Hélène Vincent is running for the District 8 (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) city-council seat that Josh Zakim is giving up. Last night, she posted a photo of a stairway in an apartment or condo building and, in a series of tweets, reported:
"Can I count on your vote?"
"Yes, if no one knocks on the door who's more attractive" - said by a 77 year old man wearing an open bathrobe and no pants...
People ask me what the hardest part of running for office. I’ll be honest, it’s not the long hours. It’s not the fundraising,
It’s dealing with shit like this every single day and still finding the courage to go knock another door. Usually, I force myself to get right back on the horse and keep going. But today, for some reason, I literally just can’t.
All I want to do is just sit in this stairwell and give up.
Of course, if I do that, nothing will change. People won’t take women or young people seriously and it’ll be the same old story. As AOC said: “For 1 of us to make it through, 100 of us have to try.”
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Comments
Door knocking..
By Anon
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 8:14am
Door knocking is so antiquated and never was a good tactic in the first place. Organizing events that people can attend if they so choose is a better form of reaching the community.
Speaking from your extensive campaign experience?
By lbb
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 11:14am
Do provide receipts.
Door knocking works
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 12:14pm
I have never changed a vote based on any kind of advertising, but when someone asks for my vote in person, I am moved to give it serious thought.
In my district's race
By Waquiot
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 1:04pm
Right now my plan is to vote for the only candidate to ask me for my vote, and he asked for it 4 years ago. All any of the other candidates have to do is to go to Forest Hills one morning before the election and ask for my vote, or come to my house some evening.
Unless there is an issue, foot leather can win an election like this.
Cry Me A River
By Jimbo
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 9:58am
Ok true that that doesn't sound like the most pleasant experience, but it's far from the most valid reason to either give up, or to not enter politics in the first place, which is the fact that your friends are false and your enemies are real.
Take a seat
By lbb
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 11:16am
This was not the first "[not] most pleasant experience" of this type she's had, or the fifth, or the tenth, or probably the hundredth. You've made it clear that you're only a spectator in the political process, so why don't you just take a seat?
Really? She has to deal with this "shit" everyday?
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 10:45am
Ok, every time she knocks at someone's door, they, if a man, appears before her in a state of undress? Or every man she encounters makes a statement about her looks?
Give a rest, sweetie.
Look, the guy is three years away from 80 (gawd knows if he is addled). He is of a different time/era and/or he could just be a dirty old man (they exist).
You deal with the public, you will get all the public has to offer.
Being old is not an excuse to
By cden4
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 10:54am
Being old is not an excuse to be an ass. I'm tired of people excusing bad behavior from people who haven't adapted with the times. Guess what? Just because they are used to doing and saying these things doesn't mean it was ever actually ok. It just means that no one called them out on it. Thankfully, times are changing.
"sweetie"?
By lbb
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 11:17am
You sound addled yourself.
Best argument ever for crusty old white dudes to maintain the world as fits their mindset that I've heard yet. NOT.
No, honey baby
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 6:49pm
You give the enabling a rest, okay dear?
Good.
I know a some alcoholics who would think you were their dream girl - excuses a gogo!
WhatAboutMe-isms
By Scauma
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 2:31pm
A lot of whataboutme-isms going on here. This story isn't about what white males have to deal with. It's about women, and the constant shit they have deal with thanks to men (black, white, and everything in between), who don't respect boundaries nor have any common decency.
Door knockers
By Different
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 2:57pm
The most surprising part of this story, to me, was that politicians knock on doors. I've been around a long time (old guy) and actually didn't know that -- I've gotten phone calls from them, rarely, asking for a vote... but the only people who ever knock on my apartment door are kids trying to sell me on a different electricity supplier (or so they claim), or workmen sent by the landlord to make changes to the apartment that I don't want or need. Or, once, late at night, a drunk kid from another town who couldn't remember where his friend's apartment was that he was staying in, or even which building it was, and was banging on every door, bellowing. That's it for my door-knocker experiences.
I think a political candidate knocking on doors sounds really inefficient, also weird. Is this a suburban thing or something?
Also, how thoughtful could a politician be who uses language like that? And how could she be sure that he even knew that he was exposed? This was in his own home, after all, not expecting anyone to knock, maybe startled by it (as I might be). Maybe he is a creep, or maybe he's just sloppy/inattentive, or maybe demented...
Wrong on all counts
By lbb
Fri, 08/23/2019 - 11:29am
Nope. It happens in cities, it happens in suburbs. It happens, primarily, in places where you can walk door to door and hit a reasonable number of residences in the shortest time possible. It doesn't happen in really low-density-population areas, although when I was canvassing in 2016 in New Hampshire it did get pretty rural...but mostly not.
And it's not inefficient because it's effective. If all contacts were equal in their effectiveness, sure, but...they aren't. People are more likely to notice, respond to and be influenced by some types of contacts than others. Emails are less effective than postcards, anything form is less effective than something personal. Postcard parties, in which people get together to write messages on postcards to send to voters, are effective. Talking live to a person on the phone is effective - I made calls to voters in my town and other nearby towns on behalf of a candidate, and being able to say that I was from their area and speak to what the candidate's policies meant for our area was a real positive. Talking to someone face to face is even more effective, and when someone actually meets a candidate in person? That's pretty special. I canvassed with a candidate for Congress, and besides knocking on doors, she would greet and engage everyone we passed by on the street. Some of these people went from unregistered to voters that day.
How thoughtful could a person be who thinks the use of the word "shit" is more than the barbaric behavior provoked it? You're "Different" all right.
Apparently she has eyes, and apparently you are blind.
There's a lot more where that
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 2:58pm
There's a lot more where that came from. He's not the only guy pushing 80 with 1940s comments like that. These guys aren't going to change overnight. And, frankly, as woman in her mid 50s who has the wisdom to understand that, especially with older men, she's going to experience a lot more of it. At their age, they could probably give 2 shits about changing. There will never be a radical change overnight when it comes to sexist comments. Sorry, but that's the reality.
"Sorry"
By lbb
Fri, 08/23/2019 - 11:31am
Do you honestly think she doesn't know that?
Do you think your take is at all helpful? Sounds enabling to me.
Could you possibly be more condescending?
Also worth noting, from her campaign Website:
By Capt. Obvious
Thu, 08/22/2019 - 10:26pm
"She is running to make Boston inclusive, accessible, and affordable for all."
Cool! I wish I'd thought of that! Can we have candy for dinner too?
Saying that being a "daughter of immigrants" (without saying from where) and suffering an ATV-related injury (which, along with other backcountry powersports-related injuries, is a HUGE hazard for immigrants) as qualifications for public office seems somewhat thin. But please, everyone, pile on. Swirl, anyone?
Hey, it's Captain Cherrypicker!
By lbb
Fri, 08/23/2019 - 11:38am
Why does that bother you? Do you need to know "from where" in order to decide if she's one of the "good immigrants"?
So in the very same sentence, made a point of noting that she's the "daughter of immigrants", and now you imply that SHE is an immigrant. You're either pretty goddamn stupid or you believe everyone else is. Maybe both?
Here's the full text from her campaign website, explaining the relevance of the ATV injury:
Even a very stupid person should be able to make the connection, since it's right there in front of you. If, however, you aren't interested in making the connection -- if instead your agenda is disconnection, distraction and dishonesty -- and you're stuck at the mental level of a five-year-old who thinks he's clever because he thought of a way to own the four-year-olds, this kind of transparent cherrypicking makes all kinds of sense.
3 days after seeing Uhub story, Globe reporter is right on it
By anon
Sat, 08/24/2019 - 11:42am
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/08/23/the-n...
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