WASHINGTON — He wasn’t supposed to be here, back in one of his favorite haunts, a second-floor Chinese restaurant just steps from the marble halls of power.
But Representative John Tierney, the Salem Democrat many politicos had once written off, was indeed back on Capitol Hill, and back at Hunan Dynasty, where the walls are lined with photographs of the politicians who frequent it. As he dined on chicken lo mein, he spoke animatedly about the education bill he was about to introduce.
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Democrats reap what they sow. They've also got Deval (The Taxman) Patrick.
And pretty happy about it too, especially after the way he handled the blizzard. Wish he was sticking around.
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He may be disingenuous but he knows that raped women cannot will themselves to not be pregnant, he knows of the importance of access to birth control and abortion by the poor, and he realizes we cannot all be in the 1% and might need healthcare at some point. Again, if you hate Massachusetts soooo much then go try Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma or Texas or pretty much any other red state!
How bout you go and we'll try to clean up this corrupt mess. Of course you may have to support yourself by working.
Look - I'm not the one looking for red state "values." You must like the national republicans so I'm simply suggesting YOU go where you'll be more at home. Massachusetts is NOT perfect but we're pretty good! Corrupt pols are a fact of life in every state. And as far as working - well...after I get my welfare check and food stamps I crank up my meth lab and sell to phony conservatives...you know...like Palin's family!
Tierney has never been accused of a single instance of criminal conduct or wrongdoing. True, he has been accused of supporting single-payer health reform. It can't be denied that he defended GE workers when their jobs were threatened. He has been shown on film advocating for urban schools and job retraining for his constituents who, through no fault of their own, were thrown out of work. There are documents that reveal his ties to Neighborhood Health Centers and programs for women, infants and children. What a guy!
Please, his wife was part and parcel to a criminal enterprise and he knew nothing? If he's lying he should be gone. If he truly knew nothing he should be gone for being a dope.
Another vapid comment by nahantjim.
Only in Massachusetts. This is exactly way the Commonwealth has a well deserved reputation for cronyism and turning a blind eye to anything but party loyalty. The MA Democratic will support anything with a D behind its name. Hey, you out there, you get what you vote for and, in many, many cases it aint' prett. The Gov. is trying to get us out of buget troubles that have been building for decades and the troubles rest solely on decades of Democratic leadership. Can't blame it on Republicans. They have been in control of only the corner office.
He should have gone to jail with his convicted felon wife. Only in Mass. could the dumb liberal voters put this reprobate back in office.
You can see why D.C. would be a refuge. No cops harrassing him all the time.
Tierney's re-election tells you everything you need to know about Massachusetts politics, and it's not good.
I initially was intent on not voting for Tierney due to his insistence on not knowing about his wife and brothers criminal behavior (very unlikely). That was enough for me. However, Tisei wage a pretty lightweight campaign constantly harping on Tierney's involvement in the criminal behavior and never really having a strong sense of what he was going to do differently down in DC other than offering a liberal off center perspective.
I changed my mind days before I voted and hence voted for Tierney. I felt that at a minimum the House of Reps would have one less Republican to vote no on everthing.
After my vote and Tierney's win, I felt dirty and a little unhappy with myself afterwards. Today, I still think Tierney pretty much sucks and would happily vote him out on the next election for a nominally better candidate.
So the corrupt or stupid incumbent wins absent a knockout?
"Refuge" or escape?
I had a lot of respect for the Globe for endorsing Tisei over "hear no evil, see no evil..." Tierney. What happened? Why the worship? Really, why doesn't the Globe just call itself the "Democrat" and be done with it.
I agree. They throw him under the bus by echoing all of the accusations and endorsing Tisei, and now that he's in, they come groveling back to him.
Tierney is a liar and a fraud.
That may be true, but he bends over for the unions on command, which is much more important.
“The people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If Congress be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities.” -- James Garfield, 20th President of the US.
Neding from Massach
What, no condemnation for Daniel Fishman for handing the vote to Tierney?
JL Erwin has it right, Dan Fishman helped John Tierney get over the finish line. Further, Tisei was not a strong candidate. A strong independent or Democrat challenger in the primary would have toppled Tierney. It troubles me that John Tierney contends that he apparently knew nothing about what his wife and her brothers were engaged in. It's just not believable. I am sure John Tierney has fought for many great things over the years for his district, but when an individual crosses way over the line of temperance they simply should not be re-elected and when they are it is troubling. If that's acceptable to the majority of people who vote, someday the bottom will drop out. It's simple, individuals who do not have a capacity for some degree of moral temperance, who believe there are neither lines nor boundries can't be trusted to make sound and reasoned decisions on important matters, because they have no core.
I was making a sarcastic reference to the way the whackos think Cahill entered the governor's race to split the 'anti-Patrick' vote, which is complete bunk. If Tisei was a sufficiently strong candidate he would have won. If Fishman were stronger, he would have won. Tierney was weak, but his opposition was weaker, simple as that.