Cicilline's Comeback or Journalistic Wishful Thinking?
Patrick Laverty
According to David Scharfenberg and his headline writers at the Providence Phoenix, David Cicilline is making a comeback. The same David Cicilline who had a 17% approval rating. The same David Cicilline who said he left Providence in "excellent fiscal condition". The same David Cicilline who first blocked city auditors from the books, then stated the auditors' claims of reserve fund shortfalls was merely "politics" and then later said he was simply using those reserve funds to balance the budget. The same David Cicilline who scared every senior citizen he could find along the campaign trail into believing that Republicans were going to take away their social security, yet haven't touched a thing.
In spite of Cicilline doing nothing to "protect social security" (because there was nothing to protect it against) and his biggest contribution in Congress to date has been
"co-sponsorship of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act"
Scharfenberg goes on to write
"But the Congressman, however weak his hand, seems in the midst of a notable — if little-noted — resurgence."
Notable by whom? House Democratic Caucus Chair Steny Hoyer? (Interviewed for the article) Sean Richardson, formerly Patrick Kennedy's Chief of Staff? (Interviewed for the article) Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro? (Interviewed for the article) You know who's not interviewed for the article? Any Republicans. So here is Scharfenberg writing, I'll put this politely, a puff piece for David Cicilline and he interviews not only Democrats, but Democrats who are friends of David Cicilline and asks them what kind of job that Cicilline's doing. Gee, I wonder what kind of response they're going to give. No questions for John Loughlin or Brendan Doherty on the job Cicilline's doing? No questions for Ken McKay? Not even any questions for 2010 primary opponents Anthony Gemma or David Segal. It wouldn't fit the narrative, it wouldn't match the headlines.
Should Cicilline be re-elected? For an opinion there, look no further than to the man who replaced him in Providence. This weekend on Newsmakers, WPRI's Ted Nesi pointed out that Taveras is the only notable local Democrat who is not listed as a host for Cicilline fundraisers in Rhode Island. Nesi asked if Taveras supports Cicilline for re-election. Taveras responded similarly to how he did back in March (thanks @IanDon), where he was very non-committal and only vowed to support "the Democratic nominee". Not exactly what you'd call a ringing endorsement, especially when with less than a year to go, no other Democrat has formally announced any intentions to run for the seat. But I guess what can you expect from Taveras when Cicilline left him a "Category 5 hurricane" mess to clean up.
As long as the Republicans control the House, Cicilline isn't going to be able to get much done for Rhode Island, his effectiveness is nil. What this should all come down to is whether David Cicilline is someone you feel you can trust. Do you feel he is telling you the truth or is he just another lying Washington politician that has led to this whole country's system falling apart?
In light of Cicilline's earlier lies about the fiscal health of Providence, many people feel he didn't deserve the promotion to Congress in the first place. Are we going to repeat that mistake, but this time make it even worse because we know a bit more about the type of person that David Cicilline is?
By rejecting Cicilline, we have a chance to tell all politicians that lying to us is not acceptable and will not be tolerated by the voters. Let's put an end to this "resurgence", this "comeback" and instead tell David Cicilline to come back to Rhode Island, but this time, permanently.
This is one of the most 5 brain damaged progressive states in America. 50/50 this loathsome felonius scumbag wins.
Something I actually agree with Tommy on: Rhode Island is majority brain-damaged.
But Progressive? We shot down Gay marriage. We can't license medical marijuana. Democrats attached an abortion rider to a healthcare bill. We refuse to tax Brown University and other private institutions sucking the life from Providence even though they have all the good real estate... this list could get longer.
If RI is progressive, then where I live now in Portland doesn't even rank on the scale. City composting, bike lanes, multiple shopper-owned food co-ops -- yeah, RI, progressive.... ahahahahahaha.
That said, Mr. Cicilline has focused on a whopping two things since he got into office (policy-wise):
1) Protecting medicare and social security from any and all reform or tampering... ensuring the status quo, and that we'll never get anything good (or bad) accomplished in that arena.
