This week, perennial chameleon Bruce Lisman has posed the rhetorical question: should he run for Governor?
Since he asked, I’m happy to share my own two-cents worth.
Yes, Mr. Lisman, please do.
You’ve been playing a pretty mean Republican dog whistle for years now while coyly refusing to step onto the recital stage.
Like all the honchos who tanked Wall Street and sent our collective retirement savings into the toilet, you somehow managed to leave the party with a buttload of equity.
Lil’ ol’ Vermont, with its anemic Republican party, must have seemed the ideal place to play-out your whale-in-a-wading-pool fantasy of political anointing.
So away to the Green Mountains you flew; where you passed the time offering plenty of ‘non-partisan’ criticism of Democratic leadership, coupled with just the right amount of anti-tax rhetoric. You offered precious little in the way of actual…you know…policy solutions? Why commit when you didn’t have to?
You waited for what I suppose you expected to be a groundswell of well-heeled support to elevate you into the running for statewide office. When none appeared to be forthcoming, and Peter Shumlin cleared the way for a wide open horse race, you thought you should nudge things along a little by popping the question yourself.
Good for you, Bruce; finally you choked out the ‘ask’ we have all been expecting for years. For someone who claims to champion ‘transparency’ you have certainly maintained an opaque agenda for a mighty long spell.
It’s no good feigning demure neutrality. Once you throw your hat in the ring, the questions will be persistent and straight to the point.
We on the left relish the prospect of plucking away the layers of obfuscation, like so many artichoke leaves, to get to the meat of the matter.
Let the games begin.
Last winter, I had a conversation with Tom Pelham in which he emphatically stated that Bruce Lisman is, in fact, a Democrat. For emphasis, Tom went further and guaranteed it. If that’s the case, it will be interesting to see if Mr. Lisman chooses to compete in a Democratic gubernatorial primary, or, if his supposed fealty to the Democratic party is wavering, and he goes the Independent route. I don’t think Mr. Lisman can compete in what I expect will be a crowded Democratic primary, and he certainly doesn’t need party money (Republican or Democratic) in order to finance a campaign to buy exposure and name recognition.
Let the games begin!
Actually, no, that money didn’t go down any toilet, they stole it from us using the stock market as the mechanism, and transferred all our wealth into their own bank accounts. When you hear the news and they use the term ‘profit-taking’, that’s what they mean.