New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg "had a bad feeling" about Coakley race. But didn't say anything, either.
It's become Democratic manna that MARTHA COAKLEY blew the biggest statewide race in 21st-century Massachusetts politics by running an historically awful campaign.
But it's kind of getting annoying to watch people act like they saw it coming. Especially out-of-state experts. To be sure, there were a few people on the left who were prescient -- including the folks in the White House who leaked, as early as the Sunday before the election (while Obama was rallying in Boston), that it was pretty much over.
Here's an exchange that Hendrik Hertzberg had with a reader during a live chat this afternoon on NewYorker.com:
Q: Why didn't anyone see Scott Brown coming?
A: God knows everybody should have seen it coming. I had a bad feeling about the race when I was in Boston just before the primary that Coakley won. There were a couple of other candidates who were really good and would have been a lock in the general election. Coakley was awful. She dissed the Red Sox, she didn’t bother to campaign till nearly the end, she announced that she wasn’t going to waste time shaking hands with voters. But the White House political operation screwed up big time.
Hmm. Well, we're elated to hear Hendrik's ringing endorsement of Somerville's MIKE CAPUANO, even if not by name. (We'll give the out-of-towner a pass for the time being on the "would have been a lock" nonsense. He's probably a Yankees fan.) But really, Hendrik? You had a premonition about Scott Brown during the Democratic primary?
Thankfully, a few minutes later into the chat, an astute reader called Hertzberg on this bullshit -- and Hertzberg, not being a Republican, fessed up and apologized:
Q: [D]id you not feel like saying anything about your "bad feeling" at the time?
A: Ouch. Good point. I have to admit, I didn’t seriously believe that the seat could be lost. I was mainly surprised to learn that there were interesting Democrats running. It was obvious that Coakley was an unimaginative hack, but it didn’t occur to me that a Democrat could lose, not just weeks after EMK's death. I hadn't heard of Scott Brown at the time. I didn’t write about it in my blog because I didn’t have time to do the research. Bad excuse. Mea culpa.
Yeah, us neither, pal.