2) "Bringing jobs back to America"... *sigh*, he's actually being a protectionist, and thinks that jobs will magically appear in RI if we just say the word "manufacturing" enough.
Thing is? He's a likeable human being for my part. I don't like him as a politician, and am sad he's the best the Dems have to offer, and will be even more sad if he doesn't get challenged from the Left.
One note: "I'll put this politely, a puff piece for David Cicilline and he interviews not only Democrats, but Democrats who are friends of David Cicilline and asks them what kind of job that Cicilline's doing. Gee, I wonder what kind of response they're going to give. No questions for John Loughlin or Brendan Doherty on the job Cicilline's doing? No questions for Ken McKay?"
If all they did was interview Loughlin (in Iraq still?) or Doherty, it wouldn't be a puff piece, it'd be a hit piece.
How about we ask relatively neutral political commentators or politicians? I for one would be interested to see if Gov. Chafee would be willing to comment. But asking his friends is just as bad as asking his enemies... *because you already know what they are going to say*. What's the point of journalism if it tells us nothing new?
jparis, my point exactly. I certainly am not asking for a one-sided account on either side. I'm not asking for the Phoenix to do a hit piece. That would be just as useless as this one was. I'm just looking for some journalistic integrity and balance, which this featured, front-page story was sorely lacking.
Often, some newspapers may run a real story on a business that just happens to be a big advertiser and it'll look just like a real story in the paper, with glowing remarks and quotes. That's exactly what this one looks like. I don't know if Cicilline could have paid the Phoenix for a more friendly story.
And you're right, what is the point of journalism if it's not going to tell us anything new. That's quite the damning statement on this story, the Phoenix's editors and possibly Scharfenberg.
Ian Donnis usually tried to doa balanced story,even though he's a liberal.He certainly ould have done better than this.
Rhode Island is "conservative" ("moderate" to the rest of the country) in limited social areas that don't actually affect anything - (gay marriage, marijuana policy, etc.). All this does in effect is facilitate the intellectual dishonesty perpetrated by the RIFuture crowd, public unions, and The Party that RI is run by conservatives and laissez faire capitalists and all of its current problems are due to them.
After the comments to my last post went off the rails so quickly, I'm hoping to keep things on topic instead of devolving into the usual "you're dumb" comments.
I don't think jparis is trying to say that RI is "conservative", just that he doesn't see it as "progressive". Just like "tall" or "big", they're all just relative terms anyway.
Back to Cicilline and this Phoenix article...
"Thing is? He's a likeable human being for my part. I don't like him as a politician, and am sad he's the best the Dems have to offer, and will be even more sad if he doesn't get challenged from the Left."
jparis,
You are so Rhode Islandized. Was it the lying despicable human being that you found likeable or the lying dispicable politician you found unlikeable?
@ Max: No, it was the sitting down and talking with the man 1-on-1, no handlers, no press, no talking points -- just listening to him talk about himself as a person and his worldview.
You've already shot down Patrick's best intentions by slinging insults at the man. How would you like it if I called you "despicable" without ever having spent more than a couple minutes with you (or less)? So please move along and let the adults talk... see, I can be rude just as easily as you can. It's completely unproductive though.
@ Patrick: Yes, thank you. There's this thing called gray which throws off most armchair political activists. RI isn't ultra-conservative or even laissez faire, any more than it's a progressive bastion.
@ Dan: If I have to hear one more time how medical marijuana is a "limited social [area] that [doesn't] actually affect anything", I'm gonna lose it and just stop posting here. This is my life and my death, and there are MANY more like me.
And Gay Marriage? Yeah, we should drive away potential commerce and rich property holders because they like different organs than you do. You're so right... driving people away from the state has nothing to do with its economic stability... oh, wait.
Getting back to Patrick's original post, all this bickering ties back in. Here I'm a progressive willing to engage with conservatives on areas of mutual agreement... kinda like the type of reporting we'd both rather see in the projo -- something with balance instead of the same ole' whitewashing and mud-slinging.
