A week after calling the policy "ridiculous" and "outrageous" while in Gloucester, Gov. Charlie Baker sent a letter signed by the state's all-Democrat Congressional delegation to the United States commerce secretary and Congressional leaders urging the federal government to pay for at-sea monitors on boats that would otherwise fall to fishermen.
The theatrics of politics can work best in summer stock. The candidates know they're not yet playing on Broadway, but they're practicing as if on the road to see what audiences laugh at, applaud or even hiss and boo. There's often not a lot of careful discrimination. The big awards of the summer season can be found at the state fair, where the fattest pig gets the blue ribbon. (Apply an analogy to suit your taste.)
Donald Trump arrives in a helicopter at the Iowa State Fair and invites the kids to take a ride in his whirlybird, an irresistible photo-op, and more fun than taking his policy ideas seriously, because they're not serious. The Donald knows what P.T. Barnum knew, that "clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung." He's the clown who stands above the other 16 Republican candidates, who for the moment share the big top, reminding us of the dozen men who tumble out of a tiny car, leaving the audience to wonder how they all managed to fit.
