An Establishment Rebel in the State House
Ed Fitzpatrick catches a telling rhetorical cliché in a column about state representative and congressional candidate David Segal (D., Providence) (emphasis added):
“I have a constituency in (his House district) that voted for me at a 70/30 rate over the years in primaries, and I think that I will be framed as a progressive as such,” Segal said in fielding questions from journalists before Wednesday’s event. “But I think the issues that I talk about, when people care to listen — banking reform, jobs, the environment, insurance reform and structural reform — are almost non-ideological issues at this point. They are things almost everybody agrees need to happen. I think people are fed up with the status quo and want somebody who has not been a political insider for his whole life.”
Segal, 30, has been a politician most of his adult life, having served four years on the Providence City Council and four years in the General Assembly.
As somebody who comes from money, as I understand, Segal has gone through the Ivy League, served on a city council and in the General Assembly, started a blog, and is employed by a fellow State House Democrat. One doesn’t get much more insider than that, at his age.
Segal argues that he’s not “exactly accepted by the political establishment,” but he’s a political insider in a more essential sense than his connections clearly prove: almost nothing he has ever done — at least that would make the short-list biography of a columnist — involved action outside of government or (at broadest) a political movement with deep ties to powerful local forces. That’s not entirely a slight — accomplishment is accomplishment — but it does speak to a perspective on what it means to “make it” that is antipathetic to the fading strain of American culture that so needs reinforcement at every political level, at this juncture in history.
This will be interesting to see how the media frames him. I think in comparison to the walking conflict of interest (Lynch) and the perceived DINO (Caprio) people like Donnis, McKay, Baron and Fitzpatrick will strongly favor Segal and paint him as the next young Kennedy-like to replace Kennedy. Because of that, I don’t think the media will really get the message out there about just how far left liberal he is. That is something that matters to the voters of this state. Most voters are not as liberal as Segal is and would probably be turned off to him if they knew the types of things he supports. Lynch is more conservative than Segal is, and we know Caprio is to the right of Lynch. I’m guessing those two pounce on him to eliminate the media favoritism I believe he’ll get leading up to the primary, and then it’ll just be up to Loughlin to continue the assault if Segal can get through the primary.
I think think Caprio is going to end up being “middle of the road” enough for the state’s voters.
Just another phony attempt at self-definition by a Progressive whose entire weltanschauung is based on inversions of reality; i.e, a congenital liar.
Add to that the fact that he has never held a real job in his life and he’s the second coming of Patches Kennedy.
Segal has his own conflict of interest.He is an employee of House Rep.Peter Wasylyk-working as a paralegal in Wasylyk’s law office.
I’ve spoken to Segal-he is essentially a child of privilege playing at being part of some “great” progressive movement to right all the perceived wrongs in the world.Not like he ever had to do anything hard in his life other than be a good student.
He mouths communist talking points that were already stale by the close of the Fifties to justify open borders.
If the people of this state are demented enough to elect him,we deserve a direct hit by a large meteorite.
At least he’ll be gone from the General Assembly.
Chris Blazejewski,his likely replacement,is at least an adult with a more mature point of view.He’s still way left,but for some reason not as offensive as Segal.
Segal has never had responsibility for anyone else.How can he understand people who had to make it the hard way?
Ian Donnis is a good friend of his,so I’d expect he’d support,but who knows?
Maybe that sh*t for brains Scott McKay will be in his corner.
McKay is the idiot who doesn’t think aliens are involved in the drug trade.
Sorry to say it, though while Segal’s radical left agenda, lack of real world experience and privileged background should be politically fatal, in a state that would serially elect Patrick Kennedy, Jack Reed, and (presumably) Sheldon Whitehouse, Segal’s curriculum vitae is probably a political asset.
I have to say that while I disagree with David’s -views- most of the time, I support him because he’s come to the conclusions he holds through deep thought and can rationalize all of his beliefs.
Honestly, I’d rather have a politician I -don’t- agree with who takes the time to explain to me (personally) how they got to where they are than one who feeds me what I want to hear. Much better than the hot air you get from a lot of the other contenders.
mangeek, that makes sense if there is no alternative. But if there’s someone who tells you the truth and you disagree with it or think it can be harmful, why put that person into office? Why not support a Loughlin who can be all over the spectrum, but will at least offer you some of what you might agree with and what you might think is harmful?
Yeah, straight, honest talk is good, but not that good if I disagree with it.
And isn’t that a shame that we give candidates credit for just being forthright? Isn’t that what they’re all *supposed* to do?
Although rare, one can be a long-time politician without being an “insider.” The Republican National Committee has been trying to oust Ron Paul by running candidates against him for decades. Unlike Segal, Paul practiced as a physician first, but has been in Congress since the 70’s. Despite that fact, I don’t think anyone would consider him an insider by any standard.
Unlike most of the GA, Segal has a conscience. A warped progressive conscience, but a conscience. The first time I met him was at his Drinking Liberally event and it was immediately obvious that he was not a “politician.” Very timid, poor public speaker, has no idea how to work a crowd (he sat down in the back of the room with a couple of his friends the whole time instead of going out and meeting people). He is not part of the corrupt Democratic machine that runs this state, really more of a lone weed. While there is some overlap, they, like the military, don’t want philosophers like Segal out on the battlefield, they want programmable automatons. He will be cannibalized the instant they see him as a threat.
Segal tries to assuage his “guilt”(based on nothing)by sucking up to and being a pawn for shameless ethnic hustlers like Almeida,Diaz,and Pichardo.He also is a minion of the degenerate leftists like Levesque,Perry,Handy,Ajello,etc.
They don’t take Segal seriously,but he’s so eager to be accepted that he tries not to notice it.
He is also under the sway of agitators from the ACLU,Dare,ONA,OSA,JWJ,and so on and so forth.
His own man?Hardly.
Communist? Socialist? Degenerate?
If Segal’s political enemies are that desperate, sounds like good reason to vote for him. Makes Cicilline look like a knight in shining armor, eh?
Yeah-communist,socialist,degenerate-your kind of folks Rhody.
Cicilline sucks even more than Segal because he’s a liar.Segal actually believes the crap he spews.
Right on. If Bernstein insults you, you are my friend.
Well,if someone knows Rhody and throws up on his face,they’re my friend.
Poor old Bernstein, knowing there’s nothing he can do to me. It’s a pity his ego’s writing checks he can’t cash. Poor dude just can’t leave well enough alone, just has to take his cheap shots like a junkie who needs that fix. He’ dying to throw me in the pen, but there’s not a thing the poor man can do (unless I start leaving my car unlocked).
Rhody-if you run into me,please repeat your cowardly anonymous comments to me personally.
I sure will…sounds like you’re planning to do something. Does it involve weapons, firearms or any other toys of your former profession? Just curious 🙂
Would you two cease to address each other, please?
Rhody-this is why you are such a POS.I need nothing to deal with you.I’d just invite you to back up you lying “mouth”and it’d be your call then weasel.Let’s say you’d be called out man to man.
I wouldn’t think of being armed in such a circumstance.
You are nothing but a cowardly crap spewing keyboard commando.
I am comploying with Justin’s request, for I do not wish to see our law enforcement community embarassed further by the threats and bombast of one of its own.
That is all.
OK Justin-I am through throwing the equivalent of f-bombs with the pissant.
He can jerk off to how clever he thinks he is.