WGBH Radio; The Emily Rooney Show

From WGBH in Boston this is the Emily Renee show. It's Friday March 9th 2012 and Emily Rooney Super Tuesday has come and gone but it appears we may be in for a super long presidential race there are lots of bunny rabbits that run through I'm the tortoise I just take it one step further. And today show why the Republican contest is destined to drag on. And in Boston the lone survivor of a gruesome massacre captivates the courtroom to go in the hole in the family in the bush but haven't watched. The show I mean I'm back on that. Plus thumbs up thumbs down on evangelist Pat Robertson's call for the legalization of marijuana. Or your guy wearing man t hose. A new spin on the week that was coming up this hour on the Emily Rooney show but first. The news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh. Employers are coming off

their three strongest months of hiring since the start of the recession in the Labor Department's latest monthly snapshot of the U.S. jobs market. Two hundred twenty seven thousand positions were added to payrolls in February and the government finds that hiring was better than initially thought in the previous two months but the additional jobs were not enough to pull down the unemployment rate. It remains 8.3 percent. In Jackson Mississippi this morning Mitt Romney mocked a new documentary that's part of President Obama's re-election effort. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports that Romney is campaigning across the Deep South ahead of Mississippi and Alabama primaries on Tuesday. The 17 minute documentary is highly produced. Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim directed it. Another Oscar winner Tom Hanks narrates. It will come out in full next week but so far there's just a snippet on YouTube in Jackson Mississippi Mitt Romney scoffed at the production calling it an infomercial that ignores the president's failings.

One more thing I'd tell Barack Obama's infomercial producer to go look at. Which is Iran. You don't think this president's failed at anything. How about Iran. After an Alabama rally this afternoon Romney will stop campaigning for the weekend. An unusual break for the candidate who's been on the stump nearly nonstop all year. Ari Shapiro NPR News Jackson Mississippi. European play maker Airbus says China has blocked plane purchases to protest the disputed European carbon tax. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that despite the pressure the EU says it won't back down on the environmental move. The head of yes Airbus his parent company says China appears to be blocking the purchase of more than a dozen long haul planes in retaliation for an EU carbon tax that came into effect on January 1st. U.S. carriers have also vehemently opposed the measure. Carriers will begin receiving bills only in 2013 after this year's carbon emissions have been assessed. The EU says the tax will help it achieve a goal of

cutting greenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2020. But more than two dozen countries including China Russia and the U.S. have opposed the move saying it violates international law. The EU says it's pushing for a worldwide solution to carbon emissions because it says a European only solution isn't enough. Eleanor Beardsley NPR News Paris. Greece is getting its first lump of bailout funds from its EuroZone lenders amounting to nearly forty seven billion dollars. To help Athens fund a deal that has private investors swap their bonds for new ones that are. Worth much less that deal is crucial for Greece to receive a massive rescue package. The country's been struggling to avert defaulting on its debt a concern that had weighed on world markets for about two years. At last check on Wall Street the Dow's up forty six points to twelve thousand nine hundred fifty four. You're listening to NPR News. Good afternoon from the WGBH radio newsroom in Boston. I'm Judy Ewell with the local stories we're following. Discount retailer TJX has agreed to purchase

two office buildings in Marlboro from Fidelity Investments in a deal that local officials hope will create thousands of new jobs. Mayor Arthur vigin said the city has agreed in principle to a property tax break for TJX. He said the deal could mean 6500 new jobs in his city Framingham base TJX says it plans on housing certain Home Office operations at the site the cost of the deal was not disclosed. Fire officials in Scituate say a wind driven fire that tore through two homes on Beach Road and damaged two others yesterday afternoon apparently started in the kitchen of one of the homes. State Fire Marshal Steven Cohn said the fire may have been started by an electrical problem with a radio that had been left on. But Cohn adds that investigators may never know for certain what sparked the blaze. Town officials have told investigators damage from that fire could run into millions of dollars and a Haven firefighters union official has apologized for saying that the mayor should be charged with murder for staffing cuts that the union blame for the death of an elderly woman in her home on

Wednesday. In sports the Celtics beat the Portland Trail Blazers at home tonight. The Bruins are hoping to skate to a winning streak against the Capitals tomorrow. They're coming off last night's 3 to 1 victory over the Sabers. The Sox take on the pirates in Fort Myers this evening. Well have cloudy skies today highs in the 40s. Rain and snow tonight turning to all snow after midnight there could be at least an inch of accumulation in some locations overnight lows in the 20s maybe snow showers to start the day Saturday then clouds and sun. Highs only in the 30s right now it's 43 in Boston. Support for NPR comes from the Public Welfare Foundation supporting coverage of workers issues more information at Public Welfare dot org. I'm Judy you will. You'll find more news at WGBH news dot org. It's live and it's local. Coming up next two hours of local talk the Emily Rooney show and the Kelly Crossley Show only on WGBH. Good afternoon you're listening to the Emily Rooney show the unraveling of mysteries That's our theme

of the week today. That D.J. Henry shooting the med upin murders and state workers racking up 2 million dollars in damages to state cars over the past few years. Well the unknown abounds this week first the D.J. Henry shooting outside a Westchester County Bar in October of 2010 has been cloaked in mystery since it happened. His family incent friends say D.J. was an innocent bystander when a ruckus broke out at a bar. Police were called to the scene. D.J. was told to move his car and then what happened. Police say he lurched the car at them forcing an officer onto the hood of the car. The officer then opened fire killing Henry and injuring a friend. The family says D.J. was just trying to move the car when an officer jumped on the hood. Now some of that mystery may come to light as a judge has ruled that all surveillance video and auto audio recordings of 911 calls and audio recordings of police transmissions that night can be made public. Police officers have already been absolved of any wrongdoing but the family of D.J. Henry has persisted saying their son was a victim of wrongful death. I'm

