"You might think that [Deval] Patrick’s logical path is to compete with Biden for black voters, and with Warren and Sanders for New Hampshire voters..."

"... And sure, it would help Patrick if he can peel off some of Warren’s well-educated liberal voters, particularly in New Hampshire. And to win the nomination, he will probably have to close the big lead that Biden has with African-Americans. But I think the real opening for Patrick is essentially to replace Pete Buttigieg as the candidate for voters who want a charismatic, optimistic, left-but-not-that-left candidate. Patrick, I think, is betting that there’s a 'Goldilocks' opportunity for him — 'Buttigieg but older,' or 'Biden but younger' — a candidate who is viewed as both safe on policy and safe on electability grounds by Democratic establishment types and voters who just want a somewhat generic Democratic candidate that they are confident will win the general election.... On paper, Patrick seems fairly similar to Cory Booker and Kamala Harris — charismatic, black, left-but-not-that-left. But... Patrick has a last-mover advantage — he’s seen how the other candidates have ran and can begin his candidacy to take advantage of perceived weaknesses.... [M]ore importantly, Booker and Harris both spent the first half of the year trying to win some of the more liberal voters, who are likely now with Warren and Sanders. That may have made Harris, in particular, appear as though she was trying to be all things to all people. Patrick can now enter the race knowing that he is trying to win Democrats who self-identify as 'moderate' and 'somewhat liberal,' basically conceding the most liberal voters to Warren and Sanders."

From "Why Deval Patrick Is Making A Late Bid For The Democratic Nomination" by Perry Bacon Jr. (at FiveThirtyEight).

It's not that late. I think it's smart to hold back, observe, and then enter when you see the negative space created by all the other candidates. Step right into it.

Drinking alone, part 2.

1. Earlier today, I had "Deval Patrick, drinking alone" ("... I was actually quite drunk, by myself”). In the comments, The Godfather said, "Drinking alone is bad enough. Admitting to a reporter that you do so is weird." I said:

I don't see anything wrong with eating alone in a restaurant and ordering a drink (or even 2 or 3) with your dinner. But getting "quite drunk" alone (especially in public) is embarrassing.

2. Everyone seems to be talking about "Embracing päntsdrunk, the Finnish way of drinking alone in your underwear" (NBC):

To Americans, drinking alone can sound, well, lonely (and, as we’ll get to shortly, problematic), but Finns typically don’t tend to see it that way, in part because they’re quite comfortable with solitude.

"Finns, like most Scandinavian cultures, are very good at being by themselves," says Briana Volk, the half-Finnish co-owner of the Portland Hunt + Alpine Club, a Scandinavian-influenced cocktail bar in Maine.... "Finns are fairly introverted and private,” she tells NBC News BETTER. “We generally don't say hello to one another on the street or on the bus and we're used to enduring long, tough winters — sometimes in total darkness. For these reasons, enjoying a drink or two by yourself is a natural thing."

3. "This week, a podcast hit me with its ridiculousness, and I made a video. Here encounter rats, crowds, brain loss, gin, and a soft spot for the fate of the introvert":

Deval Patrick, drinking alone.

I've been thinking Deval Patrick after his appearance on "State of the Union" — which I blogged about yesterday — in which he teased a 2020 presidential run. I had some questions about him. I won't say what they were, but in my search, I ran across this 2013 article in Slate, which quotes Patrick, describing an evening (just after the capture of the Boston Marathon bombers):

"I got out to the Berkshires around supper time (Saturday, April 20). And I went for a quick swim, and I went to a local restaurant ... for supper by myself with a book. And I sat in the corner and Maggie, who runs the (restaurant), asked, 'Do you want to be near people or away from people?' I said, 'As far away as I can.' So she put in the corner, me and my book on my iPad, and she starts bringing me things. Some of them edible. In fact all the food was edible. She starts bringing me things to drink as a celebration. And by the end of the meal, I was actually quite drunk, by myself."

"I have... many, many longtime friends at Bain Capital, people I know to be highly honorable folks. Mitt Romney hasn't been there for decades, decades now."

Said Deval Patrick on "State of the Union" today, after Jake Tapper prompted him with: "Now, I know, when Mitt Romney was attacked for his association... with Bain Capital in 2012, I know you didn't personally criticize Bain back then. But given the way -- the way that the Democratic Party went after Bain during that race and the way that Hillary Clinton faced so much criticism from the left for her speeches to Goldman Sachs in 2016, did you have any reservations at all about joining Bain after leaving the governor's mansion?"

That made me laugh, that subtle — so subtle — disrespect for Mitt Romney.

