Not so Moderate afterall

Posted by: Pat Crowley in Elections on February 19, 2010 Print PDF

I’m not sure how Moderate this is, but Ian over at WRNI is reporting that Ken Block of the Moderate Party has hired a Republican operative named Kahlil Byrd as his campaign manager.  Yes, Ian writes, Byrd worked for a short time for Democrat Deval Patrick, but he left only months into Patrick’s term and started donating money to his bosses Republican opponent.  He wasn’t too charitable on the way out the door either.  He said:

“The governor’s a great man in the wrong job,’’ said Byrd, who now works as a senior fellow at a Washington think tank and runs his own strategy firm. “The governor could have led us through tough times by tapping into the spirit of innovation that is much of a part of Massachusetts. He hasn’t succeeded, and unfortunately he’s lost the promise of his 2006 campaign.’’

Byrd also ran the right wing campaign of Jeff Beatty in his race against US Senator John Kerry.

Seems like more and more the true direction of the Moderates is to take a hard right.

Even more ironically, it seems that the Beatty campaign that Byrd ran ALSO had campaign finance questions raised about it.  According to this story in the Boston Globe, Beatty was accused of playing fast and loose with the rules (sound familiar?)

 "To claim this operation is an exploratory committee rather than a campaign committee through the simple expedient of using the term 'exploratory' is akin to putting lipstick on a pig," said Paul S. Ryan, the FEC program director with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington. "It's absurd."

 Well, I guess you go with what you know.

 

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right_of_center
Really?
written by right_of_center, February 19, 2010
"Seems like more and more the true direction of the Moderates is to take a hard right."

Shouldn't policy, platform and stances really dictate where the candidate stands, not who works for him?

Then again, those don't make for salacious posts.
Pat Crowley
Really?
written by Pat Crowley, February 19, 2010
Face it, the Mods are the Corporate side of the Republlican Party. Their web page reads just like the talking points from a Jack Kemp campaign commerical from the 1988 presidential campaign.
right_of_center
Gotta
written by right_of_center, February 19, 2010
Gotta always create that boogeyman. Without him, there's nothing to rally around or light candles for.
Rhody
Maybe this is good news
written by Rhody, February 19, 2010
If Block's strategy and tactics divvy up the righty vote, it's all good, far as I'm concerned.
But does he pivot back if Laffey jumps in (which I still think will happen)?
Sully
Controversy
written by Sully, February 19, 2010
EPIC FAIL.
Ali LaPointe
The Amen Chorus once again
written by Ali LaPointe, February 19, 2010
anyone notice that ROC and Sully are the first to jump on the first percieved hint of something improper from the Democrats but goodness gracious how dare you go against their pre-concieved notions.

All we need is DeusEx to chime in with a "the free market will solve all our problems" typoe of post.
DonRoach
You're horrible, Pat.
written by DonRoach, February 19, 2010
First off, if the man was part of Deval Patrick's regime as well as Republicans you note, doesn't that make him a Moderate almost by definition

OR

is anyone affiliated with the Republican party, "hard right"?

come on, man, at least have some semblance of intellectual honesty....geez.
right_of_center
@ali lapointe
written by right_of_center, February 19, 2010
You're upset that I don't jump on Republicans as well? I'm not an equal opportunity attacker?

Read up, I've praised and chided both sides in my comments. The problem is that Crowley's posts often lack (to steal a phrase from DonRoach) intellectual honesty.
DeusEx
...
written by DeusEx, February 19, 2010
ZOMG!!11 he hired a campaign manager who once worked for the GOP!!11 What a scandal!

This rabid blind partisanship is getting just a bit ridiculous.
grumpy old man
Corrente
written by grumpy old man, February 20, 2010
Moderate Party chair Robert Clark Corrente is a Republican. He was appointed U.S. Attorney for R.I. by a Republican. He is a Moderate in Name Only (MINO????).
ml87
Just a bunch of moderate republicans
written by ml87, February 21, 2010
Who are they trying to kid? The moderates are a bunch of Rockefeller Republicans. There's no change here. Just a bunch of business guys who are mad about their taxes, they don't care about the average guy.
grumpy old man
Change the party name
written by grumpy old man, February 21, 2010
It should be called the Moderate Republican Party. The RI Republican Party really should be named the Conservative Republican Party. Now what do we do about the Democratic Party? There's the Liberal Democratic Party and the Conservative Democratic Party. Gee, I'm starting to babble. I'll quit now.
DeusEx
...
written by DeusEx, February 21, 2010
Has it occurred to anyone here that the reason the Moderate Party may seem "Republican" to readers here might be that the Democratic Party has moved so far to the left with its whacko socialist platform that it has actually made the "center" closer to the Republican Party as a result?
DonRoach
or that anyone on this blog
written by DonRoach, February 21, 2010
who doesn't support any and all tax increases is by definition...a Republican.
mangeek
Not Republicans...
written by mangeek, February 21, 2010
'just another group of Republicans'? Really? The thing I heard about most today at their kickoff was using the AGs office to keep National Grid in-line with the peoples' interest. The AG candidate wants to focus on graft in state contracts and white-collar crime, that's a refreshing difference from our 'more crime, more punishment' Democrat incumbent AG.

If anything, a bunch of people who know how to run businesses, people who aren't professional politicians, might be the best people to figure out how to deliver the same (or better) social services at the same (or less) cost.

Ken mortgaged his house to save his business, that's a big sacrifice.

If I had to give a one-liner describing the moderates, it certainly wouldn't be 'more republicans in different costumes'. I'd say that -seem- left-of-center but know that money (federal or otherwise) doesn't grow on trees, and understand that whatever we've been doing here in RI government hasn't worked.
ml87
...
written by ml87, February 21, 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...Republican

The Moderate Party in all their glory.
Steve A.
Real story isn't Pat's take
written by Steve A., February 21, 2010
Pat is slowly getting to where if it's not some union propaganda he posts its just lies to stir the pot.

Now to stay on topic, if the Moderate party as a whole were just Republican lite, pissed off business men or whatever, then why start a new party? Why not join with the faction of the Republican Party that feels that way? Become a Libertarian. The real truth is that it's not all business men and women. It's working people, laid off people, people who feel like extreme ideals have taken over the left and right. Agree with it or not, thats what makes political discussions interesting, but don't lie and misrepresent people.
mangeek
Rockerfeller Republicans sound good to me!
written by mangeek, February 21, 2010
I just read that Wikipedia link. I don't know, but Rockerfeller Republicans sound pretty good to me. I'd much rather have fiscally-responsible social liberals running the show than fiscally-irresponsible liberals. Rockerfeller Republicans aren't free-market wingnuts, nor are they anti-tax wingnuts. They're 'good guys', even if they're not in-line with the progressive agenda, and progressives should view them as such.

What's even worse is that most of the 'Democrats' in this state government aren't even liberal, they're socially-conservative and fiscally-irresponsible, the worst of both worlds.

As far as Kahlil...

"Before joining the campaign Byrd helped launch the US operations of the African Public Broadcasting Foundation, an organization focused on creating a viable public service television network on the continent. He plans to return to this effort, and others, dedicated to creating sustainable media in the developing world."

Yeah, this guy sounds like a -real- right-wing enemy of all that is progressive.

I think you'll find that Pat Crowley often conveniently leaves out much more than just the details, omitting large swaths of the story in order to shape the reader's opinions.

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