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Some conservatives wonder: is Sen. Scott Brown “great,” or should the party mutter, “Great Scott“? They grumble that the Massachusetts Republican has taken on the dreaded characteristics of the RINO — Republican in name only, waggishly suggesting he’s really Mr. Scott-McCain. But let’s not go into that here. Some also wonder why the lawmaker suddenly traded his rugged, pickup-truck-driving image for a public acknowledgment of childhood trauma and sexual abuse in a CBS “60 Minutes” appearance on Sunday, and the torrent of leaks from his new book “Against All Odds: My Life of Hardship, Fast Breaks, and Second Chances.”

Though his win last year was heralded as an early victory for the tea party, Sen. Scott Brown said Tuesday that he doesn’t think of himself as part of the movement. “I’m a Republican, period,” the Massachusetts senator said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I have respect for the tea party. I’m a fiscal conservative – I always have been. When you talk about national security, I’m a hawk, probably more than anybody that I know in Massachusetts."

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown said he has no plans to run for president next year, but will support Mitt Romney if the former Republican Massachusetts governor jumps in the race.

People get understandably fatigued by America’s “confessional culture,” but insofar as this encourages abused kids to speak up and aim high, it’s all to the good. It sounds like the molestation took place over a relatively short period of time but the duration of the beatings is less clear. Probably not “relatively short,” though: Brown told also Stahl that he endured brutal physical abuse by more than one stepfather and even considered purchasing a Wakefield home where he’d been battered, “just so I could burn it down.” “I actually called the realtor and went in and took the tour and...

Washington is replete with idiots, but Senate Republicans seem to have the highest incidence of political idiocy in the entire capital.

WASHINGTON — Senator Scott Brown’s decision to buck his party leadership in recent days on the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ military policy and on a nuclear arms treaty has set off a new wave of anger among some of the activists who helped elect him — and renewed talk among conservatives that he might face a primary challenge. Tweet 1diggdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis Some Tea Party movement leaders who dislike Brown’s votes acknowledge that the Massachusetts Republican has demonstrated his independent and pragmatic streak, and by doing so may strengthen his chances at reelection in 2012. No primary challenger has emerged,...

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry, laboring to achieve a foreign policy victory that would be a highlight of his career, gained crucial support yesterday for a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia from his Massachusetts colleague, Republican Senator Scott Brown. Brown's backing gave Kerry additional momentum heading into a possible vote today. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry is President Obama's man in charge of trying to lock down the two-thirds support of the Senate -- 67 votes if every members shows up — required to ratify the New START pact. Kerry and other senators have...

That makes 60 votes for cloture, assuming Reid can keep the entire Democratic caucus in line. I’m not aware of any defectors yet but Tester, McCaskill, Ben Nelson and a few other red-state Dems who are up in 2012 will be thinking awfully hard about this vote, needless to say.Two big qualifiers, though. Collins, at least, is sticking by the GOP’s plan to vote no on everything until a deal is reached on the Bush tax cuts. Brown’s statement doesn’t address the subject, but since he also signed the Republican pledge to make the tax cuts top priority, presumably he’s...

# Brown: "I accept the findings of the report and support repeal based on the Secretary’s recommendations" 6 minutes ago via web # Sen. Scott Brown, R-MA, said in a press release that he supports a repeal of DADT. 7 minutes ago via web