The Boston Globe today had a great “dog bites man” headline. The story about last night’s final mayoral debate was titled “After testy week, Newton mayoral candidates agree they don’t like Trump”. Shocking!
Were you there last night for the last debate? What were your take away impressions?
All that means is that I’m definitely voting FULLER! Fuller Has always supported the conservative candidates (Bush, McCain, Sarah Palin, Trump!)
MAGA with Fuller.
Liberal Lennon won’t ruin us by not supporting our president Trump.
Really? Not what I read.
“Fuller credited Trump with trying to reach out to working people to ensure they ‘are represented in the economy and in the decision-making process.'”
Lennon was great. Right to the point on each question. His “I and we” were noticeable. Fuller was a lot of “We””.
Fuller had some stumbling.
Lennon will be the better choice for Mayor of this great City.
Really Sally?
.
Please tell me this isn’t the beginning of a new “Fuller supports Trump” meme. Things haven’t got that ridiculous yet have they?
I know. I mean that I support Ruthanne Fuller because she is the conservative Trump candidate. She’s always given to conservative causes like Bush, Romney, Sarah Palin, Donald.
I support our President Trump and Ruthanne Fuller.
MAGA NEWTON with Fuller
Ruthanne, Trump has done nothing to ensure that working people “are represented in the economy and in the decision-making process.” He in fact has fueled racial animosity and hostility among white working people towards black and immigrant working people.
The class and racial insensitivity of this quote is astounding.
Jerry – Do you think #45 has reached out to working people to ensure that they are represented? I don’t think Ruthanne Fuller supports Trump, but I certainly don’t think that he’s reached out to include working people in the decision making process.
This was a direct quote from the article, not a poster creating something from nothing.
Really Jane?
Trump has done nothing to ensure that working people “are represented in the economy and in the decision-making process.” He in fact has fueled racial animosity and hostility among white working people towards black and immigrant working people.
The class and racial insensitivity of this quote is astounding.
Alright. Have at it. Here we go again.
“Fuller is a Trump lover”. “Lennon hates women”. How many days until this campaign ends?
My 2 cents: neither candidate supports Trump. They simply don’t differ on this point. Ruthanne had a creative answer to a difficult question.
My 2 cents: neither candidate supports Trump. They simply don’t differ on this point. Ruthanne had a creative answer to a difficult question.
Jerry, you asked for it……lolol
@Tom – Yeah, I guess so.
It makes me dread what campaign memes will be out there by Tuesday morning. “Lennon made secret deal with North Korea”, “Fuller’s cloning kittens in her basement”,
Jerry – You keep digging that hole deeper and deeper. You posted an article from the Globe and people are commenting on it. Isn’t that what happens on a blog?
@Jane Frantz – Yup. Have at it
For those interested, here’s how the TAB reported an exchange between Councilors Fuller and Lennon at a debate I moderated last month.
Oh Jane: I wish I had a dollar for every time you’ve criticized the Globe or the TAB over the years for unfair coverage (even boasting in the past that you don’t read the Globe) when whatever cause you’re behind reports something unflattering. But when the news goes your way you’re practically a different person.
My thought is that Ruthanne isn’t a Trump supporter herself but I think she was trying to get some Republican votes. She has a lot of Republican family and with her history I’m sure she would know how to say the right things to them. Alternatively, maybe that statement was an unplanned remark that she said without thinking. Clearly she doesn’t support Trump, but what she said is far too kind to him.
Jerry: I don’t see where anybody in this thread has called Ruthanne a Trump lover. I have seen some comments from Ruthanne’s supporters who tried to say that because of Scott’s principled vote regarding the empty-gesture Council impeachment vote.
btw, to Ruthanne’s comment: Trump has done nothing but exploit the hardships of lower-income, working class people for his own purposes. His policies so far, whether it be healthcare, taxes, immigration, education, disaster relief, trade — name it, would only hurt them. They are not “represented” in the economy in any good way, by Trump. In fact, it’s rather pathetic. What it represents is why Democrats should be careful about vetting candidates whose promises are not backed by their past history.
@Bill Brandel – Maybe I’m just too weary of the whole campaign circus. After a week or two of what I considered to a depressing turn of events in how the mayoral campaign has been waged, I woke up to a Boston Globe story with the headline “Newton mayoral candidates agree they don’t like Trump”.
