federal bailout of the General Assembly (which is really what it is, for it is the GA that first promised too much, and then didn't adequately fund what they promised).

Given that he's been part of that body, when he called for that it struck me that he's "gone native" up there on Smith Hill, and is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

There's a faint aroma of RINO in the air, and it seems to be getting stronger.

"Kennedy thinks the Brown victory is "way overblown" because Coakley was such a bad candidate"

Yeah ... way overblown ... because she was a bad candidate ...

AAAaaand, the Martians stuffed the ballot box for Brown ...

Yeah, that's the ticket ...

Patrick Kennedy-Flanagan

LOL @ Monique.

Ragin' Rhode Islander re: your
"Why has the General Assembly stayed Democrat for 70+ years, when the only things that the Democrats have accomplished is corruption, bad roads, bridges that are falling down, billions in unfunded pension liabilities, crappy schools and rankings for the worst state in the country in which to employ people, with the resulting amongst the highest in the nation unemployment rate (that doesn't even include those who moved out looking for work)?"

I have no rebuttal. You are correct. I guess we are that dumb...I now feel the need to curl up into a little ball and die a slow death.

But I won't. Instead, I'll hold out some hope that by-golly in the near future our state will wake up and oust these losers. We'll see.

Donny, Jon Brien's missus was ripping Fierro over accepting legislative health care in a lengthy public diatribe.
Problem: the Briens get the full boat from the state (more than $10,000) from his P-T legislative job. Fierro accepts neither state health care nor the waiver cash payment.
Is Jonny still wiping the egg off his face? That's not the kind of judgment I want from a congressman. But I unbderstand facts sometimes get in the way when taking a cheapie at a progressive. Sorry one of Sue Menard's stooges didn't beat Fierro.

Don, you don't have to just hold out hope. You can participate in waking up the voters in our state - playing the Paul Revere role, as it were. "Our state", being a collective reference to our individual fellow citizens, cannot wake up. It is up to each individual voter to wake up, become aware, and take action. In that way, politics is not merely local, it is personal.

It is easy for us political junkies to hang out here or at the RI Tea Party site and talk to each other. But the hard work, and the real progress, happens when we go outside our circle and educate our friends and neighbors who are relatively unaware. Remember, the largest voting bloc in the state is registered Unaffiliated.

A great many of the Tea Party members were completely uninvolved in politics until about a year ago. Some were so disgusted with both parties and the ugliness of the process that they didn't even want to look. Others believed overcoming the entrenched special interests was hopeless, so "why bother". Now that the Tea Party has proven successful in its first actions people have become hopeful and motivated, and as they learn more their enthusiasm grows. This growth of awareness, knowledge and activism is very healthy for each of us and for our community as a whole.

In my daily agenda there is always one item that deals with how I can advance freedom today. What's on yours?

Rhody...facts...please stick to the facts...Stella Brien ripped Fiero for not supporting the legislation that would mandate all state / municipal employees pay 25% of their health insurance, a measure that would save MILLIONS for the state / local govts...you want to focus on Jon Brien getting $18k in benefits...makes a lot of sense...keep drinking that kool aid.

>>I have no rebuttal. You are correct. I guess we are that dumb...I now feel the need to curl up into a little ball and die a slow death. But I won't. Instead, I'll hold out some hope that by-golly in the near future our state will wake up and oust these losers. We'll see.

Don,

I won't repeat the good points that BobN made above.

RI will someday turn around, for it'll have no choice.

I suspect that it's going to take some municipal bankruptcies to wake the electorate up, but the more "word of mouth" in the meantime will bring them around sooner.

RISC and the Tea Party and the taxpayer groups arising in the towns and cities do demonstrate that with each day more and more are saying "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

A charismatic political leader could bring change before the collapse.

So too would a real opposition party (not the current RIGOP, though the platform fight shows that there may be hope there). The Tea Party may be the ticket here.

The key is do you financially have the wherewithal to ride it out? If your income is not dependent on the health of the local economy, you can stay and fight. If your income is dependent on, or heavily influenced by the local economy, the decision the "fight or flight" response becomes more complicated.

Rhody:

She never once discussed legislators benefits. Check the record. It was broadcast on TV. You want to make it about the Brien's, when its about the taxpayers vs. the special interests. We all know you dislike the Brien's because they aren't moonbats like you. Too bad there aren't more Dems like them.

Bingo

Correct. Stella did NOT discuss legislators' benefits for good reason...she didn't want viewers to know she and her spousal unit were taking advantage of the system while browbeating Fierro, who DID put his money where his mouth was.
She and the Menard/Baldelli machine are still sore that Woonsocket finally got a progressive legislator after all these years.

Rhody...you're logic is astounding! Are you a union teacher? Jon has made NO SECRET that we will continue to receive that benefit and I don't blame him - $14k a year is not enough to have to deal with people of your ilk on a constant and consistent basis. I applaud Chris for not taking the benefits or money if he can afford it. Not everyone is in such a position. Jon / Stella both are self employed, have student loans, a house and children to support. So all that being said, what sense does it make for Chris to oppose legislation that will make a positive tangible impact on our economic woes? It makes sense if you're trying to pander to the status quo in the GA and the unions. If Jon Brien was Jon Smith you'd have no problem with him - you're just a hater because of Al.

C'mon, JTR, you think you know me?
I have sucked on the public tit once in my life - a $6/hr summer job (for a supervisory position) while I was in college. Real fat cat I was.
If you're appointing yourself the aribiter of who's allowed to suck the public tit and who isn't, thank God I've worked in the private sector my entire adult life. Can't touch me.

Rhody - Ok...so back to the issue at hand...you keep patting Chris on the back for taking a stand AGAINST legislation that will actually have an positive impact on our bottom line just so you can take pot shots at a politician that you don't like because of his last name. Makes sense. Why can't Chris support the legislation and push for mandated co-pays or no health care for legislators? They are not mutually exclusive. But then you'd have no chance to take baseless shots.