Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

Does anyone think that Deval Patrick will be able to resist playing the race card against Tom Reilly, in the wake of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling upholding a 1913 law preventing out-of-staters from obtaining marriage licenses here in their marriages won’t be recognized in their native states?

The 1913 law–which Reilly, as Attorney General, defended in court–was enacted in part to prevent interracial couples from obtaining marriage licenses in the Commonwealth during the Jim Crow era. Gay activists and the far left–Patrick’s base of support–insist that the law, once used as a tool to discriminate against interracial couples, is now being used to "discriminate" against gay and lesbian couples.

Does anyone now doubt that Patrick will now emphasize that his Democratic rival backed a law with a less-than-high-minded history?

In theory, Patrick would have difficulty linking Reilly to racism, considering the latter’s closeness to such prominent African-American Bay Staters as former US Attorney Wayne Budd and former district attorney Ralph Martin. However, one cannot forget Patrick’s history as an understudy to Bill Clinton, who unfortunately was able to convince some Americans that Rush Limbaugh bore rhetorical responsibility for the Oklahoma City bombing and that anyone who was opposed to racial quotas was a surreptitious bigot.

When it comes to political demagoguery, Patrick has learned from the master. So who’s to say he won’t use similar tactics to make Reilly look like the champion of a racist law?

Will this strategy allow Patrick to pull ahead of Reilly in the polls?

In this racially sensitive era, how could it not?

UPDATE: Reilly defends the ruling.