Diehl needs to hit Healey on Biden’s economic weakness

If I were Republican Geoff Diehl, I would open tonight’s gubernatorial debate this way:

“My opponent is Joe Biden’s candidate for governor. I would be honored to be yours.”

It’s a play on Democrat Maura Healey’s opening remarks at the pair’s last debate in which the attorney general said, “My opponent is Donald Trump’s nominee for governor. I would be honored to be yours.”

If Healey can tie Diehl to Trump, there’s no reason why Diehl can’t tie Healey to Biden, especially given the punishing economic misery brought by Biden and the Democrats.

“Our economy is strong as hell,” Biden said Sunday, no doubt lost in thought.

What does he have to lose? Diehl is a conservative Republican running for governor that Trump endorsed, and Healy considers it a crime.

If so, it is one of the few crimes that the so-called “Chief Law Enforcement Officer” was willing to prosecute.

She not only looked the other way when rioters beat, looted and set fire to downtown Boston after the death of George Floyd, she appeared to support the crime.

Then she said, “Yes, America is burning. But that’s how forests grow.”

While it’s no secret that Diehl campaigned for Trump and Trump in turn endorsed him, what’s not known is whether Healey, who campaigned for Joe Biden, was endorsed by the president. If there is, it’s the best-kept political secret in town.

So far, Diehl has been running on a shoestring budget in a liberal state against an openly gay candidate who has the left-wing media in his pocket. And he has more campaign money than he can spend.

And she hates Trump. She sued him 100 times and she’s proud of it, although most of the lawsuits went nowhere, but it got her a lot of attention, which was the point.

If outsider Diehl has any chance of upsetting Healey, he’ll have to go after Healey for her support of Joe Biden and his failed policies, though Healey is reluctant to even mention Biden’s name.

While Healey mentioned Trump half a dozen times to attack him during the first debate, she didn’t mention Joe Biden once, let alone defend him.

And with good reason. No one running for office wants to be seen with Joe Biden or seek his endorsement.

That’s why Healey was nowhere to be seen during Biden’s last two visits to Massachusetts.

Like Democratic candidates elsewhere, when told Biden was coming to their state, Healey said, “Joe, who?” and went to parts unknown.

But if the topic of Joe Biden is going to come up during tonight’s WCVB/Boston Globe-sponsored debate, Diehl will most likely have to bring it up himself rather than rely on any of the woke panelists in Healey’s back pocket.

They could open the debate by asking Healey if he supports Biden running again, but he won’t.

And, referring to the 100 lawsuits Healey filed against Trump as attorney general, Diehl could ask who paid for them if they “didn’t cost Massachusetts taxpayers a dime,” as she said in the last debate.

If the lawsuits filed by her office on behalf of the state were not funded by her office, what outside group paid for them? Who paid the lawyers who worked on 100 lawsuits? Did Healey use outside activist groups to fund and file them? Was George Soros’ money involved?

This is the second and final debate between the two and the last chance to question Healey about her record as attorney general.

That’s because Healey doesn’t hold press conferences, doesn’t ask the tough questions, and the woke press misses him.

So it’s up to Diehl to do the job the media won’t. That’s his last hit.

Peter Lucas is a political reporter and columnist from Massachusetts.