John Tierney lost his primary challenge to Seth Moulton in Massachusetts's 6th Congressional District. I am neither sad nor glad about this. These days all Democrats are pretty much the same. They all march in step with Obama/Reid/Pelosi. Lieberman was their last maverick. Politically, Moulton and Tierney are identical twins.
Having said that, I do like John Tierney if for no other reason, that I have seen him three times in his district. I think I might have seen my congressman, Roger Zion when I was a teenager. He had a distinctive bald head and went through a bad fashion stage where he started wearing loud-colored bell bottoms in public. Not that he stood out in the 70's. I might have gotten a glimpse of a pseudo-Zion but if it was indeed the congressman, it would have been the only other rep I have ever seen.
I saw Tierney once in Peabody, MA in the late 90's. Then I saw him in 2012 walking down a street of Peabody around noon on a weekday all by himself. For those in the hinterlands, Tierney's wife was on house arrest so he was often seen alone.
The third spotting was in a grocery store in Salem, MA. I saw him from a distance and I am not 100% certain it was JT but it looked a lot like the rep and he was sometimes seen doing pedestrian tasks with his wife stuck at home.
In my life I have had about a dozen congressmen. I have only seen one or two in person and two of the spottings were when I lived outside the congressman's district (I lived in his district when I saw him the first time.) I got the feeling I will see even less of JT now. He will probably settle into K Street and leave the North Shore forever. In some sense, his presence will be missed.
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