It tickled me. Yes there is something both candidates agree on. I posted this tongue in cheek thread about the “dog bites man” aspect of the story and BANG – a deluge of comments that no, actually, their views of Trump are substantially different … though they both would like to impeach him.
Plug away. Only a few more days to go.
BTW @Katmandu thanks for telling us your take on the actual event itself.
Jerry: We are all tired of this election… It may be futile, but I will continue to appeal (and this is not directed at you) that people say things that are true and try to keep the gloves up. Not only have both of these people spent the past year campaigning, but both have served the public in their respective ways. They deserve, at the very least, accurate depictions of their records and deeds.
I criticize the Globe and Tab for editorializing in news article as they often do and as the Tab did in this article.
I am commenting on two direct quotes from the two candidates and nothing else.
Jerry:
That’s why I’ve largely stopped posting on this site for the next week. There just isn’t a lot of difference between the candidates on Trump, and yet here we are. Also, this trend towards absolutism is bad in all forms. I hate Trump and his administration. But I can think of a couple of items he’s done that I support. Does that make me a Trump supporter? Hell no.
This site this week will have lots of heat, very little light. I’ll be very glad when this is over with at this point. I’ve made up my mind on the various candidates, I’m enjoying the candidates only post, and I’m hoping someone the day of the election will post a prediction post which is always fun. I haven’t enjoyed the back and forth snark comments, and I feel like it will take some time to rebuild some of the community bonds we had, especially due to the divisions around the Charter, the campaign for the Charter, and the mayor’s race.
I do hope some of the recent posters who seem to post in blocks and are new to this forum choose to stay and post on something other than politics. I’ve assumed they are election trolls, but I’d be pleasantly surprised if the community of posters expands.
See you all on the other side. Only 5 days away.
Is there online footage of the debate, and if so, can someone please post a link?
If it weren’t a silly decision, I wouldn’t vote at all for the next mayor. They both have said things that are cringe worthy, and I am not excited about this race at all. I think we have far more inspiring candidates running for other offices.
@Jerry. I was just answering the question that was asked. If only all could do the same. Thx
@Patricia. There are many differences between the candidates for Mayor.
Did you go to a meet and greet for either of them? I believe you have to be articulate in your words as Mayor. Scott Lennon is hands down better at it.
The city of Newton has 3000 employees and who the next mayor will be is of great interest to this particular group. The content of this quote is a concern. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of the lives of working class and middle income people. We are simply not included in any part of the Trump agenda.
That the Village 14 moderators are unable or refuse to comment on the content of the quote, either by belittling those who do (Jerry) or distracting from the core issue (Greg, with his Tab article that was basically an advertisement for Ruthanne Fuller) is strange. Meanwhile, the silence of several very regular posters on the content of this quote is deafening.
@Jane: It is not the moderators’ job to comment on every post, lord knows we’d never sleep if it was.
And I hadn’t even read your comment when I posted that TAB excerpt (it’s not our job to read every comment either), I just saw that people were talking about what the candidates had to say about our president and provided some added information.
@ Jane Frantz
I fail to see where Ignacio Laguarda (a longtime Brookline and Waltham reporter who is now doing some outstanding freelance work for us) “editorialized” in his story. He described the exchange at that debate. Ignacio has no bias toward either candidate. How then could he insert it in the story?
@Jane Frantz – I think I already commented above. Both candidates clearly said they want to impeach Trump. In my book, you don’t get much more emphatic in voicing displeasure with an elected official then calling for their impeachment. Beyond that I have nothing to add.
Jane, sorry I have lost track. Can you post the specific quote that is in debate? Was it from last night’d debate or the on at Eliot Church earlier in Oct?
I was there. The Trump question was an amusing interlude, as we had two Democrats at a Republican-sponsored debate and both of them have nothing but disdain for Trump. Ruthanne got the question first. She paused for what seemed like a full 10 seconds and my read was that the audience was titillated waiting to hear what Ruthanne would come up with. When she spoke, the audience, which had members from across the political spectrum, seemed to take her remark as a gesture of decency. Not deferral to Republicans, not insensitive on race or class. It was in her closing remarks, when asked what she would say to Trump if they met, that she angrily challenged Trump along the lines that she used at the NNCC forum that Greg referenced.
The question then went to Scott who responded with a characteristic big grin: “As a lifelong Democrat, there is nothing that Trump is doing that I can support!” This was met with a big laugh from around the room, and the debate continued.
