Mike Minogue compared himself to Tom Brady the other day. The GOAT. The greatest of all time. Brady stared down defenses, took the hits and delivered.
Minogue? He’s so terrified of sharing a stage with Brian Shortsleeve that the Boston Globe had to manufacture a “photo illustration” just to put the two of them in the same frame. Brady faced his opponents. Minogue won’t even face his primary rival in a debate.
If he’s a goat, he’s got a golden udder and a consultant class is milking his ego for every last dollar while the rest of us get ready for four more years of Maura Healey.
Howie Carr put it plainly on the air: “I don’t dislike Minogue, I just wish he were running a little bit more of a fire-breathing campaign. He doesn’t seem to have the fire in his belly, does he?”
No he doesn’t.
As Howie pointed out, Minogue is running a kind of generic, rinse and repeat campaign you could easily see in Nebraska.
Against the Massachusetts Democrat machine, the media, and a sitting governor who treats taxpayers like ATMs. It’s a political campaign dressed up in the pablum of an @onlyinboston post.
A Republican can only win by shifting the electorate. To beat Healey you need MSM oxygen to pull reluctant voters off the couch. That means fighting on the Portnoy end of the Charlie Baker–Dave Portnoy spectrum.
Reluctant voters can smell a DC consultant from 450 miles away. Trump did it. Everyone said he was crazy. But he won. 3x.
The more F-it attitude, the more free media. Big take away from the recent UMass/WCVB poll? Surprise, no one really knows much about Minogue or Shortsleeve.
MassGOP and the Minogue operation ignored Zohran, Pratt, Fetterman. Because the consultant class doesn’t care about winning or taking risks. They only care about getting paid for TV buys. Winning comes second, if at all. Get enough clients and its all arbitrage after that.
Minogue sits on millions and still can’t answer basic policy questions without the classic “I don’t do hypotheticals” dodge.
Money can’t paper over a 70-30% political deficit on abortion. You might not like it, but Massachusetts is now a pro-abortion state. Nominating Minogue isn’t a shortcut around changing people’s hearts and minds.
And look at the pro-life fools blindly doing anything to nominate Minogue, but the second he gets push back, Massachusetts Mike abandoned the issue when it got inconvenient. New kind of governor? Just another politician who discovered principles are negotiable once the consultants start billing.
Ask for a reason to vote for him and you get the mindless chant: “Vote Minogue.” No argument. The sycophant brigade acts like questioning the front-runner is heresy. Meanwhile the only rule that ever mattered, the Rush Limbaugh rule, is staring them in the face: support the most conservative candidate who can actually win. Shortsleeve.
A Minogue nomination is a Healey victory gift-wrapped with a bow for the Volvo driving elites.
Every time someone points this out, the reply is the same tired line about unity. Unity for a candidate who won’t debate and runs like he’s afraid to offend *anyone* is collective surrender. Enjoy your four more years of Maura. The Heat Czars, the PROTECT Acts, the crime, the taxes - they’ll all still be here after Minogue’s consultants cash his checks.
Brady won seven rings because he competed. Minogue is competing for the participation trophy of a respectable second-place finish that cements control of the state with same crowd. Basically forever.
Fire in the belly? More like the pilot light from the gas stove the Left stole from you.
Massachusetts Republicans have one shot left before the primary. You can keep pretending the guy who won’t even stand next to his opponent is the second coming of the GOAT but don’t be surprised when Healey is still spinning basketballs on her finger in the corner office next year.
The consultant class will be fine either way. The rest of us not so much.