The Professional and the Blowhard

MA Attorney General Maura Healey debated her opponent Jay McMahon in Boston on Wednesday, and I was lucky enough to be in the audience. For the past year and a half now, I’ve been writing an email newsletter covering Maura’s activities in support of her reelection during these midterms, and this debate seemed suitable as the topic for one of my newsletters. (I wrote about the first debate here.)

However, in thinking about what I wanted to say about the debate, I felt the need to write a blog post, and not just an email, to do it justice. So, after a very long hiatus, here is a new blog post!

As I said, I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted to say about the debate (while watching the Red Sox game). Part of what was playing in my mind was the fact that a number of people out there received pipe bombs delivered to their homes earlier that day. Some of my favorite people. (The Boston Globe host mentioned former President Clinton and his wife. ….. And his wife?!!)

And plenty of folks out there (including some of my not-so-favorite folks) were saying we need to end the divisiveness and come together as a country. We need to be civil. And it’s all CNN’s fault.

So, I was trying to figure out how to be civil in describing the debate.

Then my husband came home and said:

I listened to the debate on the radio.

That guy sounds like a complete idiot.

Well, then. There’s that.

Yes, Jay went low. And even though I would love to emulate Michelle Obama, I don’t think I can go very high here.

After Maura’s very nice opening statement where she outlined her priorities and some of her accomplishments and humbly asked for our support, Jay attacked. He called her a political activist who is only out to promote her own political future. Why? Because she works hard at her job?

His attacks continued with the following statements from him (and, believe it or not, I’m not really paraphrasing all that much):

• She is soft on crime.
• She doesn’t have the backs of law enforcement because she (She?) has a sanctuary city policy. She encourages cities to become sanctuary cities. She won’t deal with the feds. And illegal aliens! And MS13!
• She has a personal animus towards guns and gun owners.
• She is the favorite candidate of lawyers and lobbyists.
• She decided about the guns! All on her own! Because she likes Hillary Clinton.
• There is heavy corruption in the AG’s office.
• She sued Trump after only two days in office! Meritless suits! The travel ban was not against Muslims! She will let them come in unvetted! She will leave us to the savages!
• She didn’t sue the Obama administration at all. (Maura pointed out the suit over the Defense of Marriage Act.)
• She has Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Maura’s responses included:

• That’s not true.
• That’s inaccurate.
• That’s a ridiculous assertion.
• Let me correct the record on that.
• That’s a very unfortunate recitation, and I want to clear the record.
• That’s wrong. I’ll let the record speak for itself.
• Not true.

And she also included in each of her responses what she has done, what she is going to do, and how she will continue to do her job of enforcing the law. She also mentioned that the courts have had her back on a number of occasions including many of the “meritless” Trump suits, and the courts are the ones who decide what is and is not constitutional/legal. (I’m not sure Jay is aware of this point. He seems to think Maura Healey can do this. This concerns me since I think it is important that someone who is seeking the office of AG should know this.)

Quotes that I really liked from Maura:

• I’m not going to wait for calamity to strike in Massachusetts before I enforce the law.
• I wish we could have more constructive conversations about what we need to do collectively to reduce levels of violence in our homes, on our streets, in our communities, and in our schools.
• It didn’t take me long to sue Donald Trump, because it didn’t take him long to do something illegal or unconstitutional.
• It’s my job to stand up for the interests of our state and our values.

Maura was civil and professional in all of her responses. She maintained her cool, and she never attacked back.

Her guests were also more mature and polite than his guests. One of his guests, seated behind me, got thrown out for his disruptive behavior.

Me? While watching the debate, I became flushed, my heart was pounding, and my palms were sweaty. Just like when I watch a Red Sox game. I completely concur with my husband’s assessment of Jay. I’ll also add Jay is a lying, bullying, Trump wannabe who doesn’t place much stock in facts.

Massachusetts, please vote for Maura Healey.