Posted on 02/01/2010 7:06:28 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
Tea Party activists from across the country poured money into his campaign coffers and littered the blogs with pleas of support to Massachusetts voters for him.
But Senator-elect Scott Brown, a Republican elected just two weeks ago to the U.S. Senate seat long-held by Ted Kennedy, does not give them all the credit for his victory.
Barbara Walters, guest hosting ABC’s This Week pressed Brown on his thoughts on the grassroots movement that has claimed much credit for his win.
“The Tea Party movement was important to your victory. How influential do you think the Tea Party movement is going to be?” Walters asked.
Brown rejected her premise.
“Well, you’re making an assumption that the Tea Party movement was influential, and I have to respectfully disagree. It was everybody. I had a plurality,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
OK, but you could say the exact same words about all RINOs. What’s the difference and why did we care before and not now?
He was the best thing going against the Health Care bill. I don’t think anyone here thought he was the best, strongest conservative ever, but he was a sight better than Coakley or anyone else. This is what passes for conservative in Mass., I guess. Still better than the alternative. If he goes too far left, Mass. can deal with him, but for now as long as he fulfills his pledge to vote against the monster bill, we’re pretty much getting what he promised, aren’t we?
OK..perhaps he’s being coy! We will cut him some slack.
Rubber meets the road when comes time to cast his votes.
If he goes RINO on us then its time to lash on him if that happens.
Just. Another. View.
Well, he was the second coming and now he’s dissing his base, on a daily basis....
I guess I’m not sure we were ever truly “his base”. He prided himself on his “independence” and those who do not affiliate with either party crossed to the “R” side to vote for him. He may well be a RINO by any other name, but he was the only alternative at the time and if he betrays the people of Mass. they will, no doubt, correct their error in time. If McCain can be defeated, much of that influence may be mitigated - to the good, hopefully.
Let’s see how he votes.
Short of being seated, he has already stated that he will side with the left on some issues.
I give him 3 months to begin kissing liberal arse in DC.
He has a constituency in MA that he represents, and to which he is accountable. I’m certain that I won’t agree with some of those votes. However, issues such as health care, nat’l security, etc., that strongly impact the whole country are the votes that most interest me.
I never thought he was going to be as conservative as I’d like. I’m just thankful he seems to be less liberal than Ted Kennedy, who made his brother, JFK, look conservative in retrospect.
oh, fer Pete’s sake .. don’t get reasonable. It’s more fun to build them up, then to tear them down.
It is safe to say that Brown was on a winning trajectory before the Tea Party jumped on board. They were helpful, no doubt. But full credit? I don’t think so.
That’s a deal!
I live in MA, and I agree completely! He's about as conservative as we are ever going to get for a National office. The only other conservative we had in recent memory got to Congress in 1994, after Joe Early was caught up in the kiting scandal backlash. One of Early's Congressional Aides ran against him in 1996, and won, and that was that for conservatives in our Congressional delegation.
Voters in MA will be watching Scott over the next couple of years, and they'll decide if he stays or goes. It is my fervent hope, though, that we won't still be living in MA when he comes up for re-election. ;o)
He is probably right. Tea Partiers in MAss and out probably donated money and called, but he got votes from more than just tea partiers. He probably got the majority of conservatives and libertarians, but I bet he got a good amount of far lefties who were doing what we did in 06/08 and his map showed him doing well in Boston, so he might have gotten some Union guys who are fed up with their bosses.
No time to give him a chance, I have to prove Im more conservative than he is :)
I heard Ingraham yesterday. I think she needs to try the decaf next time.
Here is the complete exchange from the official transcript, as also shown in the article:
Walters: “The Tea Party movement was important to your victory. How influential do you think the Tea Party movement is going to be?”
Brown: “Well, you’re making an assumption that the Tea Party movement was influential, and I have to respectfully disagree. It was everybody. I had a plurality”
Walters interrupts at this point: “But it was part of it.”
Brown: “Of course, it was.”
The “Of course it was” is the key part that Ingraham left out in her tirade. Clearly Brown was trying to avoid Walters’ implication that he was strictly a Tea Party candidate. He also resists being called any label, which is why he resorts to the “Scott Brown Republican” label. He is saying here that the Tea Party was one element in the support base that put him over, which also included registered Republicans, independents, the Dems who crossed over to vote for him, and basically self-defining conservatives of all stripes. Brown is trying not to be pigeon-holed by anyone, most of all the media, right now. They are clearly trying to “Palinize” him. And he seems more sure-footed than Palin initially was at dodging the bullet.
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