"How would you like it if I called you "despicable" without ever having spent more than a couple minutes with you (or less)?"
Well you could but the last time I checked he (Cicilline) earned those stripes by publicly lying to the electorate about the Providence state of affairs and then tried to cover it up by forcing the city auditor to file a public records request. All in the name of getting elected. I don't think a personal conversation would change my opinion unless he said a gun was held to his head. I'll let you 'adults' talk now.
You still didn't answer my questions Max... in fact, you directly dodged it, much like the politicians you rail against.
I could just as easily argue that Mayor Taveras is equally "despicable" (even though I don't think he is) -- instead of ignoring the problem, he's mostly tried to solve it using tactics that the people who elected him never would have approved of -- firing teachers and police officers before even *trying* to force Brown to pay taxes.
All in the name of getting elected.
If you think Mr. Cicilline is somehow significantly worse than Joe Paolino, Buddy Cianci (a convicted felon), Ed Pacheco, Mayor Taveras, Theresa Paiva-Weed, Gordon Fox, or any of those other folks who have sold us up the river -- I've got to question your knowledge of history, and if not that, perhaps whether or not you're a homophobe.
"he (Cicilline) earned those stripes by publicly lying to the electorate about the Providence state of affairs and then tried to cover it up by forcing the city auditor to file a public records request. All in the name of getting elected."
David Cicilline barred the city auditor from accessing public records about city finances. Having thereby ensured that no one could contradict him (at least, before the election), Cicilline then went on a months long, very public lying spree about city finances in order to make himself look good so as to gain a political promotion.
It worked, in part, because the ProJo chose to look the other way when his shady actions were exposed.
He also toured senior high rises giving residents the very strong impression that his opponent wanted to snatch their social security checks out of their hands.
Absolutely, despicable is the correct adjective. Also accurate would be the terms "probably fraudulent" (as in the budget that he assembled), "potential perjury" (as in the representations that he made to the state and to bonding companies) and "pathological liar", as in, "David Cicilline has repeatedly demonstrated himself to be a pathological liar".
Monique, I could say the same thing about your level of dishonesty and ignoring of scientific research when it comes to global warming.
But I don't, because name-calling is something I gave up in the 3rd grade.
GL to you guys on getting Cicilline out of office -- he's certainly vulnerable because he did virtually nothing in office (and I don't want to hear it from him either that being in the minority party -- he can still write legislation and have it put on the floor vote calender). But all this personal-sounding vehement rhetoric? It's a major turn-off.
Focus on the issues -- I didn't walk around calling George W. Bush a liar, I walked around telling people he put us into 2 foreign wars that helped decimate our budget (a policy President Obama has continued). See, one of those statements is a fact -- the other is calling names.
But whatever, help him win. I simply don't care who comes out of RI anyway, because Sheldon Whitehouse is the closest thing we have to a progressive -- but the man loves his money, and sees no need to support progressive taxation.
I wish RI would just become a red state and get it over with.
"I wish RI would just become a red state and get it over with."
From your lips to God's ears...
Jparis - As a practical matter, anyone who wants marijuana can obtain it easily and cheaply. If middle school and high school students can get it, I'm sure somebody like yourself will have no trouble. This is why RI's "conservative" stance on medical marijuana doesn't matter as a matter of practicality, even it it matters to you personally in a moral or philosophical sense (as it does to me - all drugs should be legal). In contrast, you can't walk down to the nearest city street corner and buy low taxes, business-friendly regulation, a sustainable and balanced budget, or high-performing right-to-work public schools. The state's corrupt, high-tax, high-regulation, union-driven economic policies have made all of those factors an inescapable reality for its residents.
I seriously doubt that gays are being "driven away" from RI because of its gay marriage position. It's widely known as a gay friendly state and has a thriving (as much as anything can thrive in RI) and open gay presence. One solution is to just get married in Massachusetts and live in RI. I've always felt that marriage without the possibility of childbirth is a silly legal proposition anyway, but that's neither here nor there.
[Removed due to possible libelous allegations and other comments not helpful to the discussion.]
