Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Q: What’s Blowback Mountain? A: Blowback is what happens when the news media runs a hard hitting story for several days on a subject of interest to them – and something happens. Here in Connecticut, blowback usually involves the participation of political shakers and movers. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is generally in the mix, his critics say, because he likes to bathe in liberal moral unction. The mountain is when everybody's in on the game. Q: Can you give us some examples? A: Sure. A little story that appeared in the press several years ago concerning some work done by contractors on a lake cabin purchased by then Governor John Rowland was attended by lots of blowback. Incidentally, the little winding path that led eventually to Rowland’s destruction first appeared in the Journal Inquirer. That paper has not been congratulated often enough for exposing suppurating public wounds. The resulting blowback blew the governor into prison. When Catholic hospitals decided months ...