The purpose of this interview seemed to be to position Patrick as a 2020 presidential candidate, and Patrick's answer to the prompt continued:

I describe myself as a capitalist. I'm not a market fundamentalist. I don't think markets solve every problem just the right way. But I do believe in opportunity. I think -- I think we need an economy that is expanding and is expanding out, so it reaches people on the margins, not just up, so it's -- it's good for people who already have wealth and have -- and just want more. And I think there is a right way and a wrong way to do that. And I think impact investing is an incredibly interesting and exciting way to participate in -- in growth capitalism. So, no, I don't -- I don't -- I don't buy all that. But, look, I have never taken a job where I have left my conscience at the door. And I haven't started now. So...

This was all very moderate and bland. I mean, I like this sort of thing, but I understand why Tapper broke in to jazz it up a bit:

TAPPER: You know that that Democratic socialists are ascendant in your party. And there are a lot of people on the left who will have a natural skepticism about you if you choose to run just because of everything you just said to me about your belief in capitalism. Does that concern you at all about the fact that there are going to be so many people who are skeptical of you on the left if you choose to run?

This led to various coy statements about it being too early to talk about running. But I was really interested in that tossed off line: "You know that that Democratic socialists are ascendant in your party." When did the word "socialists" get normalized within the Democratic Party? Tapper said it in passing and Patrick did not question it. That got my attention.

The theory that Obama will endorse Biden but only if Biden commits to serving only one term and picks Deval Patrick as VP.

This is the "talk in Democratic Party circles," according to Edward Klein (linked, just now, by Instapundit). 

ADDED: If you're Governor of Massachusetts and want to be President, you do need to be Vice President first. Ask Michael Dukakis, Mitt Romney, and Calvin Coolidge.

"For Many Iranians, 'Death To America' Are Just Words."

NPR assures.

Just words?! Hey, don't tell me words don't matter!



It's just by chance that the old Obama "just words" speech came to mind there. Pure coincidence that it comes the day after all that talk about Rand Paul and plagiarism. But this was the speech where he lifted his best lines from Deval Patrick.

Just words!

When you send Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel out to do your PR, you must be really desperate.

Did you see this character on "Fox News Sunday" yesterday? If not, you've got to watch this video. Here's the transcript, but you won't get the high anxiety feeling from the text alone. It must be experienced visually and aurally.

Now, I've watched this twice (and read the transcript), and I believe Zeke — older brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and Hollywood-based talent agent Ari Emanuel — is damned sharp and even honest and he's willing to argue and stand his ground and more. I appreciate that. There is something to be defended here — Obamacare — and so if they aren't willing to acknowledge the fraud and to resubmit healthcare reform to Congress — which I believe is the only morally correct response — then they'd better step up, take the hard questions, and give real answers. And that's what Ezekiel Emanuel is doing there. It's spectacular!

But this is not the kind of harsh, in-your-face talk America is used to! This is the kind of guy you expect to be working hard behind the scenes. A mellower, friendlier face is what we expect. Did you see Deval Patrick on "Meet the Press" yesterday? That's the norm. So soothing! Everything's going to be all right. Ezekiel Emanuel? That was so weird! That was not Everything's going to be all right. That was PANIC!!!!

"Do you want to be near people or away from people?"

The restauranteur asked Governor Deval Patrick, the day after the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. 

"I said, ‘As far away as I can.’ So she put in the corner, me and my book on my iPad, and she starts bringing me things. Some of them edible. In fact all the food was edible. She starts bringing me things to drink as a celebration. And by the end of the meal, I was actually quite drunk, by myself.”

Is this how we get FCC rulings nowadays?

David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius

— The FCC (@FCC) April 20, 2013

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

After thanking Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick and the city’s police department, Ortiz yelled “This is our f---ing city!” Ortiz added: “And nobody's going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”

The game against the Kansas City Royals was broadcast nationally on MLBN, as well as regionally on NESN. It was also carried on local radio stations WEEI 850 and WUFC 1510.

But Ortiz’s f-bomb isn’t going to land him in hot water with the FCC, with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski tweeting his blessing from the government agency’s official Twitter account.

If you're trying to remember what the current state of the law is on "fleeting expletives" and broadcasting, here's an NYT article from last June: "Can You Say That on TV? Broadcasters Aren’t Sure." Photo of Genachowski at the link.

Scott Brown will go back to the Senate, into the seat Kerry will vacate...

... unless this poll is way off.

The strongest potential opponent is Deval Patrick, and he's running 7 points behind Brown.

If Kerry becomes Secretary of State, his replacement could be... Michael Dukakis!

Democratic Governor Deval Patrick will get to appoint someone pending a special election (which would come in late spring or early summer).

Dukakis is — we're told — the obvious choice if the idea is to install a placeholder.

