Culpa Me-a?! Culpa You-a!!

Deval Patrick made a Mea Culpa yesterday in response to the whole LaGeuer situation. He apologized for making comments about the level of his involvement in the case (which amounted to a couple of letters over 4 years and a single donation to pay for a DNA test) before he has researched his records fully. His involvement took place while he was running the Justice Department’s anti-racism division and, subsequently, while he was running Coca-Cola.

Given that he was not an activist for the cause and merely voiced his support for a re-examination of the evidence, and that he was pretty busy during that time, its reasonable to expect that he may have forgotten all of the details of the situation 5-8 years on.

“In 2001, we were a blessed family, and we were able to make contributions in excess of $100,000 and, frankly, I couldn't tell you, in detail, what any one of them was,” Patrick said, adding later, “I appreciate that people are very skeptical about that, but I have a lot of stuff on my plate.”

Perhaps the haranguing by the Globe will stop now.

What will really prove the point that I tried to make yesterday will be if the Globe decides to spend some time/resources examining Deval’s decision-making skills. Now that the headline-making “Gotcha!” aspect of the story is spent, will they bother with the time-consuming, just as important examination of the underlying issue that they raised?

Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh said Patrick made an error in
judgment by standing up for LaGuer, but “he wasn't alone in making it.”

“The question now is -- is it a pattern,” she said. “The way Deval Patrick
puts this to rest is to do what he started to do today. Rule number one -- never answer a question you don't have an answer for, and two -- apologize, which he did.”

This, like yesterday, leads me back to Kerry Healey.

Is it just me or does she sound more despicable each and every day? Wednesday, she characterized Deval’s involvement with the LaGeuer case as a sign that he supports convicted rapists instead of their victims. Yesterday, she called him a liar, refusing to believe his apology and explanation.

“We aren't getting a straight line,” Healey told reporters before addressing students at a Wilmington middle school. “I think it's important, because honesty is always important in government.” She then added, “Did he not remember he donated money to help exonerate this violent rapist?”

Also released yesterday was a new poll by 7News and Suffolk University. It shows that even after a sold debate performance where she fixed her disdainful, arrogant attack-dog image from the first debate, and a week of attack ads, as well as several days of negative coverage of Patrick in the Globe, she hasn’t made up any ground since the Primary last month. The score? Patrick 49%, Healey 28%, Mihos 6%, Ross 1%, Undecided 16%.

Even if all of the undecideds broker her way, she’d still lose. Maybe its time for her to realize that “Attack! Attack! Attack!” isn’t working.