2008 Woodie Awards
Keller @ Walsh
Local TV celebrity speaks at Suffolk
Jeff Fish
Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: News
WBZ-TV's Jon Keller, known for his segment, "Keller @ Large," spoke Sunday night at Suffolk's C. Walsh Theatre to address the issues he writes about in his new book, The Bluest State: How Democrats Created the Blueprint for American Political Disaster.
The event was sponsored by the Ford Hall Forum, the nation's oldest free public lecture series, and was hosted by conservative Boston Globe columnist, Jeff Jacobi.
Jacobi gave a brief introduction in which he painted a stark picture of Mass. and its political culture, citing that the state has lost more people than it attracts every year since 1990, and suggested that it was not just the harsh winters that drove people away, but the damage induced by a state where "90 percent belongs to the blue party."
He then introduced Keller, who addressed the crowd, and asked any liberals to make their appearance known by clapping, indicating there was a diverse audience in terms of political ideologies.
"There was a good mix of liberals, conservatives and independents," said Jacobi, after the seminar.
He then asked a question he would soon answer himself: Why have people left the Bay State? It couldn't be the weather, he said, because other states with harsh winters, like New Hampshire, continue to grow in population. He said the reason is "not the weather, but the climate."
He charged this generation of Baby Boomers with failing "to carry on and live up to prior generations," acknowledging that while there have always been political differences, politicians like the Kennedy's, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, actually put their country before politics, something he says is lost with the generation currently in power.
Some specific policies Keller indicated were the Big Dig, which he says cost too much money, and the Commonwealth's resistance to charter schools, which he says would give families alternatives to public schools. "[The State government] placates teacher unions by not allowing charter schools."
The event was sponsored by the Ford Hall Forum, the nation's oldest free public lecture series, and was hosted by conservative Boston Globe columnist, Jeff Jacobi.
Jacobi gave a brief introduction in which he painted a stark picture of Mass. and its political culture, citing that the state has lost more people than it attracts every year since 1990, and suggested that it was not just the harsh winters that drove people away, but the damage induced by a state where "90 percent belongs to the blue party."
He then introduced Keller, who addressed the crowd, and asked any liberals to make their appearance known by clapping, indicating there was a diverse audience in terms of political ideologies.
"There was a good mix of liberals, conservatives and independents," said Jacobi, after the seminar.
He then asked a question he would soon answer himself: Why have people left the Bay State? It couldn't be the weather, he said, because other states with harsh winters, like New Hampshire, continue to grow in population. He said the reason is "not the weather, but the climate."
He charged this generation of Baby Boomers with failing "to carry on and live up to prior generations," acknowledging that while there have always been political differences, politicians like the Kennedy's, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, actually put their country before politics, something he says is lost with the generation currently in power.
Some specific policies Keller indicated were the Big Dig, which he says cost too much money, and the Commonwealth's resistance to charter schools, which he says would give families alternatives to public schools. "[The State government] placates teacher unions by not allowing charter schools."
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