Posted on 08/30/2010 1:08:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
So he is, and every last one of us was fully aware of it when Scott Brown fee-vah was raging on the right before the special election. Even the Big Red Wave that’s a-comin’ isn’t enough to paint Massachusetts red, so it’s either Scotty B or Generic Massachusetts Democrat X in Teddy’s old seat. I’ll take Scotty.
Sarah Palin, who is pushing tea party candidates further to the right, dissed Brown, saying he was not conservative enough to pass muster in a state such as Alaska.
Brown is brushing off the intraparty attacks, making no apologies for the pledge of independence he preached during his campaign and says he is living out in Washington.
“I’m a Massachusetts Republican. When I go down to Washington, people say, what are you doing? They say, well you are working with the Democrats. I say, so what’s the big deal? I do that all the time. I’ve been doing it for 15 years,” Brown said.
“I don’t know what the surprise is,” he said of the attitude of critics from the far right. “I said I was going to go down there and be an independent voice, an independent thinker and vote accordingly,” he said.
The media’s hyping this as some sort of “true conservative”/RINO intraparty smackdown but both sides are more equivocal than you think. Palin, while dismissing Brown’s “antics,” acknowledged that he might be a better fit for Massachusetts than a Joe Miller type; meanwhile, in today’s interview, Brown saluted the “outsiders” in this year’s candidate crop who are bringing “a new perspective and new ideas, I think a new accountability,” which I assume is a reference to tea-party candidates like Miller. In fact, per what I said two weeks ago about Palin being a savvier politician than even her biggest supporters sometimes give her credit for, I wonder if her knock on Brown isn’t something done deliberately to boost him with Massachusetts voters. As any Chuck DeVore fan will tell you, Palin has no qualms about supporting a more centrist candidate over someone more right-wing in a blue state if she thinks there are electoral advantages to doing so. She knows that the left loathes her too, so beating up on Brown for not being enough of a “Sarah Palin conservative” will only endear him to the Democrats he needs to win. (It also gives him a little extra space to vote with the GOP since, even if he annoys Massachusetts lefties by doing so, he can always comfort them with the thought that their Wicked Witch thinks he’s a bleeding-heart liberal.) I’m not sure that that’s what she’s doing here — maybe she just really doesn’t like Brown — but for someone whose endorsements attract so much attention, maybe she’s realized that an anti-endorsement under the right circumstances can also help the GOP. Turn that polarizing effect to your advantage, Sarah!
Exit question: Speaking of polarization, what can she do now to turn this around?
Ping
Yes, just what we need, another RINO.
Add them up -— Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lindsay Graham and now this so called “Massachusetts Miracle”.
How many Democrats do we have in Congress EFFECTIVELY ?
Yes, just what we need, another RINO.
Add them up -— Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lindsay Graham and now this so called “Massachusetts Miracle” ( did I miss any other Republican in this list? I would have added Arlen Specter a few years ago but he’s gone).
How many Democrats do we have in Congress EFFECTIVELY ?
Why did she need to mention him at all at this time?
Same ole political machine - progressives, the whole lot of em.
It’s sick. We need regular Middle-America people serving this country...not more elite, professional “politicians”!!!
Whatever Scott Brown was or wasn’t the day he was elected, the fact is we knew very little about him.
On the other hand, we had volumes on what John McCain had been over during his life, specifically the last 28 years or so in Washington, D. C.
So let’s pick Brown apart, and endorse McCain. Ouch.
Some of us may have appeared to be going a bit overboard relishing the fact that Kennedy’s desired replacement was denied, and that Scott had declared his first vote would be to our liking.
Were we going to get better than that on election day? No. Now we’ll definitely have to deal with it.
We’ll likely be dealing with a whole lot more from the Grinch That Stole Arizona too.
I don’t see any mention here of public officials that were dancing up and down concerning that prospect.
They say, well you are working with the Democrats. I say, so what’s the big deal? I do that all the time. I’ve been doing it for 15 years,” Brown said.
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What a Mass-hole. At least he’s honest about it.
Don’t forget RINOPrimo, John McCain.
My question for Palin, though, is how can you criticize Brown from a Marxist state and yet wildly support McInsane from conservative Arizona?
The people of Mass. obviously wanted a change. Why not give it to them, Brown? As it is, they’ll just say, “Didn’t make a difference. Might as well go back to real Democrats.”
A Jim DeMint has zero — 0 — zero — zilch — nada — chance of getting elected in Massachusetts. Scott Brown is as good as it is going to get from that state. Better someone who votes with you most of the time than someone who never votes with you at all.
That’s what I’d like to know.
He’s like the Maine Republicans.
On the Laura Ingraham Show today, Laura played an audio of Palin endorsement in NH for Senate Kelly Ayotte, declaring that she would have given the thumbs up to Sotomayor. Shocked me. Supposedly she is quite similar to Lindseed Graham.
Her opponent in the primary is a solid conservative. Ayotte is the RINO that Judd Gregg has endorsed for the seat he is vacating.
So why does Palin pick on RINO Brown?
You’ve got a point.
Worked for Romney.
The thing that DID disturb me was all of the conservatives who came out right after the election and said "Brown for President!"
Please. You don't want that. You really don't want that.
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