joined here in studio by The Boston Herald Dave Wedge a former Massachusetts state treasurer Shannon O'Brien and Public Affairs professional adventure line Terrence Burke. Welcome to all of you. Thank you. One of the things I find interesting about this D.J. Henry story I've done a lot of stories with the family is that they are the ones who are persisting usually you know David says the media says you know where's the video Where's the 911 calls where is this. The family has been absolutely dogged in their pursuit of this and the media has tried to kind of gave up. You know it reminds me a lot in some ways of of the way things went down at the station fire in Rhode Island where you know there was a lot of allegations of government corruption wrongdoing that that led to that tragedy and a lot of the victims families are the ones that really pushed and ultimately it was the civil attorneys that released a lot of the most damning evidence that ended up actually being you know putting some people in jail and that sort of stuff so I think the family's doing the right thing here you know they they firmly believe that their son was an innocent victim and they've said that from day one and his friends have been pretty consistent in

their testimony about what happened that night so you know it'll be interesting to see what what this stuff shows I mean. Didn't know it was a judge's ruling that really started yes a judge's ruling. It's I mean that's that's pretty bold and you know I'm sure the police department can be happy about it you know I have a feeling it's not going to show much. It's good to I mean when the family are the ones that are releasing this kind of information or being doget about it it's hard to vilify them if you're the opposing side that you're going to say it is the media coming after you could you create these sort of grander charges that well the media is out trying to get us or they are disgruntled about something else with the family you really can't vilify them so they just keep having this this this entree into getting further into the story and to getting seeking justice that way. And Emily if you've done you know interviews with the family. They're very sympathetic they're sympathetic they're extremely classy you know they're not bombastic they're not they are they just come across as people who are seeking the truth and you know it

always puzzled me why more of this information wasn't made public by the police department in the first place anyway. I don't understand why that's not more transparent why that wouldn't have been released by them in the first place I guess is it Lisa. When they gave the officer involved the officer who ended up firing the gun that killed D.J. Henry. Officer of the Year award. Talk about the thin blue line talk about protecting your own I mean even if he was absolve the same as he has even if he is he was completely within his rights to name him Officer of the year for killing. You know I just turned 21 year old kid. Yeah I agree and I think that you know I think that this is a good thing because one you know it may provide the family with some information that they've been seeking. But even if it doesn't I think that it's a good thing for the depletes department because I think that it provides a breath of fresh air that that's sorely needed in the community. Let's say too it also shows the power of the family that's involved in something. When you see a lot of the bills that are passed it's often by the father or the family that go on and really pursue these things to the to the you know depending on on what's in there

though it could be a nightmare for the police department in the town. In the government not Westchester County in general. I mean if it comes out that there's all sorts of you know racially insensitive comments or things like police transgression he could really really be a bombshell that could make it look like a truly corrupt racist region which is how some of the people that knew D.J. had portrayed him you know they've said from day one that the problem here was these are a bunch of college kids there's a lot of urban kids you know read black Puerto Rican nonwhite. In a town with almost exclusively white residents almost exclusively white police officers and they would deal with an explosive situation and I hate to say this but this would be the second black eye for the state of Connecticut because we just saw what was it the mayor or the police department down there if you get if it was me even a Bridgeport but you know making some incredibly insensitive remarks it will be interesting to White Plains New York I think it was Connecticut. Yeah yeah yeah but I think that I think that again I just think that ultimately the truth is a good thing if it is a bombshell

if it does create some problems then they need to fix it. I agree. Can't wait to see it. Although some people who have seen it some of the preliminary indications are that the video doesn't actually show the car taking off the actual firing of the gun so we may be sorely disappointed in terms of the video but I think the audio as you point out Dave is going to be equally compelling. Well speaking of audio this week I think anybody who's been following that quadruple murder case and a pan from September of 2010 was anxiously awaiting the testimony this week of Marcus Hurd he was the sole survivor of that massacre that killed four people including a 2 year old boy. They had absolutely intended to kill him too. As we learned this week but I thought he put into context a lot of the scenario from earlier in the evening which we talk about in a minute but he was on the stand today earlier this week and here's a little bit of a line of questioning young men who are literally in the bushes.

What happened was. This I mean the fact that this was so chilling he was talking about he gets stopped. He went there to buy drugs from Simba Martin. He's sitting in the car gets in some of Martin's car there sitting outside this house gets in the car. Kamani Washington and the two other guys come up to him and basically tell him to get out the car and strip naked. They haul them back into the house. Then this other guy's sleeping there on the couch the order him to sleep strip naked The woman comes downstairs The complete the robbery and as Marcus Hurd says Can Kamani Washington who's the lead prosecution witness disappears and then he tells his chilling tale although he doesn't feel in the wise that they're forced out of the house. There's a guy following him. He's he's the first person out the door. He's the first person on the street there's a guy following him with some kind of a semi auto automatic machine gun. Then the rest of the group including the baby and I in a flurry or

behind him with somebody else carrying some high powered automatic weapon or weapon anyway. And then the guy tells him to lie in the bushes he's thinking and he recalls that is that all the guys who tell me to go face down count to 30 or 60 or whatever it is and then you know don't get up don't do anything until we leave it said the guy gets out a gun and then he could hear him shooting the other guy shooting the other people as well. And then he remembers seeing a car you know drive by slowly and take off. I covered this case when it first happened and I haven't been in the trial but really what you know what's shocking about this is it's just giving a real chilling look inside urban crime and an urban drug related crime really where you know clearly the fact that they stripped them naked was you know that's a that's a tactic used. By drug dealers for myriad reasons you know this may be so they're not stealing stuff from them maybe so they're not wearing a wire. Maybe just to humiliate them maybe just send a message. But again at the end of the

day as compelling as what Marcus Hurd is saying is you know he was he was kind of the impetus for why this happened you know he was he's a thug you know he was there you know he's a criminal and you know the fact that the baby was killed is just you know ultimately what will stick with the city for many years to come you know that was a just an absolute harmful horrible you know herbal thing that he had that Peter Goelz and it's from The Boston Herald on the other day he has been covering this trial and he was saying the thing that is most compelling about this is that it's this unbelievable vergence that the greediness of an urban environment. You've got the you know the petty you know drug user. Mark is heard he's moving to get out. He's a guy who left this three year old son by the way wander around a street one night so you know he's completely out to lunch itself. You're going to get myself high you know he goes to buy the drugs and he got these guys been planning a robbery of a lick term I'm not familiar with I'm going to lick. So they're going to go to this some of Martin's house. He's a.