"You still didn't answer my questions Max... in fact, you directly dodged it, much like the politicians you rail against."
Not a dodge. I could careless if you call me despicable the difference being you would be hard pressed to find where I committed a despicable act such as Mr. Cicilline.
"I've got to question your knowledge of history, and if not that, perhaps whether or not you're a homophobe."
Despicable to homophobe? I thought you better than that.
@ Dan: You are of course 100% right there. I haven't had any problems laying my hands on pot since I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease about 3 years ago. Interesting tidbit -- I'm sitting here right now with quite possibly a deadly intestinal blockage (or just bad gas), and the reason I'm not at the hospital already is no health insurance... MRIs are expensive!
Anyway, it's more about not wanting to feel like a criminal every time I use my medicine... not having people call me a pothead because they don't know my situation. Yeah, I'll be able to keep getting pot, but thanks to Big Pharma and the President they bought themselves, I would still be treated like a common street thug if I were caught with it in Rhode Island (things here in Portland are much nicer).
You think RI is known as a gay-friendly state? Really? I don't. Massachusetts is just well, all around us, and they have been much more gay-friendly all along. And RI is still the only state in the union that's over 50% Catholic by demographics -- pretty sure the Pope frowns on homosexuality.
That said, I'll agree with you here: Legal Pot + Gay Marriage still wouldn't be anywhere near close enough to make up for the extreme corruption in RI (both government AND union-based)... more than anything, people just kinda think of us as a bad joke in that regard.
@ Patrick: At least then it'd be truth in advertising. With the exception of a few wonderful standouts (Sue Sosnowski, Josh Miller, Teresa Tanzi, and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting), most RI Democrats are just union-loving Republicans. I know that might prickle you folks... but really, with the exception of all the COLA (something I'm actually against until the entire private sector gets COLA as well), pension, retirement, and other union-based stuff -- this General Assembly was remarkably conservative in 2011.
So why not just split off the union hacks who will mouth Pat Crowley's words, then have the mostly center-right Dems pair up with the majority of Republicans, and then give me a Progressive Caucus (no matter how small), I would actually want to vote for. It'd take doing, but wouldn't be impossible, given a unifying candidate.
And then you'd have a Red State in the Northeast... and I do love it when the status quo is shaken ;)
Plus, no more Jim Langevin being re-elected for nothing every term.
@ Max D: I really don't know you nor do I know your views. I didn't say you were a homophobe -- I'm trying to understand a visceral hatred of a politician who won by a majority vote. But for me to ignore all the time I spent growing up in Rhode Island (Barrington, Kingston, North Kingston, Warwick, Providence) and the rampant homophobia I saw there? I'd have to be blind. This is not a gay-friendly state when we use "gay" to mean "sucks" or "bad" all the time.
But again, please accept my humble apologies if you thought I was calling you out singularly -- I'm just not understanding the angry-seeming thought pattern against Cicilline, when Paolino and Cianci certainly did enough of that garbage as well. Homophobia seemed like a good an idea as any, but that doesn't make it the truth.
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This is one of the most 5 brain damaged progressive states in America. 50/50 this loathsome felonius scumbag wins.
Posted by: Tommy Cranston at November 8, 2011 9:35 AMSomething I actually agree with Tommy on: Rhode Island is majority brain-damaged.
But Progressive? We shot down Gay marriage. We can't license medical marijuana. Democrats attached an abortion rider to a healthcare bill. We refuse to tax Brown University and other private institutions sucking the life from Providence even though they have all the good real estate... this list could get longer.
If RI is progressive, then where I live now in Portland doesn't even rank on the scale. City composting, bike lanes, multiple shopper-owned food co-ops -- yeah, RI, progressive.... ahahahahahaha.
That said, Mr. Cicilline has focused on a whopping two things since he got into office (policy-wise):
1) Protecting medicare and social security from any and all reform or tampering... ensuring the status quo, and that we'll never get anything good (or bad) accomplished in that arena.
