Oh, come on, like you wouldn't like a lucrative book deal

Jon Keller breaks the news (dear Channel 4: Read up on permalinks and fix your busted RSS, 'kay?).

The Outraged Liberal thinks the controversy is a bit overblown, it's not like Patrick was Client 10 or something, but still, he's forced to ask: This couldn't have waited?

... The man who showed a great understanding for the yearnings of Massachusetts residents has developed a tin ear, the kind that made Michael Dukakis a temporary one-termer.

David Bernstein writes this is one case where perception matters:

... It's absolutely legitimate for Mass. residents to be wary of gubernatorial absenteeism, even to the point of hypersensitivity, after Romney, Cellucci, Weld, Dukakis. ...

FrankSkeffington: Even if he still lost big, he OWED it to the folks who were in the trenches fighting for HIS bill to provide support by being there:

But no, Deval went. That says a lot about the man and it's not good.

Jay Fitzgerald wonders when the Commonwealth got renamed "Titanic:"

Imagine the captain of a sinking ship exhorting his doomed crew and passengers to remain calm while he hopped into a life boat exclaiming, 'Well, nice knowing you. I'm off to sign a book deal!' ... Of course Deval's casino bill was doomed before it sank below the House surface last week. But the timing of Deval's trip to New York to sign a book deal just doesn't look right. ...