Weld won’t get Baker boost in the Bay State
Republican Bill Weld is a lot like Democrat Joe Biden.
They get no respect.
Both are running for president against Republican Donald Trump, Biden as a Democrat and Weld as a Republican, and both are on Massachusetts’ primary ballot on Tuesday.
But both are shunned by the politicians they worked for and who know them best.
Former President Barack Obama has not endorsed Biden, who served as his vice president for eight years.
And Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has not endorsed fellow Republican Bill Weld, even though Weld appointed Baker to two top positions when Weld was governor from 1991 to 1997.
So, what gives?
What gives is that Baker is essentially a RINO who governs as a Democrat in a Democratic and progressive state, much the way Weld did when he was governor. This is what a Republican must do to survive in Massachusetts.
Baker is also a political risk-adverse politician who would not dare anger antiTrump Democrats by supporting Weld, who has gone around the country mocking Trump. Baker has not ruled out running for a third term in 2022.
Baker may agree with Weld, but he will not publicly say so. Politics may make for strange bedfellows but sometimes a fellow gets kicked out of bed.
It is a given that Weld, a moderate Republican, is on a strange trip running against Trump, a trip made even stranger given that he has little public or organized support.
Nor does Weld — let alone Baker — have any support from the Republican State Committee. Control of the committee was wrested away from Baker by former state Rep. Jim Lyons, a conservative and a Trump supporter.
Weld’s Republican Party, once made up of moderates and liberal-leaning leaders, is a thing of the past in Massachusetts as it may well be nationally.
To be successful in Massachusetts, a Republican must sound like a Democrat, which is the way Baker sounds and the way he governs.
Baker may have learned that from Weld, who was popular enough to get elected governor twice in a Democratic state.
But that was then.