Free Republic

The nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board was just defeated on a cloture vote 52-33. Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.), and Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) all voted against cloture.

Republican Scott Brown became the junior senator from Massachusetts today, a week earlier than expected, and two weeks after his upset victory in the Bay State’s January 19 special election. Brown’s swearing-in marks the official end of the Democrats’ super majority by giving the GOP 41 votes in the 100-member Senate — enough to sustain a filibuster. At the Capitol, Brown was joined by his wife, Gail, and sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on the Senate floor, using bibles beloved by his two daughters, Ayla and Arianna, who were not able to attend the ceremony. Biden joked that...

t's a great honor to stand before you as the new United States Senator from Massachusetts. I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to many people, starting with my wife Gail, to Vice President Biden, to Senators Kerry and Kirk, to Leader McConnell, and to so many other people who have been generous with their time and their advice. I especially want to thank the people of Massachusetts who sent me here. I can't promise I'll be right in every vote I make. I'm sure I'll make mistakes from time to time. But I will try to give them...

A triumphant Scott Brown arrived to a rock star’s welcome outside the Russell Senate Office Building today to begin the whirlwind swearing-in process. “Hold on. Let me get my certification papers,” said the U.S. Senator-elect as he pulled up in a Cadillac Escalade. He had to leave his trusty old GMC Canyon pickup at home for the flight to the Capitol. “I’m happy to be here,” he told the press swarming around his vehicle. Brown then pulled his certification papers out of the back. When asked what his top priority would be after being sworn in today at 5 p.m.,...

Sen.-elect Scott Brown is expected to be sworn in as the "41st vote" on health care on Thursday, heading down to Washington, D.C., after Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed the certification of election to make him the next U.S. senator. !!!!!!!

In a brief procedure, Governor Deval Patrick and the Governor's Council this morning certified the upset election of Scott P. Brown, clearing the way for the Republican to take the oath of office this evening in Washington. Prior to the vote by the council, Councilor Michael J. Callahan offered a brief prayer for Brown and then councilors voted 6-0 to certify the results from last month's special election. Patrick said as he slammed down a gavel and said, "motion carried. Done.'' Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin then formally signed paperwork that will be sent to Washington, confirming that...

The pundits say your staff put New Hampshire on your schedule because they wanted you to make your case on the economy before a swing-state audience. Have you checked the polls lately? Massachusetts is a swing state now. According to Public Policy Polling, just 44 percent of Bay State voters approve of the job you're doing as president. That's in a one-party, Democratic duchy where you got 62 percent of the vote just 15 months ago. There aren't any PPP numbers for New Hampshire, but around here liberals are like the temperatures. The farther north you go, the lower the...

My favorite e-mail after Scott Brown’s stunning Senate victory: “Can You Hear Us NOW?” Answer from Team Obama: “We Know - You Love Us!” There’s a point where blind arrogance becomes comic, and we passed the punch line long ago. Check out this headline from the Boston Globe-Democrat: “The Message: Loud But Not So Clear.” Not clear to whom? Bad policies and even worse politics drove this blue state to replace Ted Kennedy with a fiscally-conservative Republican. It wasn’t exactly a subtle message. And yet it’s still lost on folks like Globie Renee Loth, still defending the liberal status quo....

US President Barack Obama is feeling the heat. His response to the current crisis threatening to sink his one-year-old presidency is telling for what it says about the future of both his domestic and foreign policies. Israel should take heed of his responses. Obama's Democratic Party, and indeed the US political establishment as a whole, received a jolt on Tuesday when Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts seat in the US Senate that had been held by the Democratic Kennedy dynasty since 1952. The question now on everyone's lips is whether Brown's stunning victory will cause Obama to change his...

On January 14, five days before the Massachusetts special election, President Obama was in full bring-it-on mode as he rallied House Democrats behind his health-care reform. “If Republicans want to campaign against what we’ve done by standing up for the status quo and for insurance companies over American families and businesses, that is a fight I want to have.” The bravado lasted three days. When Obama campaigned in Boston on January 17 for Obamacare supporter Martha Coakley, not once did he mention the health-care bill. When your candidate is sinking, you don’t throw her a millstone. After Coakley’s defeat, Obama...

George in East Hartford, Connecticut, nice to have you on the EIB Network, sir. Hello. CALLER: Yeah, Rush, what I'm most hopeful out of the Scott Brown victory is the following and that is that my biggest fear in the 2010 elections were going to be the third party candidates, these tea party folks that I line up with because it's a very conservative message, whether it's the war on terror or the deficit or this health care debate, and Scott Brown mirrored that message perfectly. So now the message swings both days. The Democrats are ignoring the message of...