Drug dealer that's how he makes his money. Yeah I own a Flannery claims he didn't know anything or people she didn't know anything she had to know where the money was coming from. She got this baby by somebody else I think she's living there and he's the innocent. And then you've got this convergence of all of this that kind of represents every corner of sort of this urban environment all in one place. And it's now almost like like the movie Crash or Pulp Fiction where you know all these people come from different places and converge together in one horrible moment. But as heard said it was all about the code you know they all lived by it and die by the code they live by the code you die but yeah and that's what he was sort of saying that his injuries were part of the code because that's the life he lived so it's just the the life people are going to go into. But you know part of it part of watching this was when he was talking about they were getting into how clear a memory he had and how well I was getting better but I thought he he couldn't ident well. But then also he said Well since then it's been getting clear I mean the guy had a massive head injury and the other guy is a you know it was a turning informant and

you just wonder you're if you're wondering if the defense if the prosecution if it will hold together if this is going to be one of those. They're going to hold them. And the defendant in just the opposite is what you want Mr Cousins I believe. But there's a lot of these things where you're just wondering if it's going to hold those innocent question doesn't have an easy doesn't have to mean you know whatever that was I think you know I just have to tell you this is a little vignette that's totally unrelated to the story but talking about you know sort of what a lot of families face growing up in some of these tougher urban neighborhoods and why it's so important that the police you know are left to do their job. I used to be the CEO of the Girl Scouts and I and I went in once to this fabulous community center in Roxbury and I have to admit I was late and I have to admit I probably parked in a spot that you know I was afraid I was going to get a ticket but I was late. The mayor was going to be in there. I had to run in and I came outside and I could see these policeman standing near my car and I'm like they got me. And what it was was outside of this youth development center where all of these little 8 9 and 10 year old little girl scouts part of our you know urban program were playing. They were out

there not to take my car thank God but to keep an eye on the gang members that were parked and hanging out across the street from the place where these little kids were involved in this Girl Scout program and I just remember thinking wow you know what was so wonderful about the what the Girl Scouts were doing in this neighborhood would be these kids are growing up every single day and walking to school and whether it's a two year old child of a murder victim or 8 9 and 10 year old little girl scouts walking through the city in the afternoon going to the community program. That was one of the biggest challenges we had the girls got. How do you get these kids to the program even if they only live a few blocks away. They're afraid to walk on the street so I hope that the prosecution wins this case and that they can send a strong message about this. You know Marcus her the mother of Kamani Washington these people are in a form of witness protection because they're afraid there's that guy the couple weeks who came to the trial said calling him a rat thinking a snitch can make money Washington that point this is exactly the kind of thing that the mayor and kindly

prosecuted too and I hope they prosecute him because I think that just raising that whole snitch and that whole code of the streets issue is very very important for them to survive was they grabbed him to they didn't want you know what. And even getting into the I don't want anything messing with this trial you know probably they found some way to grab that guy even though he said snitch and rat. They just grabbed him I think he just got disturbing the. But they found something on the patient is going to tell you but you just you realize that they are going to clamp down and make this irritating. You're going to have to Marcus her damn it for a minute. I mean the journalist in me wants to sit down with each and every one of them and really have a conversation. So you live by the code you die by the code. Is it worth it. You're essentially you know you not mentally a vegetable but your body is completely immobilized you'll never you know be a dad you'll never grow. He's already had that you'll never have a decent job. You'll never go anywhere you're THIS IS IT THIS IS YOUR LIFE IS IT WORTH IT. That's that's a that's a tough question you know for the other two to to also you know

I mean it's not two guys I'm trying to get speaks to that. Was it worth the $600 The guy thinks once you know Terrence was saying just to kind of that the desperation of the inner city you know and I think that you know having been a reporter in Boston for 12 years I've gone into a lot of these neighborhoods and a lot of these homes and I think that people that aren't familiar with these neighborhoods don't really understand the play that goes on there it's it's pretty bad I mean there's a lot of poverty and there's a lot of. Depression and a lot of just desperation but also you know having come from this both you know as you know a public figure but also someone who's run a not for profit that focused a lot on you know inner city urban youth. You know it's why it's so important to make smart investments in communities like this because you know if you're a little kid growing up in a neighborhood like this and you don't have anything to latch on to and you see this happening around you what why would you have hope. You know and to make sure that there are activities and you know abilities for these kids to to have some sense of hope. You know it's so

important and it's great that you know I mean I give you know many you know you know a lot of credit because I do know that he is focused an awful lot and making sure that a lot of these activities happen because he understands that sort of not only cycle of poverty but cycle of crime that happens when you have kids disengaged and seeing this stuff everything and one quick thing just for the marrow. You do have to give the media credit on this issue in Boston in general because this sort of crime in Boston is fairly rare. You know the sort of stuff goes on in New Orleans in Detroit on this level Newark you know cities like that on a regular basis you know kids getting killed is not that rare in some cities in America so it's nice that you know our murder rate is pretty low you know parable to other cities trying to de voyage Terrence Burke and Shannon O'Brien. Moving along to other items in the news this week they've got a big story in today's Boston Herald who's pretty amusing actually state workers have been using for you. State workers I want to ask you about this state workers are apparently racked up more than 2 million dollars in damages to taxpayers.

