Howie Carr: The Corleones have nothing on the Bidens
Republican Senate and congressional hopefuls joined forces in Boston to call on the Bay State’s two Democratic senators and their colleagues to confirm federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
“Each of us are running as Republicans in a very, very difficult, very blue state,” 5th Congressional District hopeful Caroline Colarusso said in a Saturday news conference. “But we all agree that Amy Coney Barrett is superbly qualified to be on the Supreme Court.”
It was a melding of the GOP minds on the sidewalk outside the TD Garden Saturday morning as Colarusso, who is vying to unseat U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, appeared with Kevin O’Connor, who’s challenging U.S. Sen. Edward Markey; Helen Brady, who’s bidding against U.S. Rep. Bill Keating in the 9th Congressional District; and Julie Hall, who’s running against Democrat Jake
Auchincloss in the 4th Congressional District.
Hall, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, expressed solidarity with Barrett as woman looking to ascend to the top of a vaulted yet historically male institution. If confirmed, Barrett, 48, would be just the fifth woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court and would tip the ideological balance of the court toward conservatives.
“I joined the military in 1978 at the very bottom, and at that time, there were very few women. So as you might expect, it was a challenge to work my way through my military career,” Hall said. “It’s disappointing to be in the situation that we are now — and I find myself in the same place — for a woman to have to defend her competency.”
Brady, a mother of four, found kinship with Barrett, who is a mother to seven children, including two who were adopted from Haiti.
“I’m here to show my support for another working mom who, like me, has placed her children at the top of her to-do list,” Brady said.
O’Connor, who organized the GOP gathering, blasted his Democratic rival for “failing the people of Massachusetts” by refusing to meet with Barrett before the Senate votes on her confirmation — a process Republicans are looking to push through by the end of the month amid ongoing protests from Democrats. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has also refused to meet with Barrett.
“Even our great sports teams play by the simple yet essential credo: Do your job,” O’Connor said. “In Massachusetts, we do our jobs. But Ed Markey won’t.”
O’Connor lauded Barrett as a “woman of great distinction and accomplishment and high intellect” who he said faced “often insulting questions” from Democrats during her Senate hearings.
The Republican officeseekers also denounced the divisiveness they say has overtaken the national political conversation as Election Day looms on Nov. 3.
“We need to bring it back
together again,” Hall said. “In the military, we worked together with all different races, cultures, religions, sexual orientations because we have a common goal and that’s to do what’s best for this country. So let’s get together to do what’s best for this country.”