2) "Bringing jobs back to America"... *sigh*, he's actually being a protectionist, and thinks that jobs will magically appear in RI if we just say the word "manufacturing" enough.
Thing is? He's a likeable human being for my part. I don't like him as a politician, and am sad he's the best the Dems have to offer, and will be even more sad if he doesn't get challenged from the Left.
One note: "I'll put this politely, a puff piece for David Cicilline and he interviews not only Democrats, but Democrats who are friends of David Cicilline and asks them what kind of job that Cicilline's doing. Gee, I wonder what kind of response they're going to give. No questions for John Loughlin or Brendan Doherty on the job Cicilline's doing? No questions for Ken McKay?"
If all they did was interview Loughlin (in Iraq still?) or Doherty, it wouldn't be a puff piece, it'd be a hit piece.
How about we ask relatively neutral political commentators or politicians? I for one would be interested to see if Gov. Chafee would be willing to comment. But asking his friends is just as bad as asking his enemies... *because you already know what they are going to say*. What's the point of journalism if it tells us nothing new?
Posted by: jparis at November 8, 2011 12:03 PMjparis, my point exactly. I certainly am not asking for a one-sided account on either side. I'm not asking for the Phoenix to do a hit piece. That would be just as useless as this one was. I'm just looking for some journalistic integrity and balance, which this featured, front-page story was sorely lacking.
Often, some newspapers may run a real story on a business that just happens to be a big advertiser and it'll look just like a real story in the paper, with glowing remarks and quotes. That's exactly what this one looks like. I don't know if Cicilline could have paid the Phoenix for a more friendly story.
And you're right, what is the point of journalism if it's not going to tell us anything new. That's quite the damning statement on this story, the Phoenix's editors and possibly Scharfenberg.
Posted by: Patrick at November 8, 2011 12:18 PMIan Donnis usually tried to doa balanced story,even though he's a liberal.He certainly ould have done better than this.
Posted by: joe bernstein at November 8, 2011 12:26 PMRhode Island is "conservative" ("moderate" to the rest of the country) in limited social areas that don't actually affect anything - (gay marriage, marijuana policy, etc.). All this does in effect is facilitate the intellectual dishonesty perpetrated by the RIFuture crowd, public unions, and The Party that RI is run by conservatives and laissez faire capitalists and all of its current problems are due to them.
Posted by: Dan at November 8, 2011 1:47 PMAfter the comments to my last post went off the rails so quickly, I'm hoping to keep things on topic instead of devolving into the usual "you're dumb" comments.
I don't think jparis is trying to say that RI is "conservative", just that he doesn't see it as "progressive". Just like "tall" or "big", they're all just relative terms anyway.
Back to Cicilline and this Phoenix article...
Posted by: Patrick at November 8, 2011 1:57 PM"Thing is? He's a likeable human being for my part. I don't like him as a politician, and am sad he's the best the Dems have to offer, and will be even more sad if he doesn't get challenged from the Left."
jparis,
Posted by: Max D at November 9, 2011 1:37 PMYou are so Rhode Islandized. Was it the lying despicable human being that you found likeable or the lying dispicable politician you found unlikeable?
@ Max: No, it was the sitting down and talking with the man 1-on-1, no handlers, no press, no talking points -- just listening to him talk about himself as a person and his worldview.
You've already shot down Patrick's best intentions by slinging insults at the man. How would you like it if I called you "despicable" without ever having spent more than a couple minutes with you (or less)? So please move along and let the adults talk... see, I can be rude just as easily as you can. It's completely unproductive though.
@ Patrick: Yes, thank you. There's this thing called gray which throws off most armchair political activists. RI isn't ultra-conservative or even laissez faire, any more than it's a progressive bastion.
@ Dan: If I have to hear one more time how medical marijuana is a "limited social [area] that [doesn't] actually affect anything", I'm gonna lose it and just stop posting here. This is my life and my death, and there are MANY more like me.
And Gay Marriage? Yeah, we should drive away potential commerce and rich property holders because they like different organs than you do. You're so right... driving people away from the state has nothing to do with its economic stability... oh, wait.