Gosh what else would they be taxpayer funded cars and trucks slamming them into trees poles fire hydrants and deer and other vehicles from Pittsfield to Browns. This of course I think you probably started looking into this after the Tim Murray accident which he totaled his car last November in an accident that has still remained so remains somewhat questionable in a lot of our minds although he is trying to move on to that and has done a couple of personal interviews recently saying that the story that he told the story that is the truth and he's done talking about it but I couldn't decide whether this is a lot of money or not. I mean it's a lot of Tony. I mean to me is a lot of money I can decide whether that's a lot of accidents. Well those 11 hundred accidents there's only 30 600 cars and eleven hundred accidents in three years. So that's a third of the vehicles I want to try to save the state workers are more reckless than the rest of us as well. How does it compare now to the general population. I think I don't know. That's a good question but I think that the real the real issue here is as soon as we requested this information and Governor Patrick's office started compiling it for us. Jay Gonzales who is the head of finance for the governor

immediately sent a letter to the head of the management of the fleet saying what's going on here we need to get a great grasp on this problem. We need to find out what's being done. The bottom line is there's no uniform disciplined policy for when a state worker gets in a car accident on agency by agency as a result there's a lot of state workers who've been in multiple accidents and there's no way to tell. Well they still driving Do they have you know what is the implication that people are more reckless with property that is not their own or is it just. Well I mean that's you know that's something you cannot let you go into that if you walk is that right. It was I had a car for a while. OK you know I actually I actually I did have I think I did have a car for a while. One of the things that I focused on when I was state treasurer was down at the lottery because you know a lot of the people are you know working as if you're in a private business they're going from a lottery agent to a lottery agent and so there are quite a few vehicles affiliated with the state lottery. And when when I came into office one of the first things I said I wanted to do when we were doing our collective

bargaining is one you know after all of the thefts and you know this is sort of ancient history now but you know money was being stolen tickets were being stolen from state lottery. I wanted to have criminal background checks on anybody who touched money. And the other thing that I wanted was drug and alcohol tests immediately after any public employee using a state car got into an accident. And you know we got a lot of pushback by the union we ultimately were able to win that. But that was some I mean can you imagine that you know someone cracks a bigger I'll tell you there was one particular employee. He was gone by the time I came in a state treasurer he was trying to come back. When after I got elected he didn't but he racked up the car four or five times. I mean one time the car was the windows were smashed except they were smashed from the inside out. So you know obviously I think drug and alcohol testing might have you know been helpful there. So I do think that it's smart that the governor's people reacted very quickly because sometimes there really isn't you know a policy about this I do believe

that in recent history they've tightened up the use of of public vehicles I know we did when I was state treasurer we tighten up the use of public vehicles. But you know making sure that people are using them as if they're at press this precious resource which they are you know you need to make sure that you're protecting them as if they're money because they are you know they certainly are and I think that the governor's office was very smart through enough to to react immediately to the request and to be proactive about it so that they wanted to get something solved and that when it was brought to light. You're right I think people have to put in place now something that says this is an asset of the state has to be very well cared for. You're supposed to just you know do whatever you're supposed to do with it. I get from one place to the other as part of your job and then put it away and walk away from it and I do think based they need to. To figure out a system you have to evaluate why you are sick. We also have to remind people that you know there were there were certain people for whom it was cheaper for us to give them a car rather than

and there are state and federal you know IRS rules that you know when you have someone using their car they're supposed to get reimbursed for the wear and tear on the mileage and so a lot of people like why these people have cars because it's actually cheaper when they do a lot of mileage to do it that way. I will tell you sort of a funny story. You know some of the cars because politically you know revamping the fleet is not popular because people don't understand that it actually can be cheaper to use these cars rather than pay people mileage. One of the cars that the lottery had no brakes and so I think that's probably one of those ones that you know you might have gotten into an accident or two but but anyway these guys have a lot of miles on them. Yeah I was going to Horace's Yes and thinking to the dollar figure you can't discount the absolutely user prices that body shops charge to fix that hit. Insurance companies you know put on them for fixing it too so it's all but we might have a bumper. Dent and want to remind you what employees are when they use it and when they can't use it because we had to crack down because people were going grocery shopping again. You know if I'm on my way home from work you know OK stop at

the you know Shaw's or stop and shop. But this is not your car this is not your private car and sometimes people forget. Well that's the thing I mean if you read the story in The Herald you know there was a bunch of crash the Dunkin Donuts Wal-Mart's Papa Gino's law I drive a lot I don't think donuts on my way to I understand I mean you know there was another one it was a roll off of the crash at 1:30 in the morning. Maybe he was out checking on somebody maybe he wasn't but you know there's certainly a lot of questions here and of course accidents happen and no one's saying that all state workers are abusing these cars but clearly there is some loopholes and the oversight of how it's a great idea for a story to have I think I love that. And the last thing I'll say is just you know coming on the heels of tomorrow when he was clearly. Abusing his privilege by driving as fast as he was you got to assume that some of these accidents was a complete driver or maybe speeding maybe even alcohol or drugs and other things so it's something that they need to look at. All right to Dave Wade Shannon O'Brien and Terrence Burke. We're going to take a short break when we continue we'll respond to some of your e-mails tweets and Facebook messages as we do every Friday and

we'll continue our roundup of this week's top news headlines. You listen to the Emily Rooney show from eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston Public Radio. Join the conversation. E-mail us at Emily at WGBH or find us on Facebook or send us a tweet. Ask Emily Rooney show. We'll be right back. This program is made possible thanks to you. And the Harvard innovation lab a university wide center for innovation where entrepreneurs from Harvard the Austin Community Boston and beyond engage in teaching and learning about entrepreneurship. Information at I lab at Harvard dot edu. And Crown Publishers presenting quiet the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking. The new book by Susan Kane available now in bookstores and online. And from members of the Ralph Lowell society these most generous annual contributors lead the way in sustaining WGBH as a public media resource available and free to all. WGBH dot org slash Ralph Lowell.

