Posted on 01/20/2010 2:42:05 AM PST by tlb
The dem campaign tried to portray Brown as a right wing Neanderthal. As far as I can tell from a distance, he in reality is a centrist mildly leaning to the left.
For that particular state in 2010 this may be their idea of a conservative, but it's difficult to imagine anybody like an actual across the board conservative winning this election. Even against Coakley.
The only big political name from outside the state he brought in to campaign was bogeyman Rudy Giuliani. He seems tight with Mitt Romney and Romney policies. In his victory speech he prominently and unreservedly praised Ted Kennedy. He's spoken in favor of alternative green energy technologies and has said the battle over gay marriage in the state is settled. And at some point you can depend the Obama administration will find issues his state would wish and demand he support. That's a lot of failed litmus tests for both the purists and the paulists.
Will people accept the reality that a centrist is better then a Kennedy Machine puppet? Or can we look forward yet again to Truth Files, barrages of RINO and traitor accusations, and snide and petty posts about his nude modeling photos.
Once the health bill is settled it will be interesting to see how long before the sugar buzz ends and the daggers come out.
[and when you mention and attack a FReeper,
you scurrilous RomneyBOT ought have the courtesy
and dignity to ping that FReeper].
This is a war to save our country. In war you must have allies, even if you don't agree with them on everything.
Even through it's not likely to happen, we really need to rally around the cause, which is removing the socialists from control of our government.
Brown is the Republican equivalent of a “Blue Dog Democrat”...he’s very palatable to Independents; fiscally conservative, and on social issues almost agnostic at the Federal level...magritte
Unless you are calling Scott Brown a Romneybot. Because I do remember something in his speech about Romney and the election, what was it:
I’m grateful to all those from across Massachusetts who came through for me even when I was a long shot. I especially thank a friend who was there with encouragement from the very beginning, and helped show us the way to victory - former Governor Mitt Romney.I heard others say stuff like that -- but that's not the same as your claim that they said he was "nothing".
Frankly, I'm surprised you aren't here attacking Romney for supporting a RINO like Scott Brown, a pro-abortion candidate at that. A lot of people who were so "principled" in attacking Romney for his once-held abortion views were quite enthusiastic about supporting a pro-abortion candidate in this case.
Some were not, and I admire them for their principles. There were some freepers who were willing to lose this seat, and endure Obamacare, in order to remain true to their beliefs and their resolve to never support a candidate who wasn't pro-life.
I'm very happy Scott Brown won -- but I could not bring myself to send him money. I'm glad I didn't have to decide whether or not to vote for him, I'm not sure I could have pulled the lever.
But i guess I'm a hypocrit, since I was happy to cheer him on, and encourage others to vote for him. Pragmatism is a strong, and in this case a valuable and good, motivator to temper idealistic adherence to principles.
Anyway I was glad to see that the anti-Romney folks at the site did not let his close involvement in the Brown race, and Brown's to-the-left-of-Romney views, to overcome the sense that we needed to win that Senate seat.
Not that I don't expect to see Romney 1994 video supporting abortion back on the top of the pages shortly, because the race is over, and we can go back to attacking Senate candidates from Massachusetts who supported abortion.
And let me say this, with respect to those who wish to harm us, I believe that our Constitution and laws exist to protect this nation - they do not grant rights and privileges to enemies in wartime. In dealing with terrorists, our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them, not lawyers to defend them.OK, it's not a strong mention of the constitution. But he does support our 2nd amendment rights.
I'm not sure what McCain did for him, but I'm guessing that he gave Brown his on-the-ground staff and other support behind the scenes. And it is well-known that Brown used Romney's Massachusetts machine to give him state-wide presence.
It's not easy for a local candidate to mount a statewide campaign, to build up an organization from scratch. Romney doesn't "deserve the credit" for the win -- but he does deserve the thanks he got from the candidate.
I guess he could have thanked all the talk show hosts, but that’s not normal for any campaign — I don’t remember McDonnell or Christie saying anything about talk show hosts.
As for Palin, she was silent on the race until the night before (for good reason, I believe), and I doubt she was giving “behind-the-scenes” support, since she would have no election machine in Massachusetts to help her. If and when she runs for President, she’ll need to either build a network in every state, or get the help of people in each state who have networks.
Yes, what you said. I always felt like Newt Gingrich’s first mistake was to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the party’s victory — even if it was technically accurate, the party is not a media pundit.
The RNC and GOP didn’t give him the time of day until it was apparent that he was withing striking distance. That says a lot. The problem with the Republicans is that those calling the shots are idiots...McCain for example.
Brown’s campaign was a breath of fresh air. It is time the Republican “Machine” get out of the way, they are as out of touch as the dems.
To be accurate, he had a teleprompter, and a prepared speech — couldn’t tell if he was looking at the prompter much though, in fact he looked pretty much like he wasn’t.
And he did ad-lib a lot of stuff, like the crack about his kids being available.
But many of his memorable lines were in the prepared speech.
I still liked his speech and all, I just don’t want us to get the wrong impression of the man.
Yes?
I’ve been thinking that some of the less liberal senators and house members were looking for a way out of this mess, but were too chicken to stand up to the left.
I’m thinking about sending Webb a note telling him that this is the first time I can remember that a Marine has had his butt saved by an Army puke.
(I’m not, nor have I ever been, in the military, so I apologize if I’ve offended anyone here)
I opposed Brown because he is a Pro-abort, big govt, liberal RINO. For all intents and purposes, Brown is a Romney clone. That is, unless you've been suckered and believe Willard's personal epiphany and political conversion. I will say this, at least Brown serves the nation as a military man in the Mass NG reserve.
Romney was handed a deferment from military service through the influence of the Mormon Church. Willard ran from military service --- as his entire family has done --- moved to France and chose to eat snails and foie gras then fight for America. Romney then tried to coverup his cowardly past.
"I was not planning on signing up for the military. It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam."
~ Mitt Romney, Boston Herald, 5/2/94
"I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam."
~ Mitt Romney, Boston Globe, 6/24/07
Now that is a hypocrite!
I will note that Dede Scarzafosa promised to vote against Obamacare. Not that I would have trusted her on that promise.
Scott Brown is as Conservative on the subject of abortion as Reagan was.
The same whore lawyer Reagan whom all right-thinking FReepers rightfully revile.
In your dreams.
As you well know, I’m defending Sen. Brown; from the likes of you. And, since I mentioned JR by name, I pinged him. That you feel left out of the criticism is your problem.
“A lot of people who were so “principled” in attacking Romney for his once-held abortion views were quite enthusiastic about supporting a pro-abortion candidate in this case.”
There is no violation in principle there, only realism. If Romney wants to run for Mass. statewide office again, I’ll be glad to wish him luck.
When the primary starts in earnest for President, I’ll be glad to relentlessly attack him.
Nice try with that illogic up above though. Brown is pro abortion except for Partical Birth...that is great for Mass., but at the national level it doesn’t fly.
That was an acceptable position here yesterday, and maybe for a few more days, but I expect the RINO hunt to start up again at any moment.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Burn down the Tent project tried to find a primary opponent for Scott in the next election — his positions violate at least one of their basic tenets.
You know, Jesus of Nazareth isn’t gonna return to run for the US Senate. Maybe we shouldn’t hold out for the perfect, but celebrate that we’ve gone from bad to much better.
I totally agree. You don't have to be against conservative principles to win (well, maybe in Massachusetts you do). Brown's ability to connect to voters would co-exist nicely with conservative social values. Love the sinner, hate the sin and all. I doubt too many freepers here could stomach saying nice things about Ted Kennedy, but we need conservative candidates who can do just that and mean it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.