John Tierney wants people to know that none of it is his fault. With ‘it’ being a wide-ranging noun:

• It’s not Tierney’s fault that his wife is under house arrest for her role in an illegal gambling racket.
• It’s not Tierney’s fault that said gambling racket apparently features a non-trivial percentage of his in-laws.
• It’s not Tierney’s fault that one brother-in-law is in federal custody right now, and yet another is a fugitive from justice.
• And it is totally, completely, unquestionably not Tierney’s fault that both brothers-in-law are fingering the Congressman as being in on said gambling racket, all the way up to his eyeballs.

Should we believe this? That’s the wrong question: the right question is, does it matter whether we believe it or not? It’s the classic villainy versus incompetence situationa again: either John Tierney knew about his in-laws’ illegal gambling racket, or not. If he did, he’s dirty as sin and needs to go to jail himself. If he truly didn’t, then Tierney’s too stupid to be a Congressman. Either way: Richard Tisei should be the next Congressman from MA-06.  Social moderate or no, at least Tisei’s not running a campaign that works under the central assumption that MA-06 voters are idiots…

Moe Lane (crosspost)