WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...

Here at Scaling the Hill, we are sometimes accused of being too tough on the Governor. We'd like to take a moment to clear the air and remind everyone that it was the members of the Senate Republican Caucus who proved to be Governor Patrick's most reliable allies this year when it came to sustaining his budget vetoes back in July.

But don't just take our word for it. Check out Beacon Hill Roll Call's analysis, which shows individual Republicans voted to sustain Patrick's vetoes as much as 76.3 percent of the time, while 28 Senators from the Governor's own Democratic Party voted to overturn all 72 of his vetoes and increase spending in a budget that was already well out of balance.

We can understand if you missed this story the first time around. With the exception of the Boston Herald, the veto override debacle has been virtually ignored by the media.