Keller @ Large: Expect Plenty Of Sarcasm At Return Of Boston's St. Patrick's Day Breakfast
BOSTON (CBS) - After a two-year absence forced by the pandemic, the South Boston St. Patrick's Day breakfast returns to the Convention Center this Sunday. (Nick Giovanni and I will be hosting live streaming coverage of the festivities on CBS News Boston starting at 10 a.m.)
What to expect?
Perhaps an outpouring of pent-up ribbing and sarcasm between the assembled pols, who've had plenty of time to sharpen their elbows and cultivate wit (or arrange for someone else to do it for them).
For political observers, the breakfast has a way of proving the point made by author George Saunders that "humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to." Under the guise of good-natured needling, you have a better chance of hearing candor about what the pols really think of each other than at any other time.
So maybe the return to live, in-person roasting this Sunday will provide useful insight into a few of these topics:
• Michelle Wu's mayoralty
Expect plenty of cracks about her run-ins with local trolls over pandemic mandates. For that she has the sympathy of her peers; for the accompanying antagonism of some public safety unions, not so much. Watch for "jokes" about how she better be careful never to park too far from the curb.
• Maura Healey's gubernatorial candidacy
Expect references to her (for now) seemingly clear path to nomination and election, complete with "fake" groveling for favors. Her prodigious litigation against the Trump administration should be fodder for an off-key reworking of the old Johnny Cash hit "A Boy Named Sue."
• Charlie Baker's lame duck status
The gags write themselves. And with Southie's own Mike Flaherty, the city councilor whose pals are furious over Baker bypassing him for the Suffolk DA vacancy, in attendance, surely someone will ask the waiters to bring the governor another knife, his first one got stuck in Flaherty's back.
• The Massachusetts Republican Party
Those four words alone should be enough to convulse the crowd.
That's enough freebies for now. On Sunday we'll see who grew a sense of humor during the breakfast's hiatus, and how eager the pols are to let the truth rip.