Getting back to Patrick's original post, all this bickering ties back in. Here I'm a progressive willing to engage with conservatives on areas of mutual agreement... kinda like the type of reporting we'd both rather see in the projo -- something with balance instead of the same ole' whitewashing and mud-slinging.
Posted by: jparis at November 9, 2011 2:08 PM"How would you like it if I called you "despicable" without ever having spent more than a couple minutes with you (or less)?"
Well you could but the last time I checked he (Cicilline) earned those stripes by publicly lying to the electorate about the Providence state of affairs and then tried to cover it up by forcing the city auditor to file a public records request. All in the name of getting elected. I don't think a personal conversation would change my opinion unless he said a gun was held to his head. I'll let you 'adults' talk now.
Posted by: Max D at November 9, 2011 2:38 PMYou still didn't answer my questions Max... in fact, you directly dodged it, much like the politicians you rail against.
I could just as easily argue that Mayor Taveras is equally "despicable" (even though I don't think he is) -- instead of ignoring the problem, he's mostly tried to solve it using tactics that the people who elected him never would have approved of -- firing teachers and police officers before even *trying* to force Brown to pay taxes.
All in the name of getting elected.
If you think Mr. Cicilline is somehow significantly worse than Joe Paolino, Buddy Cianci (a convicted felon), Ed Pacheco, Mayor Taveras, Theresa Paiva-Weed, Gordon Fox, or any of those other folks who have sold us up the river -- I've got to question your knowledge of history, and if not that, perhaps whether or not you're a homophobe.
Posted by: jparis at November 9, 2011 5:32 PM"he (Cicilline) earned those stripes by publicly lying to the electorate about the Providence state of affairs and then tried to cover it up by forcing the city auditor to file a public records request. All in the name of getting elected."
David Cicilline barred the city auditor from accessing public records about city finances. Having thereby ensured that no one could contradict him (at least, before the election), Cicilline then went on a months long, very public lying spree about city finances in order to make himself look good so as to gain a political promotion.
It worked, in part, because the ProJo chose to look the other way when his shady actions were exposed.
He also toured senior high rises giving residents the very strong impression that his opponent wanted to snatch their social security checks out of their hands.
Absolutely, despicable is the correct adjective. Also accurate would be the terms "probably fraudulent" (as in the budget that he assembled), "potential perjury" (as in the representations that he made to the state and to bonding companies) and "pathological liar", as in, "David Cicilline has repeatedly demonstrated himself to be a pathological liar".
Posted by: Monique at November 9, 2011 10:38 PMMonique, I could say the same thing about your level of dishonesty and ignoring of scientific research when it comes to global warming.
But I don't, because name-calling is something I gave up in the 3rd grade.
GL to you guys on getting Cicilline out of office -- he's certainly vulnerable because he did virtually nothing in office (and I don't want to hear it from him either that being in the minority party -- he can still write legislation and have it put on the floor vote calender). But all this personal-sounding vehement rhetoric? It's a major turn-off.
Focus on the issues -- I didn't walk around calling George W. Bush a liar, I walked around telling people he put us into 2 foreign wars that helped decimate our budget (a policy President Obama has continued). See, one of those statements is a fact -- the other is calling names.
But whatever, help him win. I simply don't care who comes out of RI anyway, because Sheldon Whitehouse is the closest thing we have to a progressive -- but the man loves his money, and sees no need to support progressive taxation.
I wish RI would just become a red state and get it over with.
Posted by: jparis at November 10, 2011 3:23 AM"I wish RI would just become a red state and get it over with."
From your lips to God's ears...
Posted by: Patrick at November 10, 2011 8:39 AMJparis - As a practical matter, anyone who wants marijuana can obtain it easily and cheaply. If middle school and high school students can get it, I'm sure somebody like yourself will have no trouble. This is why RI's "conservative" stance on medical marijuana doesn't matter as a matter of practicality, even it it matters to you personally in a moral or philosophical sense (as it does to me - all drugs should be legal). In contrast, you can't walk down to the nearest city street corner and buy low taxes, business-friendly regulation, a sustainable and balanced budget, or high-performing right-to-work public schools. The state's corrupt, high-tax, high-regulation, union-driven economic policies have made all of those factors an inescapable reality for its residents.
