by Neil W. McCabe

Almost five years ago, The Boston Globe threw itself into the heroic battle to elect Martha Mary Coakley to the Senate.

This year, The Globe kicked her to the curb.

In their Oct. 26 edition the paper’s editors endorsed Charles D. “Charlie” Baker Jr., the Republican running against Coakley for governor.

If nothing else alarms conservatives, this endorsement should have conservatives manning the barricades.

Clearly, there is the temptation to believe that The Globe is backing Baker because it is needs to balance the journalism karma it upturns in January 2010. Back then, in that crazy season, the paper put its thumb on the scale for Coakley.

Rekindling its left-wing activism, the paper’s reporters took on Coakley’s challenger, Scott P. Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, like dogs after bones. The paper put out a phony poll that showed Coakley up 17 points, it took loyal dictation from the operatives from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and at the height of its madness, Globe reporters and columnists put out that Brown was pro-rape.

Of course, Brown won. But, in one of the most spectacular washouts in American history, the moment he was elected, he flipped from conservative Tea Party darling to become The Globe’s most humble servant.

In many ways, Sarah Palin put Brown in the Senate. She raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his fledgling campaign and upon her command legions of volunteers flowed into the Bay State to help Brown. Then, on election night, when Palin called to congratulate him, Brown would not take the call.

As a woman put him in, it was a woman who put him out. Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent Brown back into private life—with the full and loving support of The Boston Globe.

It must have been a crusher. Brown had taken to caucusing and voting with Senate Democrats. One time, Brown voted with the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling and when the motion failed, Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) switched his vote. This maneuver then allowed him to lay a motion to reconsider upon the table, that is the ability to bring the motion back at any time in the future.

The funny part is that because of Reid’s parliamentary tactic, Brown is on the record voting for a bill to increase federal debt that Reid is on record voting against.

The Globe never loved Brown. He called for more abortions, fewer guns, higher taxes, more spending and borrowing and more regulation and whatever pleased the boys on William T. Morrissey Boulevard.

Now comes Martha Mary. It was supposed to be the year of redemption for the reluctant prosecutor of politically-connected individuals. It was supposed to be the chance for Martha Mary to put the shame of losing to Brown behind her—and The Globe was supposed to be there for her.

The problem is that Coakley going to love and the paper is not taking another “L” for the same girl twice.

There is much The Globe loves about Baker. In 2010, he had the decency to run a lame materialism campaign against the paper’s special project: Gov. Deval Patrick.
Simply put, a Republican cannot break off members of the Democratic coalition by out bidding them. The Democratic Party will not be outbid, so any play to greed or self-interest falls flat. However, talk to nurses about improving health care or police officers about taking criminals off the streets or to teachers about lifting the bureaucratic piano off their backs and you have a chance.

In many cases, the minority communities most committed to the Democratic Party are the most hostile to the Democratic social agenda. Support for parental rights, traditional marriage, gun rights and restoring legal protection to the unborn all resonate with minority communities.

Baker was kind enough to leave all those issues alone—a bewildering mistake emulated by former Bay State governor W. Mitt Romney running against Obama in 2012.

In fact, Baker was so committed to killing the unborn, he turned away the chance the endorsement from pro-life independent Timothy P. Cahill. In the end, Baker lost by 145,556 votes to Patrick, while Cahill garnered 183,933.

This time around, Baker is looking to win the corner office. He will win with the blessing The Boston Globe. As much as the paper wants and needs to undo its role in the 2010 Coakley-Brown race, there is no way the paper would support Baker if he was a legitimate challenge to the state’s herrenvolk or its program of restricting freedoms.

After he is elected, conservatives may think they won something. But, rather with Baker and his collaborator Republicans, it means all is lost.
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