"Power-hungry Bay State Democrats — eyeing another potential Senate opening if U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry joins the Obama Cabinet..."

"... are quietly discussing reinstating a 2004 law that would let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint a permanent replacement to help keep the seat under party control until at least 2014."

... The move comes eight years after Democratic lawmakers stripped then-Gov. Mitt Romney of his appointment powers in an effort to keep Republicans out of the office, and three years after they changed the law again to let Patrick appoint a temporary replacement.

Live-blogging Day 1 of the Democratic Convention.

4:58 CT: Just setting up a post, to be added to over the course of the evening. Please join the conversation.

6:53 (I'm beginning with recorded material from about 2 hours ago. I'll be catching up.): "Being asked to pay your fair share isn't class warfare. It's patriotism," says Newark Mayer Cory Booker. He gets a huge ovation that turns into a "U.S.A." chant. They're "U.S.A."ing at the idea of patriotism, presumably. Not taxes. Oh, but paying taxes = patriotism. Or, specifically, being asked to pay is patriotism. Who is the patriot in that grammatical construction? I think it's the folks who are asking other people to pay.

7:11 (Still catching up.): Gov. Bev Perdue sounded hoarse and a bit sick as she vowed to deliver North Carolina to the Democrats. A film about health care. A young man whose parents died in a way that supposedly might have been avoided if we'd had Obamacare. They were both scientists, he says, so I'm not clear why they did not have health insurance.

7:19: The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Congress, Charles Gonzales, uses the motto "e pluribus unum" — out of many, one — to mean that all the people become one, instead of the idea that the states were brought together into one nation. The idea that the people merged into a single entity — that sounds like fascism to me. Oddly, as it repurposes the old motto, it expresses the old fashioned idea of the melting pot.

7:30: White males of the gubernatorial kind — Quinn & Kaine.

7:32: A black speaker wedged in — the mayor of Charlotte — before the next pale male. But it's a big one, so I'll go light on the fast-forwarding I'm using to try to catch up to live. It's Harry Reid.

7:36: Reid wants us to fear the Tea Party. They are "extremists and ideologues who leave no room for reason," and they're taking over the Republican Party.

7:42: Nancy Pelosi is introduced along with all the Democratic women of the House. There's disco music playing. The hell? Then I detect that it's "I'm Every Woman." Again with this creepy merging of individuals into the whole.

Pride and Plagiarism.

In this blogging game, there are sometimes stories that fall so squarely in my zone that I feel obligated to write a post. But blogging, to me, means quite specifically that I'm not obligated. Nevertheless, I want to flag these 2 recent Obama-related stories:

1. Michelle Obama is under fire for saying: "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." She said that in Milwaukee on Monday, and later in the day, in Madison — at an event I attended — she put it: "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country." As I wrote on Monday, I thought she gave a brilliant speech, full of inspiration, and the bad phrase didn't strike me at all. But the uproar shows that anything you say in a campaign can mushroom out of all proportion. Anything can become a weapon for your opponents. People should look at the whole person and her whole message to decide whether this asserted lack of pride somehow reveals a person who feels no solid connection to her country's history and values. Does it resonate with other evidence? Does anything else contribute to a picture of the Obamas as disaffected America-haters who only start to feel good when the country showers love on them?

2. Barack Obama got accused of "plagiarism" for using 2 well-known quotes followed by the exclamation "just words!" from an old speech by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. Charles Krauthammer said:

In a Democratic campaign that is so completely empty of ideas and differences, this comic relief is welcome. In fact, Obama changed the order of these quotes. That was his innovation.

It's not as if Duval [sic] Patrick had said something original. This is a rhetorical device that Obama had borrowed. It is not as if Obama had stolen his healthcare plan or his solution to Fermat's last theorem, or even his life story, like Biden did of Neil Kinnock in 1988.

So this is really a scraping of the bottom of the barrel. What Clinton is trying to do is to build up a record of inauthenticity. That's all she's got.

The question isn't really what counts as plagiarism. We're not imposing sanctions. The question is whether seeing the similarity between the 2 men — Obama and Patrick — makes us think Obama's speechifying is not all that special. And if our good opinion of him is based mainly on his speeches, then we have reason to examine why we're supporting him. But politics is full of stock phrases, contagious memes, and brainstormed messages. If attacks like this work, we'll never hear the end of it. For example, the NYT has this tale of a Bill Clinton "stealing" the phrase "force the spring" found on a sheet of paper in a dead man's typewriter. Do we want every speech larded with acknowledgements? As my wise old friend Joe Blow likes to say.... On the other hand, if that were the rule, you'd probably paraphrase to keep it short — and hide the theft. But it wouldn't be theft if the idea expressed was as unremarkable as the one Obama lifted from Patrick.