A House Divided, A Farewell, and A Welcome

Illustration by Susan Coyne

This Week: Dese Dems and Dose —the fight for the 7th Congressional District in MA — with Jimmy Tingle, Erin O’Brien, and Ben Bradlow. Listen today at 2 pm or anytime on our website.

Mary McGrath: Great show; great illo from Susan, great intro segment with the classic Lydon touch — with hints of JFK and Tip O’Neill, and a killer vox on the M1 Bus between Dudley Station and Harvard Square (awesome idea, Zach). Our friend Pat Tomaino helped out with this one, too; he gave us lots of suggestions, including having another old friend on — Jimmy Tingle, who’s running for Lt. Governor in MA. Jimmy is a comedian, but a serious man, too. Check out his speech at the state convention this summer.

Chris had lots of framing thoughts for this week’s show, including the embarrassment that liberalism that can’t deliver in one of the wealthiest and most unequal districts in the country.

Chris summoned the ghost of Tip O’Neill, and we spoke to Tip’s son, Tommy, who confirmed that the old man is rolling over in his grave looking out on the scene in his district today. And let’s keep Tip in mind before we jump all in on impeaching Donald Trump. If we’d been thinking about Tip more, Donald Trump wouldn’t be president, and the democrats might not have lost their way so tragically, giving lots of people good reason to issue a protest vote in 2016. And protest they did.

As for today’s MA7 race, we won’t tell you to vote for, but The Globe did notably weigh in this morning with an endorsement for Ayanna:

Pressley is a proven advocate with an understanding of the needs of the district, and she would be a fresh voice in Congress. Pressley represents the present of the Seventh District and the future of the Democratic Party. She will serve the district well in Congress.

Meanwhile, on our site, listener Joe Beckmann left this comment:

It will be critical for the Congressman with more of the best colleges, universities, tech and medical resources in the country can test, prove, and encourage replications of those best practices which work here. That takes a vision way beyond Pressley’s patter, and much further than Capuano’s controversies. It is, however, precisely what Mike did as Mayor: apply a kind of pragmatism to solve real problems with existing resources, and show others how well it works when it works. Rent Control will not return to Massachusetts. Yet a wide range of ownership options could harness the gentrification of this district without slowing it down, and could deliver equity in a more equitable fashion. Free tuition won’t work in an “industry” when college presidents often make more than $2,000,000/year. Yet dual enrollment and early college options for high schools can dramatically reduce the cost of college to thousands of this District’s families. Free medical treatment won’t work as long as pharma can juggle prices at will. Yet Universal Care works fine in Canada and parts of Europe, and could be adapted to the state with RomneyCare.

Listen: Tom Reney’s Aretha Franklin Appreciation

Our friend Tom Reney’s daily jazz show, Jazz a la Mode, on public radio station NEPR out in western Mass and podcast here, is a treasure. He’s been at it for over 30 years, and the man knows his stuff. Listen to his Aretha show (Thursday, August 23rd), and read his appreciation.

Short newsie today, folks. We’re off next week, reading stacks of books and thinking hard about the fall. Zach Goldhammer leaves us to start an American Studies PhD at BU. We’ll miss you, Zach; you kept us woke on so many things. Take it easy, but take it, and stay in touch!

Lots more in store for back to school time. Send in your ideas and heck, send us lawyers, guns and money. We’ll need it!

Til next week,

The OS Skeleton Crew