My read is that supporters of each candidate saw a solid, typical performance from their pick. The questions I hear most from the public about each candidate were asked by the moderator (former mayoral candidate Al Chechinelli) – For Scott it was about how he could make good fiscal decisions for the City due to his close relationship with the unions, and for Ruthanne it was about how she could be considered a strong supporter of the schools when her kids went to private school. There were other questions too. To this listener’s ears they both did reasonably well.
Hats off to the Newton Republicans who organized and ran this event with Post 440. It was respectful, well run, and very well structured in that they varied the time and duration of question and response. The crowd was engaged and to the delight of many, there was a cash bar at the back!
A cash bar! I clearly have been going to the wrong debates.
I wish we were all writing about how one of these two candidates would actually FIX high school start times. Unfortunately, neither one of them has the courage to stand up to the School Committee and get it done. They both tout their “leadership,” so where is that leadership on this important topic?
@Jane Frantz
It’s true, one can learn something new everyday….
I had no idea there were “working class”, and “middle income people”
in white wealthy Democrats only Waban.
Jane, I didn’t realize a comment was required from me, but if you’re trying to capitalize this as a gotcha moment for Ruthanne, yes, she took the bait and gave an extremely awkward and unprepared answer to a leading question. On that count, both candidates failed. We should all reject Trump and his policies, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans and human beings. Probably not a great answer to deliver to a republican audience if you want their votes.
So I take it that it wasn’t filmed?
Greg – A personal reaction to the content of the comment would have been more relevant to the discussion than copying and pasting a supposed news article that clearly favored one candidate. This is a prime example as to why I dislike the Tab and haven’t read it in years.
That people don’t care about Ruthanne’s comment is disturbing. All 11 unions endorsed Scott Lennon. The meme has been out there for months that the endorsements meant that the employees thought he would be “soft on the unions” or that he’d be beholden to the unions. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Union endorsements are both won and lost at the same time. When a candidate avoids questions about specific issues and says she needs to study the data that’s been readily available for several years, that’s a red flag. When a candidate has no personal experience with public schools other than sitting on committees, that’s a serious concern. When a candidate says she will make the NPS the “best in the state” with no criteria to explain what that means, I worry. Are we talking test scores? Program breadth and depth? Frankly, better test scores are more cost-efficient and get NPS more good PR.
When I hear a candidate who thinks Trump is doing a good job getting working people engaged in the decision-making process, that a poor state health insurance plan is a “good” plan when it’s hundreds of millions of dollar in debt, I have to express concern – concern about the statement and concern at the lack of interest in them.
Adam – I’m sorry but I don’t know ho you are. I wasn’t expecting a comment from you.
Attempting to add something new to this and in case you hadn’t noticed, I am firmly and fully in the Scott Lennon camp.
1) Ruthanne’s pledge earlier this year to “lead the resistance” loses a little luster when paired with her belief Trump is working to help the Working Class to be “… represented in the economy…” even after a 10 second pause. Note: We’re all “represented in the economy” some just have more “representation” than others.
2) Those who wish to give her a pass for the heat of the moment or a poor turn of phrase can extend the same courtesy to Scott. I’ll wait here.
3) I could go on about how words matter, how Trump has nobody’s interest at heart but his own and his fellow cleptocrats, and should be granted zero exemptions.
4) Maybe, just maybe, a lifelong Republican and recent convert to Democratic politics just reverted to form and threw some Working Class pablum at us all.
5) Thank heaven for the coming repeal of the Estate Tax.
I’m out. See you in the neighborhoods between now and Tuesday making our case for the best Progressive candidate for the job!! Scott Lennon for Mayor of Newton!
Gee @Matt K you think the ” the best progressive candidate for the job” is SL, but FYI, I just saw on my Facebook feed that Scott just received the public endorsement of the GOP Mayoral candidate Al Cecchinelli.
And this week
Ruthanne Fuller gets the personal endorsement of Shawn Fitzgibbons (biggest supporter and advocate of Newton DEM causes) , Former DEM State Party Chair Steve Grossman & some of the most liberal progressive city councilors in the city.
Oh no, one Republican endorsed Scott Lennon!! I better switch who I’m voting for!!!
Not.
Gloria – I’ve known Al Cecchinelli for a number of years and he’s a really nice guy. I may not agree with his politics, but to paint him with such a broad negative brush is unnecessary. A mayor has to be able to work with people from the full range of the political spectrum.