Brown flips-flops on date of swearing in

[Mass]

Until this morning, Senator-elect Brown was happy to be sworn in next Thursday.

Now, he demands to be sworn in tomorrow.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/02/03/brown_could_take_seat_tomorrow.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PoliticalWire+(Taegan+Goddard's+Political+Wire)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Wonder what happened?

If we are lucky, this will keep him busy in DC, and we will start to see less often on TV before breakfast. (can we start seeing our senator who is actually doing something).

[karynnj]

1. He found out that the Senators were ..... voting ...

What did he think they were doing? Playing Tiddlywinks?

"In a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, both Democrats, Brown's attorney says the senator-elect had planned on being sworn in February 11 but has since been told there are several votes being held before that date."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/03/brown-demands-certification-immediately/

They have been voting since the day he was elected. You would think he would follow the Senate a little - Do you now think he realizes that he will have to be in DC most weeks?

[ProSense]

2. Wow, he's sharp!

:rofl:

[Mass]

3. He has spent the last two days apologizing because he forgot he had spoken to Sara Palin.

Not the sharpest tool in the box, but sadly, we are stuck with him and the media love him.

[wisteria]

5. The media loves him for now, because he did something "special".

As quickly as they support you that support can turn into reticule and negative exposure.

[wisteria]

4. LOL,sharp as a dull blade. n/t

[wisteria]

6. it seems the RW radio stations in Massachusetts were pushing for this development.

I have to wonder if this is where Brown will be getting his directives from.

[Blaukraut]

7. It's where a good portion of his voters get direction and directive

Chances are that he will want to please that group.

[wisteria]

8. How long will he hold onto independents by pleasing the RW loonies? n/t

[karynnj]

9. The Washington Post actually covered it honestly - even though it was Dana Milbank

Starting with a pretty lame joke comparing his "sudden acceleration" to a Toyota, he describes why there was the sudden swearing in.

Brown, the surprise victor in last month's special election, had raised no objection to taking his oath of office on Feb. 11. But then conservative commentators complained that he was dilly-dallying; the Boston Herald's Howie Carr accused him on Wednesday of taking "a three-week victory lap."

So, in one of his first major decisions since winning election, the Republican made his choice: He would cave in to his conservative critics. He requested -- no, demanded! -- that he be seated promptly -- no, immediately! -- so that he could start to do the important work of being a senator. Democratic Senate leaders complied with his demand (they even let him have Ted Kennedy's primo office suite), and Vice President Biden made time to swear in Brown on the Senate floor at 5 p.m. Thursday

<snip>
An hour before Brown's swearing-in, Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.), the placeholder who had filled Kennedy's seat, gave his farewell on the Senate floor, an emotional appeal for "bipartisan comity." Eighteen Democratic senators stood and applauded. But Republicans let the majority know where they stood on the whole bipartisan comity thing: Not a single one of them came to hear Kirk's farewell.
<snip>
A few minutes later, after his wife got a chance to admire his new Senate lapel pin, Brown entered the jammed TV studio in a hail of camera flashes. Senator Centerfold laid out his positions. How might he work with Democrats? "I need to see what issues are coming up." His stance on gays in the military? "I want to speak to the generals in the field." A filibuster of the labor board nominee? "I'm going to look at everybody's qualifications." The jobs legislation? "I need to see what's in the bill."

He then spoke of Brown's untrue claim that the stimulus did not create new jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020404009.html

I hope that Brown really does come to regret that stupid comment.

[Blaukraut]

10. The more that guy opens his stupid mouth the less I can stand him

I'm ready to make a prediction that he will do what McConnell tells him to do. Brown is not interested in being Senator, he wants more. It's becoming more apparent every day. A lightweigt, just like Palin, but with the same delusions of grandeur. I can also predict that Baystaters will regret the day they voted him into national office and therefore put him on the national stage.

Romney part deux, except even dumber.

[karynnj]

11. He really came across dumb in the excerpts I heard - nowhere near as smooth as Romney

Not to mention, seeing him at even that length, I don't get all the comments on him being cute - he was when he was young, but not so much now. (or maybe he is just too obnoxious)

[wisteria]

14. Obnoxious is a good word and classless. He is no statesman.

Poor Kerry having to work with this obnoxious guy.

[Inuca]

15. I saw the short clip

with Kerry and Kirk escorting him for the swearing in. And I wondered how they managed not to fall in each others arms and start crying once it was done. Biden would have joined in, I am sure.

