Former Massachusetts Governor (and managing director of private equity firm Bain Capital) Deval Patrick has announced that hes officially entering the race for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Patricks connections to the financial industry will presumably anger left-leaning voters, but his foreign policy record should also rankle progressives. Patrick has a long history of support for Israel and no record to show in terms of supporting Palestinian self-determination. The former governor has led delegations to Israel on numerous occasions. During a 2011 trip, Patrick met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and informed the press that his visit was one of collaboration, friendship and steadfast support.
In 2012, at the height of Israels Operation Pillar of Defense, Patrick spoke at a pro-Israel rally in the Boston area. He told the crowd:
Poster Comment:
Bain Capital???
Twitter is already ablaze with Democrats who can't understand how a "private equity guy" expects to get the nomination in 2019, let alone one from the same firm that Mitt Romney founded.
Expect rivals to scrutinize Bain Double Impact's portfolio for employee complaints, customer complaints, and anything that doesn't scream "positive social impact."
My guess is the first one to come up might be for-profit educator Penn Foster, which experienced some scandal before Bain got involved.
The bottom line: Patrick, who defended Bain Capital during Romney's presidential run, told me upon joining Bain that he wasn't worried about what the firm's brand could mean for his future political aspirations. Now he's going to put that puzzling confidence to the test.
https://www.axios.com/deval-patrick-bain-capital-2020-presidential-election-ddbfa663-dc9a-44bd-a4fd-1d4634f5792d.html