Their “Republicans” like those in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey, bear little resemblance to the real thing!
I’m told Charlie Baker is a lefty too in the “John Lindsey” wing of the GOP.
Mitt Romney is what passes as a Republican in Mass.
In Massachusetts, Romney is a Republican.
One Word:
MITTROMNEY..................
Remember Gov. Weld? Calling him a RINO would be a stretch. I’m afraid these Mass. Republicans are as Republican as Bloomberg (thankfully that fraud is back to being a Dimm).
Take a look at the last ‘Pubbie governor of MA - Romney.
Then it is pretty easy to understand.
Baker may wear an R jersey, but he’s a Democrat.
Baker’s an acceptable Mass. Republican. Meaning a guy who’s socially liberal but maybe skeptical about raising taxes.
The problem with Mass, is that there’s too many elderly people like my parents who think they’re still voting for the Democratic Party of FDR or Truman or JFK.
My mother reflexively votes straight-ticket Dem and will never change. But she thinks “feminists” are silly and has no idea what “Neo-Marxism” or “Socialism” is. It’s just not on her radar at all. There’s a mental disconnect there.
It’s an excellent question. Mass is a thru and thru Dem state. I just can’t grab why a state that loyally Dem has had such a good track record of electing Republicans to the Governor’s office.
Yeah, yeah, we can make the argument that Romney, Hogan and Weld were all liberal Republicans. They were! But it doesn’t explain the ticket splitting that we’ve seen in that state.
They vote for a Republican (in name only) governor because it is well understood that the legislature will be Democrat.
Boston,Cambridge,Somerville are so far left and heavily populated they skew the entire state.
They’re conflicted? :)
In very liberal areas, there is a ballet with Democrat and Republican on it. But people from those areas read it as, Democrat and Democrat lite. Foe instance, Bloomberg called himself a republican as he ran for mayor of New York. But Bloomberg is a democrat in every single respect. He may not be a socialist. He may not advocate for getting rid of ICE. But he is democrat in every other way.
Up until not too long ago, MA would even send Republicans to Congress: Brooke, Saltonstall, Lodge.
That said, in all other ways we are a one-party state and have been so for quite some time. Like other areas of the country, our urban areas tend to dominate. We have many former mill cities that, charitably speaking, are on the "taking" side of the ledger, and they tend to vote the way you think they would.
We are also very much a machine state. That's the only way you can explain people like Markey.
And we are a higher-education dominated state. That's how you explain people like Warren, and people like Kerry. College-aged kids, who tend to be liberal / progressive, put in their 4+ years in greater Boston and vote the way you think they would.
We're not Vermont, but we do have our own hippie swath in the Berkshires.
Our least liberal areas are the suburbs and ex-burbs of greater Boston, but sprinkled around that crescent are several ultra-rich towns populated by limo liberals and the most odious variety of NIMBY progressives.
But it's the machine that'll keep the Commonwealth blue. Our state GOP party is a painful joke.
When my wife worked in Mass. she had to file out of state income tax.
One item summed up Mass. for me.
After entering your total Mass. income there was a box to enter how much of your income was derived from illegal activity.
I’m from CT and I have a lot of things to say about the entire region.
I have experience in MA with many friends being from there, my ultra-leftist sister lives there and some of the worst experiences in my life have been in that god-awful commonwealth.
The most conservative governor MA has had since Coolidge was Ed King, a democrat, who was far to the right of any GOP gov since.
Well Tall Deval is really just a Dem in sheeps clothing. His ability to be elected is predicated on two things liberals will allow. One he has and will support liberal legislation and endorse democrats. Also his election here allows democrats to say, “see we have an open mind, we voted for a republican.”
Thirty years ago, Massachusetts was known as ‘Taxachusetts’. Now it has lower taxes than nearby states.
Why? The voters in MA put the brakes on. They made it clear that social liberalism is OK, but lay off the tax and spend. The politicians got the message.
Just to make sure, they keep electing a GOP governor.
But if there is one thing a Senator can’t do, it’s raise Massachusetts income and property tax. They’re safe ensconced in their office in Washington DC.
Hope this helps...