Treasurer Phineas T. Bluster

If words were dollars, Massachusetts state government would be running a surplus. Especially if we put a premium on bluster.

Witness Treasurer Tim Cahill, who takes to excoriating fellow Democrats on the eve of the Springfield issues convention (Why do you need a convention to know the state is flushing down the rathole and the political culture is corrupt? But I digress...)

“I think the party is exclusionary. The party forces you to make deals, and those haunt you in the end,” said Cahill, referencing recent scandals surrounding ex-Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, ex-Sen Dianne Wilkerson and Sen. Marian Walsh’s controversial job offer from Patrick.

“When you cook the books and take kickbacks for legislative decisions on software contracts or alcohol licenses - or you create faulty resumes and job descriptions to justify an outrageous salary - those all go to the core of the public questioning if anything is on the level here.”

I have no quarrel with the message. I do have certain issues with the messenger.

So, in the interest of fairness, can someone please come to the defense of Treasurer Tim? What has he accomplished in his six-plus years in office other than make comments about pension reform, school building assistance and other topics he never followed through on?

How has Cahill challenged the system he holds in disdain -- except through words?

Until then, he sounds like a man who knows he can't scrounge up the minimal 15 percent of support he needs to run against Deval Patrick. And given Patrick's weakened and unpopular state, that rings even louder than Treasurer Tim's hollow words.