Why?
What is wrong with the voters in his district? What are they thinking? I assume they think, which appears to be a major stretch.
What can’t they comprehend about the mortgage mess. Do they really want more buggerie of their cost of living?
I really do need an explanation of what the he77 these fools are thinking!
This race, more than any other, makes me fear for our country.
Part of the district is well-off liberal professional types, and part is union-dominated regular party machine Democrats. Those two groups always vote for Barney and everyone else doesn't really have a say.
Also, Barney's voters don't have the same information we do. They rely on the Boston Globe and other pro-Frank sources of information, which simply accepted his excuses as the whole story. Even when they do hear otherwise they dismiss what's said as coming from Republicans, who they don't like or trust.
Partisanship can twist people that way, whatever party they're in. What's different here is the tradition of the "rascal king." In some parts of the country people like disreputable politicians. They figure all politicians are crooks or bastards and they'd rather have a crook or a bastard on their side.
Is Barney "on their side"? For some of them that's true. Certainly for those union leaders and die-hard Democrats and the Democratic machine -- and for Barney's liberals, as well.
If there's a dictator inside every activist liberal, somebody who likes to give orders and push people around, there's also somebody who likes to get away with bending or breaking the rules and admires a shady fellow liberal who doesn't get caught. And I guess there are enough people in those groups to get him to 52%.