Posted on 03/15/2013 5:49:57 AM PDT by cotton1706
“I supported John McCain in 2008.” — Gabriel Gomez, Feb. 28, to Fox 25.
“I supported President Obama in 2008.” – Gomez, in a Jan. 17 letter to Gov. Deval Patrick
Is it asking too much for a Republican candidate in Massachusetts to be, you know ... a Republican?
When Cohasset businessman Gabriel Gomez made his ridiculous claim last month that he gave money to Barack Obama to help get him elected, but that he actually supported Republican John McCain, I mocked him for making such a lame, unrealistic argument.
But now that I know that, as he made this comment to the TV cameras, there was a letter in Gov. Deval Patrick’s hands in which Gomez stated the opposite — I’m flabbergasted.
Did Gomez really think nobody would find out what he’d written to the governor? Did he really think the Democrats would just sit on this proof that Gomez can’t be trusted?
Is this Republican candidate, backed by big-time supporters of Scott Brown and Mitt Romney, really this clueless?
The answer is: “He’s a Massachusetts Republican. Of course he is.”
I don’t know if Gomez was lying when he claimed to have voted for McCain. I don’t know if he was lying when he claimed to have supported Obama. I just know he was lying. What else do Massachusetts voters need to know?
Gomez and his supporters frequently use the word “conservative” to talk about his campaign. In his letter to Patrick, however, Gomez describes himself this way:
“I fully understand that naming a moderate Republican like me would be completely unconventional. However, given the partisan and acrimonious atmosphere in the U.S. Senate today, this is even more of a reason to consider appointing a moderate Republican with my background.”
Gomez also pledged to support Obama’s position on amnesty for illegal immigrants, and he promised Patrick he’ll be a vote for the president’s anti-Second Amendment agenda.
Interestingly, Gomez hasn’t mentioned either of these positions in his primary campaign.
Some GOP establishment types trying to push Gomez are saying his shameless flip-flopping might hurt him in the primary, but his (ahem) “flexibility” will help in the general election — most likely against Rep. Ed Markey.
Really? Do the GOP party bosses really think that what Massachusetts swing voters want is a candidate they can’t trust? A guy who says right up front — “hey, I’ll take any position — just give me the job!”
If Gomez were running as a pro-Obama, pro-amnesty, pro-gun-control liberal, I could respect that. Hey, I respected Brown.
But the Massachusetts GOP insiders trying to shove Gomez down our throats need to ask themselves how it will help the party to have a guy on the ballot against Markey who can’t even tell us truthfully whom he voted for in the past, much less what he’s going to do in the future.
My recent column calling for local Republicans to learn a lesson from Rand Paul was widely mocked by my lefty friends — which is always appreciated— but they missed my point. The lesson of Rand Paul isn’t to run on his ideology. It’s that having an ideology, a set of arguments for policies that you can articulate and defend, is how you build a party.
Without ideas to guide us, the inevitable end point is Gabriel Gomez: We don’t know what he’s for, we don’t know how he voted, he’s just a guy who speaks Spanish and has a lot of money. But, hey, we gotta put SOMEBODY on the ballot.
C’mon, Republicans — we can do better than that.
Michael Graham hosts a weekday radio talk show from noon to 3 p.m. on New England Talk Network.
Follow him on Twitter
@IAMMGraham, or at www.michaelgraham.com.
*Bump for Sullivan*
Screw you, Gomez. Learning about his support of Obama was one thing, but this race-card laden suck-up letter to Duval Effing Patrick? Yeah, screw you, Gomez.
SCREW YOU GOMEZ!!!!
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