Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was apparently in a celebratory mood after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured:
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick got “quite drunk” by himself a day after the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects concluded, according to a report Thursday.
The Boston Herald reported that the Bay State Democrat went to the Berkshires for a swim and a solo dinner, the Saturday after Boston endured hours of lockdown as law enforcement engaged in a shootout with the Tsarnaev brothers and spent a day tracking down the surviving brother, Dzhokhar, before capturing him.
“And I sat in the corner and Maggie, who runs the (restaurant), asked, ‘Do you want to be near people or away from people?’ I said, ‘As far away as I can,’” Patrick said in Cambridge on Wednesday, according to the Boston Herald. “So she put in the corner, me and my book on my iPad, and she starts bringing me things. Some of them edible. In fact all the food was edible. She starts bringing me things to drink as a celebration. And by the end of the meal, I was actually quite drunk, by myself.”
He had duck confit, french fries, soup, salad and wine, the report said. Patrick’s office has not returned POLITICO’s request for comment.
I can’t say I blame him. Boston had been running on pure adrenaline since the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon Finish Line at the beginning of the week and seeing it all come to an end after what was no doubt an incredibly stressful day must have been quite an experience. Indeed, this being Boston I am going to hazard a guess that Patrick was not the only person in the Greater Boston area engaging in a bit of celebration that weekend.
Another part of Patrick’s comments is also getting some attention:
Patrick also spoke on the day of the lockdown with President Barack Obama, who asked for details on the game plan.
“In the afternoon … I went back to the offices in the State House … and I took a nap,” Patrick said in the account. Then “the phone rang. It was the president. … And he said, ‘Deval, I’m briefed. … What are you going to do about the city? You can’t keep it locked down indefinitely.’
“I said, ‘Mr. President, I know that. … I’m trying to sort that out now,’” he continued, noting that the conclusion was that if the door-to-door search in Watertown, Mass., wasn’t successful, citizens could move freely but should do so with caution. Soon after the lockdown was lifted, law enforcement and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev engaged in a standoff, and he was eventually captured late that Friday night.
I’ve seen some criticism of Patrick taking a nap in the middle of the search for Tsarnaev, but I don’t really get it. Remember, the crisis that Friday actually started late Thursday night with the shooting of an MIT police officer that led to a police chase between the Tsarnaev brothers that ended in a shootout in Watertown. I doubt Patrick got much sleep at all that night and, indeed, probably not very much the previous four days. Patrick wasn’t conducting the search himself, and if there had been anything he had been needed for, aides clearly would’ve woken him. Besides, what exactly would be the value of the Chief Executive of the State being drained by fatigue while police were hunting down a terrorist in his state’s largest city? People tend to downplay the value of napping to begin with, but I really don’t think Patrick deserves to be attacked for taking a brief nap on the afternoon of April 19th.