Of the next fresh air at the start of the Civil War and how national leaders and ordinary citizens responded to the chaos and uncertainty. Look at how the civil war continues to reverberate today. We talk with Adam Goodheart author of the book 1861 which is now out in paperback. Joining us. This afternoon. I too you're on any 9.7 WGBH. I'm Brian O'Donovan letting you know that tickets are running for St. Patrick's Day Catholic so you're a remarkable feat of music and dance within the realm of Celtic tradition featuring performances from Susan the Killam the beaters germy kittle and many a. Joy. To get. Secure your Sea Org stash Celtic see you there. Can hybrid cars an energy efficient light bulbs offset the growing tide of climate

change. Some experts think so. I'm Karen Miller here their ideas on innovation. Saturday morning at 7:00 here on eighty nine point seven each. It's time to take a look at our e-mail bag as we do each Friday. You listen to the Emily Rooney show and oh boy is our e-mail bag full. You had plenty to say this week about our discussion about the disappearance of traditional Yankee Republicans from Congress like retiring Maine Senator Olympia Snow we had on several Republican guests including former Massachusetts Congressman Peter Blute and State Representative Dan Winslow. Here's Christopher MSEE from Manchester New Hampshire. I am Ali when you said Yankee Republican and conservative in the same sentence I perceived it to be an oxymoron. I grew up in in in a place with lots of conservative Democrats mostly Catholics and became a Republican as an antidote to that brand of pack mentality. Over on Facebook Jonathan had this to say the issue is that extremists on both sides have the stage and it turns voters away from both parties

more and more I think we will continue to see people associate and vote the independent platform. And Brian tweeted us with a comment that was representative of several listener complaints about this discussion. How is he balanced today satellite box news turned you off in a hurry while Brian and others if you're going to talk about the Republican Party it made sense to us to talk to the Republicans. Well no matter your party affiliation or lack thereof send us what you think. E-mail us at. Emily at WGBH or visit us online at WGBH dot org slash Emily Rooney or reach us through Facebook and Twitter. Thank you so much. And we're going to new here with our discussion we're going to talk about politics I'm joined here by former state treasurer Shannon O'Brien now a public relations professional. Terrence Burke from denture line and Boston Herald reporter Dave Ridge wedge. Well anyway that's a good segue from our discussion earlier this week about the disappearance of Yankee Republicans. Congress to what's happening right now with the Republican presidential

nomination race. I guess I thought it would be a little bit have a little bit more clarity coming out of Super Tuesday than it did although it certainly appears to me anyway that Mitt Romney is has pretty much got this thing sewed up. Well I mean I don't think that I don't think that anything happened on Super Tuesday that would you know stop his march to the Republican nomination except for this issue of you know whether or not Rick Santorum can somehow convince Newt Gingrich to step aside and I'm not sure he can do that. I don't think that the reverse I don't think that if that's Santorum if if if he were to be convinced to step aside that Gingrich would you know possess the same sort of opportunity to coalesce the conservative base. I think Santorum speaks more directly to not only just the conservative base but the religiously focused conservative base and I think he has you know a lot more opportunity there. You know that being said I still think that Romney will be the Republican nominee. And unfortunately for him this is going to go on for I think quite a bit longer.

I think it's taking a while because Romney can't move too far to the right to answer or to try to appeal to the other groups that are putting. Better moving Gingrich and Santorum can't move any more further to the right. He just well the thing of it is that then it's because he's going to tack right back to the middle and he cannot go too far over it sort of along the lines of what Scott Lehi wrote today which was that he's not a bomb thrower that he's not a partisan bomb thrower to the degree that the others are. And that's a very conscious decision on his part. First of all I don't think he really is in his heart and second of all I think it strategically wouldn't work so he's got to peer through not going far to the right. Also it would just look disingenuous to him to he wouldn't be able to do it well. So he's in this area where that plan is taking him longer just to sew it up. And I guess you know in the end too we often complain about the fact that conventions don't matter anymore. The people are unheard. So we should be I think happy that it's taking this long no matter what side you're on that it's people are voicing their

opinion. You know at the end of the day I mean I think you know slow and steady wins the race and that's always been the strategy I mean he says he's the tortoise not cheerful not him. But you know it's funny the things that are hurting Mitt Romney right now in this GOP nomination are exactly the things that will help him in a race against Obama. Terrence referred to where you know he's probably going to tack back towards the middle and you know he's going to be painted as a flip flopper and he's been weathering that for years now for two presidential cycles but the reality is once he starts to run against Obama he can claim ownership of the universal health care a little bit more you know and and kind of change what he's been saying out there at the C-PAC conventions and all this stuff where he's running away from it. And the gay marriage you know let's not forget he was the governor when gay marriage was legalized here in Massachusetts and no one can ever take that away from him and that might be appealing to independents and and I think that's why you know in the health care law and health care Yeah absolutely and. And I think you know that that's the stuff that's killing so he doesn't run away from it either one of those issues. Right right. Right now he's not running away from it but he's

kind of explaining it away like you know he's he's he's keeping it at arm's length but once he gets a nomination I think he can embrace a little more and use it as a platform. And I think that just this week I mean I was actually pretty stunned. You know again you know MSNBC obviously tends to have a more liberal bent but they were not coaching. You know this is some of his positions on the health care law they basically were calling him a liar and that's pretty strong stuff when he was talking about not having supported you know a personal mandate and they had an op ed piece that he'd written I forget whether it's the Wall Street Journal or The New York Times. But I think that tacking back to the middle is going to be extremely difficult to him because this race he has gone and that's why I was sort of kidding you know before Terence is that he's gone so far to the right and he's been clobbered for that and his negatives are so high right now that. Again that sort of moving

