Brown, Coakely, MoveOn.Org and the MA Senate Race
During a recent debate, the moderator asked Republican contender, Scott Brown, about sitting in “Ted Kennedy’s seat” (Massachusetts’ vacant Senate seat). What did Brown have to say to that?
“…it is not Ted Kennedy’s seat, it is not the Democrats’ seat, it is the people of Massachusetts’ seat.”
If you needed a reason to vote for Scott Brown, that quote should suffice. It may have been a sound bite, but it illuminates the problem with MA politics, which is currently utterly liberal: the Democrat representatives aren’t interested in representing the people (and they have a history or ignoring voter approved measures), only in their own political careers and legacies.
As is now all over the national news, Scott Brown and Martha Coakley are in a tight race for the vacant Senate seat in Massachusetts. Ted Kennedy, who recently shuffled off this mortal coil, had held onto the seat as though it were his career…oh wait, that’s exactly what it was (have I mentioned I’m in favor of term limits for every public office?)…despite the fact that it was supposed to be public service. The news is the fact that Brown has pulled even with Coakley in recent voter polls. That’s not supposed to happen in traditionally liberal MA. Unfortunately, I think the national attention is actually detrimental to Brown’s campaign, as Coakley and her cronies were banking on the assumption that the liberal voters who put her in office without even thinking about it (which is a pretty safe assumption in MA where all you have to have is a (D) next to your name to make your win likely), and I’m not the only one. Now the liberal voting bloc will get involved.
How do I know the liberal voting bloc will get on the ball? I started getting emails about it from MoveOn.org. I’d signed one of their privacy petitions many years back and am on their list now, even though my politics and theirs rarely match. Still, I admire their grassroots efforts and how passionate they are about their politics. Brown was able to raise $1.3 million in 24 hours using a similar approach to MoveOn.org’s own fundraising tactics, so MoveOn.org is now pushing for the same. Here’s their wording (direct from their email):
The bottom line is, we can’t afford to lose this race. We must save Ted Kennedy’s seat and make sure we have the votes in the Senate to overcome Republican obstruction.
Ted Kennedy’s seat. Sigh. Another reason I support Brown, is the sheer arrogance of MoveOn.org and Coakley when they refer to the vacant Senate seat as “Kennedy’s seat” (and apparently there are alerts coming from BarackObama.com with the same wording). I fully agree with Brown that is it NOT Kennedy’s seat, but the people’s seat. Our governmental representatives need to remember, as do we all, that they represent US and not themselves. Brown seems to get that, although for all I know it’s just another carefully worded soundbite designed to engender that reaction in me (and other independents). I’m still hopeful that Brown will pull off the upset mostly because I’m sick and tired of the arrogance of the Democrats in this state and of one-party control in the Federal government (and yes I hated it when the Republicans were in charge too – I’m neither Democrat nor Republican).
Update: probably not a good thing for Coakley to have her aides roughing up conservative reporters either. Watch the video and you can see the aide, Michael Meehan, push the reporter what looks to be twice, knocking him to the ground. Then he “helps” him up and proceeds to block him from interviewing the candidate. Yep. That’s what concerns me about the “compassionate” party – they’re only compassionate to those who walk in lockstep with them.
