Michele, would you accept a ride with Ted Kennedy in his car?
After hearing McPhee heap praise upon The Senator From Chappaquiddick during Tuesday night's show, that's one question that would be fun to pose.
But hey, what are the odds of actually getting the chance to ask it, when Michele would likely cut you off mid-sentence and make sure you knew it was "HER SHOW"?
No wonder she's afraid to take callers with opposing views, her own positions are full of more holes than the Cheeseman's North End Swiss selection.
Here are her stated reasons for supporting Ted Kennedy:
1) "He's got the workin' man's back"
This is especially tired and dated populist rhetoric, the kind you might get from your uncle after he's had too many drinks at a holiday gathering.
Was this something a neighbor shouted off the deck of a nearby three-family when she was a child?
2) "He saved the Cape from becoming the Hamptons"
This truly nonsensical statement was followed by a rambling explanation of how the Cape is supposedly a model for public beach access compared to the Hamptons, where she claims there are more restrictions. Somehow, we have Ted Kennedy to thank for this egalitarian paradise.
But what about the fact that Massachusetts is one of only two states where private individuals can actually own and control the beach itself (Maine is the other, though this report includes Delaware and Virginia as well)? In my area, step on the wrong portion of sand (despite the lack of warning signs) and some neighbors will immediately call the police.
In my town, there are neighbors who still don't speak to each other based on such actions taken decades ago, clear back to the 1960s in one case.
To someone from the West Coast, this is unthinkable. While you can own a Californian beach, for example, you can't prohibit public use of it. That makes "ownership" a sucker's game, a lot like buying the Brooklyn Bridge.
As a result, your "ownership" of the beach has little or no resale value. Here, real estate signs brag about "beach rights", a concept that would be considered un-American elsewhere.
What has Ted Kennedy done about that?
And really, how often do you hear impassioned defenses of Teddy, even from local liberal establishment types? Yes, unlike John Kerry, the swimming senator's office will answer your constituent letters. Good for him.
Are Kennedy fans talk radio listeners, however? Hell no! Their dials are permanently locked into the nearest NPR affiliate. Again, it's the equivalent of playing hip-hop on a country station, it just doesn't fit the format.
Yes, I know McPhee has worked in New York, but that means she merely traded one parochial environment for another. She could benefit greatly from a broadening of her worldview, perhaps an overseas journalism assignment or research position.
Just getting the hell out of here for a year or two would do her a world of good.
Until then, I don't think she'll ever shake off the public impression that she's "...shouting her program off the back porch of a three-decker in Revere."
Hey, don't blame me, I didn't say it, The Globies did.
ELSEWHERE: Did Ted Kennedy aid the KGB during the Reagan Era?
