Bush Baffles Massachusetts Liberals: What does the president means as he slings the phrase.

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 17, 2004 | Elizabeth Mehren

[billorites]

LEXINGTON, Mass. — Graphic designer Margery Stegman took notice the first time President Bush called his opponent a "Massachusetts liberal" in last week's final presidential debate.

She bristled the second time the president tossed the term at Sen. John F. Kerry. Clearly the description was not intended as a compliment.

When Bush used the expression a third time, Stegman said, "I thought to myself: How did this become such a pejorative?"

So Stegman called her brother, an independent media producer in nearby Needham. Rob Stegman also had winced at the president's verbal triple-punch.

It turns out many people in the state where Bush's ancestors helped make history, where his father was born and where Bush was educated were not happy to be turned into a political insult — three times in one 90-minute debate.

"Massachusetts liberal is code for 'out of touch with the rest of the country.' That is how I interpret it," Rob Stegman said.

"We've got the Republic of Cambridge here," he said facetiously. "We are all socialists and of course we are all elitists. You say Massachusetts liberal, and that means we all believe in high taxes and you know we believe in gay marriage, right?"

He laughed: The state is split on those issues and others.

More specifically, said political science professor Paul Watanabe of the University of Massachusetts in Boston, the Massachusetts liberal label was "a way to link Kerry to Michael Dukakis," the state's former governor and an avowed Massachusetts liberal.

Dukakis was overwhelmingly defeated in his 1988 bid to become president by the current president's father, George H.W. Bush.

The state has not seen a Democratic governor since Dukakis, who was replaced in 1990 by Republican William Weld. Weld was succeeded by Republicans Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift and Mitt Romney

< SNIP>

[ImpeachandRemove]

I'll match your Gerry Studds and raise you a Robert Drinan :)

[wrbones]

Where do ya get a copy of the dictionary those folks use?

They have some pretty interestin' definitions fer words...

Nazi, Fascist, Liberal...

[SpyGuy]

"Massachusetts liberal is code for 'out of touch with the rest of the country.'

No, it's a convenient label for those 'out of touch with reality.'

[fieldmarshaldj]

The question isn't when was the last GOP Senator in Massachusetts, the question is when was the last CONSERVATIVE elected Senator, and that was a Democrat named John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1952 against a leftist RINO Senator named Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (The last bonafide Conservative Republican Senator was Sinclair Weeks back in 1944).

[Beckwith]

the Massachusetts liberal label was "a way to link Kerry to Michael Dukakis,"

Kerry doesn't need to be linked to anyone. He's a Massachusetts liberal, end of story.

The way you link Kerry to Dukakis is to remind people that Kerry was The Duke's lieutenant governor.

[Smoote]

Can't the LA Times find anything more worthwhile to write about? Liberals whining is hardly news.

[Lando Lincoln]

Could have the same impact as when President Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire". I'll just bet it has many decent people from the east taking stock in their convictions.

Lando

[Beckwith]

We've got the Republic of Cambridge here,"

ThIs guy's got it wrong.

Cambridge, Massachusetts is referred to as "The People's Republic of Cambridge" by every working class person in Boston. It has the largest collection of communists, socialists, lefties, anarchists and America-haters on the east coast.

[EternalVigilance]

Any one of these people could say, "Don't you know who I am?!?", with feeling...

[dancusa]

Here's a column by Howie Carr describing the life in the Beautiful Peoples Republic. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1147624/posts

[maryz]

Thanks for the link. Somehow I seem to have missed that one.

Re Cambridge: Howie did say a while back on his radio show that the difference between Cambridge and Brookline is that, in Cambridge once you get a half mile or so away from Harvard Square, you're back in the United States.

[johnb838]

Exactly! How about Communist? They should understand that "Liberal" is the polite term.

[EternalVigilance]

heh...

Great read!

Thanks.

Truth is often much stranger than the most vivid imaginations of the best novelists.

[Bellflower]

It has the largest collection of communists, socialists, lefties, anarchists and America-haters on the east coast.

Sounds Just like my dispicable city, Madison WI in the Mid West. La La Land.

[FreedomPoster]

Here's an image to add to your collection:

[angkor]

"I thought to myself: How did this become such a pejorative?"

It would be the hallmark of a Massachusetts liberal to believe that "Massachusetts liberal" had ever been anything but a pejorative.

They're so proud of their liberalness that they can't fathom the rest of America sees them as socialists and elitists.

[billorites]

Yeah, like when did "Boston driver" become a perjorative?

[Clintonfatigued]

"Dukakis was overwhelmingly defeated in his 1988 bid to become president by the current president's father, George H.W. Bush."

I don't enjoy saying this, but Bush the Elder did not win an overwhelming victory. He defeated Dukakis by 54% to 46%, a healthy enough margin in a Presidential race, but no landslide. And while the electoral vote was 426 to 112, Bush's margin in many states was very thin.

[Clintonfatigued]

Good point. And, the state's last Republican Senator (Edward Brooke), was a RINO, as was his his Republican predecessor (Leverett Saltonstall).

[PGalt]

Not to mention Marty Meehan and his power trips.
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/congtravel/member_report.php?member=302