Hi honey! You’re home earlier than I expected! The woman in bed with me? What woman? Hey look out the window – a UFO!
In politics, as with infidelity, the art of changing the subject is a key to survival.
Our current president regularly puts on a master class. If the media is sniffing too intently at a problematic smell, no one is better at setting off multiple alternative stink bombs. Got a Jeffrey Epstein problem? Hey look out the window – Obama!
But for Massachusetts Republicans, gaslighting your way past bad optics is a bit more difficult, as seen in state GOP Chair Amy Carnevale’s tortured rebuttals to Democratic attack points spelled out last week by Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Fifth District).
“Republicans are running away,” said Clark of the abrupt early recess allegedly called to spare members from Epstein-scandal votes. “All to cover up for pedophiles.”
Disgust for pedophiles and their enablers seems to be one of our nation’s few remaining unifying principles, which puts the pressure on party figures to come up with a good answer. Says Carnevale: “That’s ridiculous, Republicans have called for the release of additional files and the president has supported the release of additional files.”
After the PR fiasco of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s February document dump that infuriated MAGA conspiracy world, the president’s frantic exertions to bluff his way out of trouble, and last week’s footsie with Epstein handmaiden Ghislaine Maxwell, that spin might prove shaky.
But poor Carnevale, a thoughtful mainstream conservative who’s doing her best to steer the local GOP through the massive local Trump backlash, really struggled over the Democratic attack on the GOP’s prize budget-cut bill.
“The big ugly bill kicked 15 million Americans off their health insurance,” said Clark.
“That claim is just preposterous, I don’t know where she’s getting her numbers,” scoffs Carnevale. “But I do take issue with the assertion, particularly here in Massachusetts. We see that all residents here have the right to coverage and health care.”
Democrats are known to fudge numbers just like anyone else, but Clark’s 15 million figure comes straight from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. And the head of the Massachusetts Health Connector estimates a quarter of a million state residents could lose their coverage.
But Carnevale’s wildest stretch came in response to Clark’s charge that the GOP bill “takes food from 16 million kids” through cuts to SNAP and other programs. Carnevale doesn’t dispute the number: “We are in a time of tightening our belts in some respects, so we will see that here in Massachusetts, and it’ll be really on Gov. Healey and the Legislature to understand how to prioritize state dollars and dollars coming from the federal government.”
Q: What do you say to your hostess when you get drunk at her dinner party and spill a bottle of red wine on her white shag carpet?
A: Clean it up, toe-jam!
Or just change the subject.
Wine spill? What wine spill? Look over there – the flying spaghetti monster is on your lawn!