Posted on 01/22/2010 11:31:12 AM PST by Notoriously Conservative
Is Scott Brown a conservative? No, not really. I suppose if you compared him to the left of center senators like Reid or Franken, then yes he is. But, if you compare him to say, Palin or Gingrich, no he is not. But, the important thing to me is, he is certainly more conservative than Kennedy, and more so than Coakley; in other words, he is an improvement. Also, one has to speculate that he might uphold this "independent" image as a way to survive in Mass. Mass. is a very democratic state, and they would be unlikely to elect a Republican that was too "in your face" conservative. That's not to say the majority of independents in Mass don't hold conservative values, it's just that if he labeled himself as conservative, the Dems would surely demonize him, frightening off independents. Still, from what I've read, he isn't as conservative as we would all like.
From Fox:
He voted for universal healthcare in Massachusetts but pledges to be the 41st vote against the health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill. ... Brown believes the best solutions can be found at the state level, not with a "one-size-fits-all" national plan.
Brown is a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard. He believes waterboarding is a legitimate enhanced interrogation technique, not a form of torture, and is vehemently opposed to trying 'enemy combatants' in civilian courts.
On fiscal matters, Brown is conservative, criticizing the stimulus and opposing the President's proposed fee on banks, calling it a tax that will trickle down to the people, making it tougher to get loans and pushing banks to raise checking and ATM fees.
He says Roe v. Wade is settled law, but supports strong parental notification measures and a partial birth abortion ban.
On defense, he backs the President's plan to send additional troops to Afghanistan.
Boston.com:
By describing himself as a fiscal conservative and an independent, did Brown mean to suggest he’s a social liberal?
“No,’’ Brown chuckled in the radio interview. “I’m not known as a social liberal, that’s for sure.’’
Last week he embraced waterboarding. Last month he expressed skepticism that climate change is being caused by humans. He has even denounced two national proposals that he supported in Massachusetts as a lawmaker - mandatory health care coverage and a cap-and-trade system to cut global warming gases.
To be sure, the 30-year National Guardsman from Wrentham would never have been called a social liberal. Long a foe of gay marriage and a “tax-and-spend mentality,’’ Brown calls himself a social moderate, and his work in the Legislature has focused on issues such as tightening restrictions on sex offenders.
I am going to take a wait and see approach. Based on his record, he looks pretty moderate. Let's see how this plays out on the national stage. One thing that does worry me?
Brown said his model for governing would be McCain, who would also be the first appointment in a packed schedule of meetings that morning. "I have great respect for Senator McCain," he said of the Arizona senator, who was one of the first establishment players to support his seemingly quixotic bid against Attorney General Martha Coakley. "I've known him for a while, long before this, and you know he is a war hero and kind of a maverick independent thinker. While I want to be a Scott Brown Republican, I want to rely on everybody on both sides of the aisle," he added, "I've told my leadership already that I'm not a rubber stamp for anybody."
Yikes.
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right on, Scott Brown is only a conservative as compared to Snowe, But he is better than the Democrats so called Blue Dogs but not by much.
He is more important in making sure that the people of the United States don’t get railroaded.
IMO, Brown did not win Tuesday , Coakly lost. The Repubs did not win the Indies put him in the seat.
After listening to him over the past few days, I figured he was more like McCain. Welp, at least we’re heading in the right direction.
“He says Roe v. Wade is settled law, but supports strong parental notification measures and a partial birth abortion ban.”
Well, Isn’t that Special?
He believes that those babies conceived by a 17 year old girl deserves more protection than a baby conceived by an 18 year old.
And he also believes that a baby at six months is somehow more important than a baby at six weeks.
A real conservative would not have won in that land of raging libs. Half a conservative is better than a lib anytime.
“I am going to take a wait and see approach.”
Yes, you should have.
That’s exactly right. A conservative can’t win in Mass, just won’t happen. I think he is conservative as he can be in a state like that. So really, I don’t think we could have asked much better from such a state. He isn’t perfect, but is much, much better.
Really? You said that? Alright, maybe I should just keep all opinions to myself, but only if you adopt a similar policy.
I heard a statement from him about him being against cap n trade too, he’s pretty much on the right side of all of the major issues.
I don’t know if I’d compare him to McCain yet. McCain isn’t a conventional squish. He’s squishy on certain things and not on others, but he’s firmly convicted in either case.
McCain is also vindictive and can be quite a nasty person.
Maybe Brown is comparable to a Coleman. Coleman was (more vocally than Brown) pro-choice, but friendlier to conservatives on fiscal matters and took on the UN. Most of all, when he differed with conservatives, he didn’t give us the middle finger.
At least he is not a Democrat!
Multiple factors at play obviously but Brown did his part by running a smart campaign, which is harder to do than it looks. It’s silly to fret about Brown being less than perfect ideologically when he just replaced a Left Wing hero. Take that energy down to Delaware and make sure Biden’s semi-retarded son never gets to carry on the family legacy.
I was just agree with you. LOL
I was just agreeing with you. LOL
I fully expect Brown to be a squishy moderate so that he has a prayer of being re-elected in 2012.
If he was as conservative as i am, than he would definitely only serve for two years.
He may not be conservative but I suppose he has his uses.
Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1 in Mass. Even if he got 100% of the GOP voters there were not enough of them for him to win so your statement is pointless. Indies make up 51% of Mass voters so they were critical to his victory
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