backward I think is going to be difficult for him. I don't think you'll tack back on the health care no I don't think she will and he will probably continue that. It's quite unfortunate since now we see that there's 98 percent coverage in Massachusetts that it works and that people went once experiencing it are happy with it it's helps business it helps people and it's unfortunate. And even the mandate issue was was created by a conservative think tank and has been and it was a conservative issue for a very long time and it's bizarre that it's become. I want to just call it but you know one of the things you're saying and Emily were saying about him not being a bomb tosser he is not. And the problem is because he is sort of wedged among people who are. I mean you know Newt Gingrich and Santorum. Are such bomb tossers the thing that I notice about him the most and I think that this is also one of the things that's making it hard for him to connect with people. He's so uncomfortable and he is so stiff in his presentation because I think he's always worried about if he is just giving an answer like I don't think we should get involved in that contraception

issue and then all of a sudden five seconds later my staff is whacking him on the head. His natural inclination is to say that but he can't possibly say that. You know in this Republican primary he's so unconfident think he's fighting with the inner rational person that's inside there. But that's why he constantly He's so ambitious on the other hand he's rational probably in his heart inside and then he's so ambitious baldly ambitious on the outside that he causes all this your brain can't keep that much stuff going if it's not coming from your sick and then in a moment of fatigue you'll see the truth like you did on the contraception. Well speaking of the contraceptive contraception issue which I think Republican presidential candidates had hoped was going to disappear this week it came roaring back because of comments that Rush Limbaugh made he went against his tirade against a Georgetown law student who testified it was last week or the week before in support of Obama's construct contraception mandate. And here's a little bit of what Rush Limbaugh had to say about her.

What does it say. About the college coed Susan. Who still goes before a congressional committee to see Shirley says that she must be paid to have sex what does that make. It makes you a slut right. If you're a prostitute or she meant to say Sandra Fluke luck rather look it sounds like Look look look. Sandra Fluke. This always fascinates me and we're doing a piece on it for Beat the Press and what becomes the tipping point for controversial talk show hosts who are basically paid to be provocative. We've seen it happen in two dozen times now where somebody who who says things like this all the time and then finally that's it you know you saw it with the you know Don Imus Jay Severin and Michael Savage and Michael Graham got fired once right after 9/11 for saying something about Muslims and this is the kind of rhetoric they stock in trade then suddenly bang. I don't really have the answer but.

Advertisers bailed. I think they're up to like 12 advertisers have left the show and he still has a lot of influence 20 million. This is not the kind of thing the Republicans were were anxious you know to have happened this week having hope that that thing and picking on you know a fairly innocent obscure anonymous Georgetown law student who was by the way testify on behalf of someone else not himself. Well I mean you know what he said. He's just such a contemptuous person. You know Rush Limbaugh and that's what some people love about him that's what his fans love about him is that he will say things like that. So in my opinion you know just watching these talk shows like Imus and all these other ones get in trouble they leave you know they weather the storm they go away they come back as long as there's an audience for them they're going to find a way to come back whether it's satellite radio or somewhere else or you know a talk show on TV you know Rush Limbaugh will weather the storm. He's certainly his brand has been hurt by it and the networks are certainly not happy but Rush Limbaugh is not going anywhere. You know he's

If anything he's more popular to a lot of his fans because of this so why did anybody care that he said this I mean that sincerely. Why did anyone I don't care I think he said many things like that but why would an advertiser care. I only until it's exposed you know if I never tell you wonder. The advertiser was driving home and here they were pretty thought if they'd say oh well because so many I think probably what I'm saying is is that what inspires motivates the advertiser is if the CEO is driving home and heard that I'm pulling my advertising for this product No it's not until it's exposed. We all chew it over and look back at the advertisers and they say we're we're backing off. And some of the candidates too are not saying anything about Rick Santorum was on Piers Morgan last night he kept trying to push him to say something about Rush Limbaugh and they just don't want to offend Rush Limbaugh which goes back to your point which is that he's powerful that the advertisers may pull pull away but the political candidates will not and I think that the Democratic Party obviously you know had to be mindful of linking and continuing to link Rush Limbaugh with the Republican Party because this whole issue of

contraception this whole issue that the Republicans basically you know launched and created as an issue. Limbaugh then becomes the face of the Republican Party and this is the last person in entertainer who says vile things is the last thing that the Republican Party wants its face. But one of the things that you sort of mentioned about social media I also think that. As time goes on that the ability to put pressure on advertisers gets lightning fast and it also gets lightning fast reaction and you know social media you know allows people who are outraged to put that pressure. And you don't know what to do with Planned Parenthood don't you. Yeah. Again though it's temporary I mean look at Tiger Woods he's back he's getting indorsement you know Rush Limbaugh will he's going to have to feel different. It is different but but it's not going to this is going to and Rush Limbaugh's career right there's no money to be made with Rush Limbaugh and somebody away from a case of money. He may have to tone it down for a little while go away like Imus did and like Tiger Woods did and that sounds to me it's very sad thing that Woods didn't have that kind of a

platform. You know what I mean he was regulated by the FCC. And that's true I mean he did have some talking with regard to the advertisers I think we're going to go away because his behavior when it goes beyond two was also she was sort of well she came forward and testify but still most people perceive her as just sort of an innocent person all of this she's not an elected official. Right. Who you attack and you can say awful things about she's just sort of a citizen who came forward. The same with Jay Severin talking about interns these are people innocent. Yeah they're just sort of innocent and when you do that a really star and she's youthful and you know to lie I mean I think that the thing that really got to a lot of people was she says she looks like someone's daughter. Right. You know she's not you know and there was you know I forget the female columnist that had written something striking about the sort of left leaning columnists and you know talking heads that have made somewhat massaging his quotes. But you know unlike Sarah Palin who puts herself out there or Michelle Bachmann or you know you know going Clinton Nancy Pelosi this is what we perceive as a kid and a kid who is someone's