I seriously doubt that gays are being "driven away" from RI because of its gay marriage position. It's widely known as a gay friendly state and has a thriving (as much as anything can thrive in RI) and open gay presence. One solution is to just get married in Massachusetts and live in RI. I've always felt that marriage without the possibility of childbirth is a silly legal proposition anyway, but that's neither here nor there.
Posted by: Dan at November 10, 2011 10:31 AM[Removed due to possible libelous allegations and other comments not helpful to the discussion.]
Posted by: chuck at November 10, 2011 11:05 AM"You still didn't answer my questions Max... in fact, you directly dodged it, much like the politicians you rail against."
Not a dodge. I could careless if you call me despicable the difference being you would be hard pressed to find where I committed a despicable act such as Mr. Cicilline.
"I've got to question your knowledge of history, and if not that, perhaps whether or not you're a homophobe."
Despicable to homophobe? I thought you better than that.
Posted by: Max D at November 10, 2011 10:43 PM@ Dan: You are of course 100% right there. I haven't had any problems laying my hands on pot since I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease about 3 years ago. Interesting tidbit -- I'm sitting here right now with quite possibly a deadly intestinal blockage (or just bad gas), and the reason I'm not at the hospital already is no health insurance... MRIs are expensive!
Anyway, it's more about not wanting to feel like a criminal every time I use my medicine... not having people call me a pothead because they don't know my situation. Yeah, I'll be able to keep getting pot, but thanks to Big Pharma and the President they bought themselves, I would still be treated like a common street thug if I were caught with it in Rhode Island (things here in Portland are much nicer).
You think RI is known as a gay-friendly state? Really? I don't. Massachusetts is just well, all around us, and they have been much more gay-friendly all along. And RI is still the only state in the union that's over 50% Catholic by demographics -- pretty sure the Pope frowns on homosexuality.
That said, I'll agree with you here: Legal Pot + Gay Marriage still wouldn't be anywhere near close enough to make up for the extreme corruption in RI (both government AND union-based)... more than anything, people just kinda think of us as a bad joke in that regard.
Posted by: jparis at November 10, 2011 10:51 PM@ Patrick: At least then it'd be truth in advertising. With the exception of a few wonderful standouts (Sue Sosnowski, Josh Miller, Teresa Tanzi, and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting), most RI Democrats are just union-loving Republicans. I know that might prickle you folks... but really, with the exception of all the COLA (something I'm actually against until the entire private sector gets COLA as well), pension, retirement, and other union-based stuff -- this General Assembly was remarkably conservative in 2011.
So why not just split off the union hacks who will mouth Pat Crowley's words, then have the mostly center-right Dems pair up with the majority of Republicans, and then give me a Progressive Caucus (no matter how small), I would actually want to vote for. It'd take doing, but wouldn't be impossible, given a unifying candidate.
And then you'd have a Red State in the Northeast... and I do love it when the status quo is shaken ;)
Plus, no more Jim Langevin being re-elected for nothing every term.
@ Max D: I really don't know you nor do I know your views. I didn't say you were a homophobe -- I'm trying to understand a visceral hatred of a politician who won by a majority vote. But for me to ignore all the time I spent growing up in Rhode Island (Barrington, Kingston, North Kingston, Warwick, Providence) and the rampant homophobia I saw there? I'd have to be blind. This is not a gay-friendly state when we use "gay" to mean "sucks" or "bad" all the time.
But again, please accept my humble apologies if you thought I was calling you out singularly -- I'm just not understanding the angry-seeming thought pattern against Cicilline, when Paolino and Cianci certainly did enough of that garbage as well. Homophobia seemed like a good an idea as any, but that doesn't make it the truth.
Posted by: jparis at November 10, 2011 11:14 PM