| Gabriel Gomez for US Senate |
When US Senator Ted Kennedy passed away,
Massachusetts had a special election in 2010 to replace him. The Bay States'
Attorney General Martha Coakley ran against Scott Brown, the Republican state
senator from Wrentham. He was a surprise, and surprisingly good candidate,
one who revved up from a double-digit deficit to win the senate seat by five
points in three-to-one Democratic Massachusetts.
Why did Brown win in 2010? Pundits argue
that the Democratic Party machine was not paying attention, and Brown took
advantage of the slothful disarray. In reality, President Obama was an anchor
on the national conference, hurting candidates even in reliably blue bastions
of liberal sentiment. He hurt the Democratic Gubernatorial candidates in New
Jersey and Virginia in 2009, and he killed his Democratic Majorities in 2010 in
the House while diminishing his delegation in the US Senate.
In 2012, the standard bearer for the Republican
Party was weaker than President Obama, and definitely than the US Senate
candidate running for reelection in Massachusetts. Romney was a confused
general election Presidential contender who had tacked too far to the
right during the primaries against raging opponents and a ravenous media
willing to highlight discrepancies. Furthermore, Romney ran for
office more out of obligation than voluntary ambition, and he refused to honor
statewide candidates in US Senate or Congressional races when they were
struggling to make traction in otherwise winnable contests. Romney commanded
little respect with the national electorate, including more conservative
Republicans who doubted his credentials. The reluctance lasted for months, and
long enough that three million Republicans stayed home on election night. A
stronger, more unifying GOP Presidential candidate would have strengthened US
Senator Scott Brown's election chances hand, and he would be in the Senate
serving his first full term. Many are confident that there will
be a Governor Brown in Massachusetts in 2014.
The troubling legacy of a bad standard-bearer,
or a bad standard, has frustrated campaign opportunities before. US
Senator John Kerry faced the same challenge in 2004 that Mitt Romney faced and
fell to in 2012: an incumbent with no primary challenger and no third party
dragging away votes. Losing his chance to be President, Kerry then
took the offer to serve for the chief executive when Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton opted to step down in 2012.John Kerry, the second choice for
the office, took the assignment, thus opening up the third US Senate race in
three years in the Bay State. With this background mind, and with the US Senate
special election primaries ended, Navy
Seal Gabriel Gomez will challenge Markey for the vacant US Senate seat.
Indeed, Massachusetts is a liberal bastion. There
is a time and a place for government to move in more strongly for those who are
in need. In the long run, it would be better to help people out of need
than to prolong their dependence, and certainly with the help of someone whose
livelihood has depended on more than government. Liberal Congressman Edward
Markey has "served" in Congress for nearly thirty-seven years. While
still a law student, he ran for the office, and he has stayed in office
all this time. A career politician like Markey has no business making the
government his business, especially when his claim to fame is . . . "Cap
and Trade".
This bill, pushed in 2009 with the assistance of
fellow virulent liberal Henry Waxman (D-California), would have raised a tax on
all carbon, which in effect would tax every form of energy. Requiring
businesses to purchase a "carbon credit" creates a third-party racket
for profiteers to plunder businesses, agriculture, and economic enterprises.
The program in Europe created wild speculation, more pollution, and higher fuel
prices. The whole scheme is a Wall Street-style scam.
Yet Markey to this day stands by his abortive
bill, which did not have a chance of passing in the Democratically-controlled
Senate, where statewide business interests pressured their lawmakers to reject
the bill. West Virginia's Joe Manchin ran for the US Senate, pledging that he
would shut down Cap and Trade, even shooting a bullet
through the bill in one campaign commercial.
Gomez, a former naval pilot and Navy Seal, has
worked in private equity for the last twelve years. Private sector experience
is a must in this crucial time. His training in national security with a better
understanding of the daily lives of Bay State residents is a plus for Gomez,
while locals to this day complain that they have
not seen much of Ed Markey in his local district. The bombings during the
Boston Marathon should remind every Massachusetts voter that moral
equivalence in the face of latent terrorism is a losing proposition, one which
President Obama and the Democratic Pary do not seem to take seriously.
Markey-Obama policies are killing the middle class
and taking away chances for the working class. President Obama once again
is dragging down his own party as well as the entire country, from
ObamaCare, with high taxes and regulations spiraling out of control, to
stagnant employment, to food stamps for 43 million Americans, and a staggering
foreign policy which has emboldened Islamist radicals in the Middle East.
Besides, what good is a politician who pushes everything but the better
solutions for the better interests of Bay State voters?
Markey is "All Miss" and No Hit. Go for
Gomez. Vote for Gabriel Gomez for US Senate on June 25.