daughter who didn't deserve that. You know and there's a there's an element there too of course Rush Limbaugh with his well-documented missteps. Yeah OK. And you sort of take the probably insurance coverage if I were you. What insurance covered can I do if I don't think I don't the insurance covered that I think that was a little under the right to bring this up but I feel like I have to because it involves WGBH it's got a bunch of layers to it but we learned that Andrew Breitbart after his death was going to release one last Lask a scoop about the Obama administration the website Buzzfeed along with WGBH by the way licensed a video in 1901 remarks by Barack Obama back when he was in law school. That was showed him backing a protest for diversity on the Harvard law school faculty. So Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree said that he had kept this video hidden. You know he didn't want people to know about of course that he said he was totally joking which when you can see it in the

video it's obviously that's true. But the but the truth of matter is that this video was part of I think a Frontline documentary it's been on the WGBH website since 2008 if not earlier. It's been available. So this idea that somehow. Bringing this footage forward is somehow some kind of a big scoop about oh Obama doesn't want you to know that he backs you know black liberal causes or that and it is the same when Breitbart talked about this video you thought it's the Bill Clinton moment. And then I watched it twice and I said I'm waiting. Where is it. Where's the where's the part that's going to bring down the presidency. He's a. We all did that in college. We all had free speech things that were parts of protests and even that was law school. The point being that well then they switched their argument from oh you know Sam supporting a black liberal cause to oh they hid the video well they didn't write it and became this whole thing about the liberal media conspiring to cut it into little parts.

Can someone tell me what this cause is because I don't really quite understand what the cause is that he's espousing Oh it's all right because was hiring a black female to the law school and this guy Derrick Bell was a black right calling him as he was support he said I'm going to I don't know. Quit or do something and so you give tenure to a black why is this radical. Well then it was a well Bellairs because I'm bored I put a little bit. This is. Why do you think your Gurnet you should just get the position I mean it was a little bit different than what the Republican Party was trying to do with you know it's a mayors who was you know well there was a lot of what you write there trying to make a star. Well like that I mean he's a pretty radical guy and his quotes up on breakpoints website from his book where he talks about you know the whites put blacks into slavery before they may do it again you know that what is the white man capable of in the future. Yeah you know he's he's very you know he's tight with Louis Farrakhan and so he's viewed as a pretty radical guy. And the attempt by Breitbart is to be as you wish it was there should be already at the law

school which doesn't well they know really what it's doing is he's trying to align Obama right this guy right. Bell Right and make it look like they're trying to keep a secret nice not going to the presidency before anyone knew and that's just not true. You know it's been available I have to say the one fascinating about watching the video was he's a young man speaking and he sounds just like he does know you know that sounds obvious but the point was he had the touch of public speaking back then. It's the way you talk about the way you say it in the 10 O'Clock News shot that video back in 1991 so it's not like it was a secret to anybody you know. All right we're going to go to a break. We're going to move on to thumbs up thumbs down. How about HOA's or legalizing marijuana. We'd also like to point out in honor of Shannon O'Brien that is the 1 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts. That's pretty impressive. All right you're listening to the Emily Rooney show from eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston Public Radio. This program is on WGBH thanks to you. And Bank of America proud to

support high school quiz show as well as other education initiatives throughout Massachusetts including Citizen Schools teach for America and local Boys and Girls Clubs Bank of America dot com slash Boston. And celebrity series of Boston presenting six time Grammy winners the chieftains in a pre St. Paddy's Day bash Paddy Moloney and his band bring Irish music back to Symphony Hall. Wednesday March 14th at 8 Celebrity Series dot org. And high school quiz show the game is on and heating up. See how well you play against Massachusetts students in the ultimate battle of the brains. Don't miss high school quiz show Sundays at 6:30 on WGBH too. Well next time on the world 80000 Japanese lived near the Fukushima power plant and now their homes hills and forests are empty except for decontamination crews. We sent our reporter to monitor the cleanup. So in our election looking out. We're focusing. Their group Hargrove it's at the top of it.

Inside the evacuation zone. That's next time on the world. Coming up at 3:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. According to Oscar Wilde art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. Find the piece that speaks to you. With the 30th annual WGBH fine art auction the online catalog is filled with one of a kind works of art from all over the world. And in addition to supporting new and renowned artists you'll also be doing your part for WGBH programs and stations sponsored by Landry in our Cari oriental rugs and carpeting and circle furniture full listings at auction dot WGBH dot org. Great question has a great question and that's a great question. It's a great question. Rick great question on fresh air you'll hear unexpected questions and unexpected answers this afternoon at 2:00 here on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Welcome back you're listening to the Emily Rooney show it is time for ever popular thumbs up thumbs down segment on the people places and issues in the news this week once again in honor of Shannon O'Brien we are doing

lottery thumbs up thumbs down this week. Louise White 81 of Newport Rhode Island stepped forward to claim two hundred and ten million dollars she's going to take that in a lump sum wise decision there Louise. So here's my question. Bums up thumbs down does it make you want to run out and buy a lottery ticket. It makes everybody want to buy a ticket I remember I remember the late David Bradley who was a pretty conservative guy who sort of railed against a lot of things until the lottery jackpot got really big and then he would actually talk about the fantasies he had about what he would do with that kind of money and that's why you sell lots of lottery tickets they're selling that fantasy so it makes me go out and buy it because my sister yells at me because she tells me to cut her in on my share so it expands her opportunity to win. Terrence no way. Terence and I have the same attitude towards this. We're not going to. We're not going to announce it publicly but only on radio. Yeah exactly. I was down what about you.

