  The Commonwealth of Massa-$%@#!-chusetts Now that John Kerry has surged into the lead for the Democratic Presidential nomination, the nation has again turned its attention to Massachusetts politics. As well it should. In the cradle of the American revolution, politics is still a spectator sport. Government means something, and is much more in the hands of the people than it is elsewhere in the country.
As usual, though, there are some things about Massachusetts and its politics that outsiders just don't get, and it's, well, really frickin' annoying. For one thing, over the past week, I have heard more pundits rave about Kerry having been Dukakis' Lt. Gov. (prounouced, "Lite Gov") than I ever heard about it while it was going on--and I LIVED in Massachusetts then. The fact is, in Massachusetts, the Lieutenant Governor is elected separately from the Governor. I would blame the lack of good high school civics programs in this country, but George-fucking-Will is old enough to have had one of those, and he still rants about it like he doesn't know any better.
Because apparently, he doesn't. It's like when you're watching a movie set in Massachusetts, and they've gone to all the trouble of making all the details work and be convincing about the fact that this movie really is set in Massachusetts (except for the really horrible accents), right up until the Wedding Scene. And in the Wedding Scene, the officiator says, "Then by the power vested in me by the state of Massachusetts..." and it makes any native Masshole cringe. Massachusetts is a COMMONWEALTH, okay? NOT a state. There are enough commonwealths that we should all know which ones are which.
It's the same kind of thing. Basic political ignorance. Because we're political junkies in Massachusetts, it is that much more annoying. We know when YOUR state is really a commonwealth. We know when YOUR electoral process is hinky. Take this election as an opportunity, willya, pundits? That, or take a damn civics class. You sound like a bunch of retaahds. 
