Some Words of Praise

Published Mar 08 2007, 02:58 PM by David S. Bernstein

...because, as I've mentioned before on this blog, I love everybody.

First of all, let me tip my hat to Scot Lehigh -- or should I say Saint Scot, chronicler of Mitt -- who absolutely eviscerates our former Governor and leaves the well-coiffed head on a stake, in a Boston.com web-only column.

Meanwhile, in the dead-tree version of the Globe, Joan Vennochi reports what I've known on the QT for a week or so, that the great Democratic consultant Michael Goldman is leaving Bloomberg radio and returning to consulting. Goldman gave me that news off the record recently when we did a Greater Boston segment together -- which is like being in a home run derby with Mark McGwire.

As it happens, Congressman Bill Delahunt was also at the studio that day to do a seperate segment, which I mention by way of transitioning to Delahunt's role (at Governor Patrick's request) in getting DSS in to see the Michael Bianco Inc. employees being detained at Fort Devens. Delahunt, who always strikes me as one of the most decent people around, has long been particularly compassionate about immigrant issues -- which has earned him a spot as an enemy of the hard-line anti-immigrant crowd nationally. Regardless of the outcome of the deportation proceedings, the affected families will fare much better through this thanks to having Delahunt as the district's US rep.

Speaking of the local-area Congressional delegation (writing is all about transitions, folks), you'll recall that I advised you to keep your eye on their key positions in government oversight. I hope you have. Massachuetts's own John Tierney chaired the recent hearings on the Walter Reed fiasco -- and New Hampshires Paul Hodes (who reminds me a little of Goldman, now that I think of it) made some news clips with his aggresive questioning as well. This followed, of course, the must-see hearings on Iraqi reconstruction (featuring Paul Bremer and the pallets of cash), in which Boston's own Stephen Lynch played a large part. Up next, incidentally, the committee appears to be closing in on what's behind the stink at GSA they've been asking about for some time. Elsewhere, this week Marty Meehan announced that the new Armed Services Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, which he chairs, "will be evaluating current U.S. plans for and progress to date in training, equipping and sustaining the Iraqi Security Forces." Hey, there's an idea, four years into this thing, huh?

That's enough praising for now. I don't want to overdo it.