Politics and Baseball Part 2: Traffic Jams

Bostonist has gotten in the habit of picking on Governor Romney these days, not just because we're a "Far Left Wing kook" (as one detractor would have you believe), but because Mitt just seems to set himself up for it. Case in point, the Guv's strong words yesterday in response to a traffic-snarling protest by Newton firefighters. Romney promised to order State Police to arrest the firefighters if they tried something like this again. Fair enough - the firefighters, who have been working without a contract for two years, blocked rush-hour traffic in Newton Corner Wednesday, causing delays and significant anger among the populace. In terms of public relations, it was pure lunacy, and it was also probably illegal. But when Romney says, as the Globe reports, that "people standing in the middle of a roadway and inconveniencing thousands upon thousands of people, potentially putting lives at risk and causing accidents in the backup that occurs, [is] unacceptable," it confuses us a little bit. Because we seem to remember the Governor pulling a similar stunt on Storrow Drive last October, not in the service of an actual political controversy that affects people's livelihoods, but to celebrate the Sox' World Series victory. Maybe Bostonist is being too cynical. Or maybe Romney has realized that being pro-baseball and anti-labor has proved successful for at least one other Republican presidential hopeful.

Images courtesy of the Boston Globe and the Newton TAB