And yes, what's his name IS dumb, it's enough to hear him speak for a minute to hear it. What he says is almost irrelevant, they way he says it is enough. Yeach!

[karynnj]

18. I did too

I agree with you, though they both had the dignity to get through it. Kerry looks like he is walking pretty well again. (What I got from actually watching this is that the MA Senator with the best hair is still the same - Senator Kerry. I also think Kerry is the better looking - I don't like plastic looking people with vacuous eyes. No bias there.)

[ObamaKerryDem]

20. Absolutely agree with you. Brown is a dime a dozen.

While Kerry, as the '04 slogan so aptly put it, is "The Real Deal". And I also find him more attractive--plus he has the intellect to back it up, which gives him extra points in my book. Teresa is one lucky woman! :D lol

[ObamaKerryDem]

21. Yeah, Sen. Kerry looked like he was on the way to have a root canal..

..rather than to attend a swearing in. I'm sure a root canal would've been more enjoyable! lol. I don't blame him at all. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think of this jackass (however temoporarily, as I believe it will be) in Teddy's seat....and I don't actually have to serve with him! I feel badly for the Senator that way, though I know Sen. Kerry will carry the torch and be the REAL Senatorial leader in that state...I don't see Brown getting much of anything substantial done, other than to say "No". To say I am unimpressed with Brown so far would be an understatement to say the least, lol, though it comes as no surprise because I never expected to be impressed by him.

:thumbsdown:

[karynnj]

22. No matter who was elected, Kerry would have been the one to carry on

for Kennedy - and for himself. Had Coakley won, she would not have been the senatorial lead for the state. In fact, I am now thinking that might be at the root of why I always had a weird reaction when I read that they were electing someone to replace Kennedy. They were electing someone to fill the seat that Kennedy had for 47 years. No one, not even Kerry, will replace Kennedy.

Kennedy was one of the three greatest Senators of all times. Kerry is a great Senator in his own right, but in a very different way than Kennedy. Oddly, it is easier to see what Kerry would have been as President, than what Kennedy would have been.

[MBS]

23. yeah, root canal seems like a good comparison

. . a root canal without anesthetic. :)

I agree with everything else you said, too!

May your prediction of a temporary sojourn for Brown come true! (OK, MA Dems, let's get a strong candidate in there for 2012!)

[karynnj]

24. But, he was able to smile in response to Biden in spite of all he must have been feeling

This may, in a lesser way, have been like having to sit and watch Bush sworn in - especially after that roller coaster day when it looked like not only was he winning, but winning in a near landslide. Even then, he was able to be there "to respect the process".

[wisteria]

13. Palin in pants. n/t

[wisteria]

12. I don't like the guy, I think he is a dim bulb,but media smart, and I think he is an opportunist.

Apparently,he is a real media guy. I hope he gets to say many more dumb things in front of the media. I feel sorry for Senator Kerry and Massachusetts-he isn't worthy of being a Senator from Massachusetts. He is all about the flash and nothing about substance. I think some of the Boston media figured this out to late to do anything about it.

[MBS]

16. I think that the short duration of the campaign was bad news all around

. . both in the Democratic primary and in the general election.
There really wasn't enough time for either the media or the voters to "kick the tires" enough on the candidates.
So, with the grotesquely short time for campaigning, name recognition and superficial criteria played more of a role even than usual, in both the primary and the GE.As Globe columnist Brian McGrory noted in 2004, "Elections are long for a reason" .
Without enough time to kick the candidate's tires, you get travesties like this.
I think that with a longer campaign, results would likely have been different, in both the primary and the GE.
Based on what I witnessed, I've come to think that a better model for replacing representatives is to appoint someone for a term short enough to properly be "interim" but long enough-- say a year (and definitely at least 9 months) -- to allow enough time to mount a proper election to do a proper job of selecting a replacement.

[Mass]

17. This morning, he was saying he would not always make the right votes.

Now, that is a really stupid statement. I fully expect to disagree with his vote, but I expect him to cast the correct vote for his views. If not, it means he is too dumb to figure out how he has to vote.

Also, said that he set the date of the 11th in order to give Galvin enough time to certify the election, and that, when Galvin told him it was done, he asked the date to be advanced, which is a lot of BS given that the law says the election has to be certified in 15 days.

[wisteria]

19. Seems like he is trying to cover up his stupidity and his real reason for demanding to be sworn in

early.