That doesn't make me want to but I want to be more than usual I do buy him occasionally like maybe once a month. Does it make you want to make at least a sherbert. No thumbs down. All right well be wrong here. Thumbs up thumbs down. Jessica Simpson who is now about 12 months pregnant posing for the cover of Elle magazine taking a page from Demi Moore's celebrity playbook from. Gosh that was at least 15 years ago when she posed for the cover of Vanity Fair youngest kid is close to 20 right now. Yeah so maybe 20 years ago it was what they call the overused iconic cover 20 years and that was a thumbs down on Jessica Simpson. I say I say thumbs down get original you know it's already been done since Jessica Simpson's and nobody has really nobody. Thumbs down it was done that was the you're right it was iconic you know comes down I don't know what more she would do to get more original but I don't want to go there. So Jeff Keating in the control room is giving it thumbs up saying I was beautiful that she has nothing to tell you that's what she said just lots of beautiful pregnant women. Thumbs down I thought it was really tacky.

So you have tacky. I was up thumbs down. Sue Simmons of anybody who's lived in and around the New York region should know she has been the W NBC anchor for 30 years she's 60 years old. Her co-host Chuck Scarboro used to be WBEZ in Boston by the way is also 68 years old. That was up thumbs down dumping Sue Simmons after 13 years on the air. Easy one thumbs down stone thumbs down. Age discrimination suit gender discrimination it's also the face of New York and everyone that's grown up around there that Sue Simmons was the news based on local news and I was up on the south and re-upping Chuck who is exactly the same age. Well that's what the thumbs down if this is us is a Redskins game set match. All right speaking of equality gender equality thumbs up thumbs down. Manteo is now in case you don't know what this is it's really tights for you. The pantyhose tights thick material Italian fashion house designer

Kevin Leni has found that European men are ready and eager to Don. Man comes down will American men follow so we'll wait to see what Tom Brady does. Never never join a month right. Yeah he's got plenty hoes for construction legs and legs That's right. Your name is so we'll see what many of the Great Lakes to why not comes down to it wasn't done back in the medieval times. Yes it looked damn one of the many fights yeah it was a movie actually not going to happen but I have a codpiece as well thank you. All right looking at the shadows sync I was going to Brandy when I was a fan it's like Alright thank you on that team that was up thumbs down. Would you have liked at least to have seen Tim Thibeault on Dancing With The Stars. I would never watch that show and don't care for sure. Sure. I have a 12 year old daughter who is insane for dance who does a hundred fifty cartwheels a day I should credit it. Yeah so I would have to say thumbs up because it would be

slightly more interesting to have to sit through it with her. You'd probably be better at that than he is a football. I mean just a straightforward straight laced handsome they could probably learn how to do. You probably already knows what I want so I'd like to see him and went to dinner and he said yes. Also fits. I'm not forced into watching it now. So actually I don't think I've ever really knows the know Denver's going after Pete Manning supposedly So all right. Take his driving straight along here. That's up thumbs down on Pat Robertson 81 years old. The Angelus as we know he's calling for the legalization He says For God's sake let's legalize marijuana. Dave thumbs up shocked like that. Thumbs up. Good for him. Thumbs up. But he needs it though that's why. It's numbers up I bet he's done it you know. So whatever I mean I just think that I just think that if you've known anyone I supported the medical you know marijuana when I get medical that sometimes Let's just legalize it. What I think I mean drugs I mean again I just heard about not having one if that's what you understand

anything about some of the drug wars going on between the United States and Mexico that maybe you know what the genesis of this is and maybe it is that kind of that's what his point was. Yeah. Thumbs up we're all we're all in agreement with that. This one's a little bit more complicated. That's a thumbs down on this new dog tethering law this is a statewide law that basically says you can't leave your dog tied up for more than eight hours or left outside between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. That's a tough one. It's a bill I'm going to say. Oh can I just have a dog. I don't I live in the city and I think I don't want to make people mad I think it's mean to have dogs in the city. I do I know there's a lot of dogs that need homes but they need a place to run. They belong and that's what this is and it's just basically what this is purely based. Let's face it this is targeting urban centers. So well I don't want you go thumbs up then I mean you know if you're going to get a dog providing a

place to be a big place. I don't know I mean I guess it's case by case right. I mean is it for blocks that are being made or because it's cool can't tie up a dog for you know the whole thing is about leaving a dog outside. Some dogs are like you know male male just Peters or whatever they are and I see them all and I forget I think there are enough laws that are there right now that you can protect you know in that case by case situation I don't think you know girls you know they were next door to somebody who was a dog that's I know I have and there are other ways of what that would include having him on a run or you know because it was running just fine. I mean that's what I mean is I think that there may be more to this bill and if there's not then I think. Thumbs up thumbs down you are going to one of the first one best in the new iPad. Am I. Yeah I would say thumbs down. I would like to get one but it's not of my plans. Yeah me neither you know because of the ignorance Yeah a lot of money you know into the box I know what I mean when you leave early. It was great when everybody does that my brother just doing do I know I literally got a good hundred dollars of cash I just put my brother to the

chair walked away my brother did it last night which I thought was really neat. Obviously somebody took it he left it on a plane. I mean you can't tell me that somebody didn't see it there. Yeah the other thing is I wonder why they are not getting it. I know the video is not very good on the video. I heard the video was a lot better. I heard a voice recognition. All right I guess that is going to do it for us this afternoon my thanks to Dave Wedge from The Boston Herald former state treasurer Shannon O'Brien and denture Alliance Terrence Burke that is going to do it for us this afternoon. We'll be back Monday at noon with a conversation about psychiatry's struggle to define mental illness. Stay with us now for the Calla Crossley Show coming up next. And tonight on my television show Beat the Press. We'll be talking about the tipping point for Rush Limbaugh and all the others That's tonight at 7:00 on channel 2 the Emily Rooney show is a production of WGBH radio on the web at WGBH dot org Boston Public Radio. And Emily Rooney have a great afternoon.