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The Brown Effect: Conservatives, tea partiers, moderates, and independents find common ground.
Weekly Standard ^ | 2/1/10 | Fred Barnes

Posted on 01/22/2010 10:14:43 PM PST by pissant

Scott Brown’s victory spoils a popular myth. I’m not referring to the one about Teddy Kennedy as an indomitable force in Massachusetts, even from the grave. Yes, the Kennedy myth was rendered inoperative. But so was the fable about a death struggle pitting tea party populists and angry conservatives against moderates and the Republican hierarchy. That myth foresaw conservatives refusing to support candidates with even the slightest of moderate tendencies, dividing the party, and ruining its chances in the 2010 elections.

In Massachusetts, conservatives preferred victory to purity. Brown is not a social conservative. He’s pro-choice and, while supporting traditional marriage, believes “states should be free to make their own laws in this area.” Yet conservatives and tea partiers joined moderates and independents in the Brown coalition. They struggled, but it was against Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley and President Obama, not against each other.

This was actually one of the smaller manifestations of the Brown Effect. The bigger ones?

My, my, it’s a long list: an enormous psychological boost for Republicans of all stripes, a firm belief they can win anywhere, help in recruiting strong candidates and raising money for the midterms, the death of the Obama mystique, a critical 41st Republican vote in the Senate, and a stirring example of how to win.

There hasn’t been a Senate triumph as significant since the victory of Democrat Harris Wofford over Republican Richard Thornburgh in the special election in Pennsylvania in 1991 presaged Bill Clinton’s win the next year.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: scottbrown; teaparty
Yes, the Kennedy myth was rendered inoperative. But so was the fable about a death struggle pitting tea party populists and angry conservatives against moderates and the Republican hierarchy.

Fred is reading this all wrong, as expected.

1 posted on 01/22/2010 10:14:44 PM PST by pissant
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To: pissant

yes not GOP ....


2 posted on 01/22/2010 10:15:48 PM PST by gibtx2 (keep up the good work I am out of work but post 20 a month to this out of WF Check)
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To: pissant

Give it up, Fred. The electorate has discovered its power, and it doesn’t look like Lindsey Graham.


3 posted on 01/22/2010 10:16:17 PM PST by Mamzelle (Who is Kenneth Gladney? (Don't forget to bring your cameras))
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To: pissant

We held our noses and cheered on Brown. He has all kinds of RINO baggage that we’d rather do without, but was by far the best we could hope to get out of Massachusetts.


4 posted on 01/22/2010 10:21:45 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: pissant

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE????

JD Hayworth. That’s not what Arizona wants. He sounds conservative on the radio, but JD was one of the biggest spenders in Congress. In 2005 they passed a bill with 6,500 pork barrel earmarks worth more than $24 billion. JD voted for every one. He would be the wrong direction for Arizona. McCain is the right direction. Character matters.


5 posted on 01/22/2010 10:22:14 PM PST by chicken head
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To: chicken head

It’s a political ad from a lying, confused RINO


6 posted on 01/22/2010 10:26:08 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant

I supported him to kill Obama’s bill.

Done.

Now I’m supporting people like Trakanian, Rubio, J.D. Hayworth. Anyone that isn’t the establishment’s choice.


7 posted on 01/22/2010 10:28:12 PM PST by Soul Seeker (?)
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To: chicken head
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE???? JD Hayworth. That’s not what Arizona wants. He sounds conservative on the radio, but JD was one of the biggest spenders in Congress. In 2005 they passed a bill with 6,500 pork barrel earmarks worth more than $24 billion. JD voted for every one. He would be the wrong direction for Arizona. McCain is the right direction. Character matters.

Did McCain vote for the bill?

8 posted on 01/22/2010 10:29:08 PM PST by Wissa ("So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause."-Padme Amidala)
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To: chicken head
McCain is the right direction. Character matters.

LOL!! Tell us about McCain's character.
9 posted on 01/22/2010 10:58:38 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: chicken head
If McCain is the "right direction," then we are all seriously screwed.

When you look up "RINO" in the dictionary, McCain's picture is there.

Right next to Newt Gingrich's.

10 posted on 01/22/2010 11:08:56 PM PST by Allegra (It doesn't matter what this tagline says...the liberals are going to call it "racist.")
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To: pissant
Fred Barnes misses the point: Scott Brown is a Reaganite conservative. He wasn't running for the US Senate as a moderate.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

11 posted on 01/22/2010 11:32:46 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: chicken head
McCain is the right direction.

Yes, if you're here illegaly.

McCain's is condoning people breaking the law. He belongs in jail, not in the United States Senate.

This is not rocket science. There are laws in this country. They should be followed.

12 posted on 01/23/2010 12:49:15 AM PST by Cobra64
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To: goldstategop

100% fiscal conservatism, 80% social conservatism. That’s what Reagan believed. We can disagree on 20% of the social issues and still be friends and allies.


13 posted on 01/23/2010 2:40:51 AM PST by Katdaddy
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To: chicken head

“Character matters.”

And supporting amnesty for millions of ILLEGALS and expecting taxpayers to take on even more debt to support them says something about ones character.


14 posted on 01/23/2010 2:46:11 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
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To: pissant

There is one word that distinguishes Brown from Kerry: “Authenticity.”


15 posted on 01/23/2010 4:32:47 AM PST by AdaGray (uw)
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To: Katdaddy
100% fiscal conservatism, 80% social conservatism. That’s what Reagan believed. We can disagree on 20% of the social issues and still be friends and allies.

I agree. Like it or not, the most successful candidate is fiscally conservative but reflects their voters' social views. I suspect the reason the GOP is winning is because the social and fiscal conservatives are so terrified of authoritarianism that social issues have been pushed to the back burner, thus truly uniting the party.

16 posted on 01/23/2010 4:39:42 AM PST by NittanyLion
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To: NittanyLion

I am a prolifer . Scott Brown was a pro murderer of the unborn.
Taxes paying for abortions as included in the Death Care Bill have been stopped dead in their tracks.
I’ll take it.
Killing “Killer” Tiller has stopped him from pulling babies’ brains out of their skulls or smashing their preborn heads with a hammer. Yes it has stopped .
I’ll take both interruptions to baby killing.
I am not handed a clean cut; no strings attached victory.


17 posted on 01/23/2010 4:52:23 AM PST by Pastelsbywelz (GOPSenatorialFund,PalinPac)
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To: pissant

The “Republican hierarchy”, especially the “bishops”, had NOTHING TO DO with the Brown victory.

I am very skeptical that the GOP, as presently constituted, is in any condition to take power from the collapsing Democrats.

A couple of things, though, are crystal clear.

1) The people have the power to change their government.
2) Since all 435 House members are up for reelection in November, this power has revolutionary implications.
3) A guy driving a truck can do better - a lot better - than the whole GOP structure.
4) If Sarah Palin wants to be President (I don’t know that she does), she has a very tough job in figuring out how much distance she wants to have from the Party.
5) If YOU want Sarah Palin to be President, you need to cut her some slack while she figures that out.


18 posted on 01/23/2010 5:13:33 AM PST by Jim Noble (Hu's the communist?)
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To: Jim Noble
We need to take over the house and senate and then the democrats work with us... we do not work with them...Regan managed to get a lot done ..the real rinos have to be beat in primaries and if not I think we have to elect them til there beat in a primary...I think they are done in red states but not blue.. we are stuck with the Maine senators
19 posted on 01/23/2010 6:39:01 AM PST by Hojczyk
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