The BG has an article implying that Brown's committee assignments will help MA more than JK's

[karynnj]

Republican Senator Scott P. Brown has a strong chance of winning a coveted seat on at least one committee with jurisdiction over national security spending, according to Senate aides, which could give him a boost as he tries to fill the late Edward M. Kennedy’s role as leading procurer of federal contracts for Massachusetts’ defense industry.
<snip>
Brown will be urgently seeking to build a positive track record in the three years remaining of Kennedy’s term, which Brown assumed in a special election last month after Kennedy’s death in August. It will be a tall order for a newcomer in the minority party, and his ability to take credit for federal largesse could be largely determined by how well he works with more senior Bay State lawmakers, all of them Democrats.

But in the Senate, Brown will have room to maneuver.

Massachusetts’ other senator, John F. Kerry, does not sit on committees with similar powers of the purse. Kerry is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, a top-rated panel for its role in shaping US foreign policy but which primarily controls foreign aid. He is also a member of the Finance Committee, which oversees policy, and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation panel, which has far less budget power than the committees to which Brown is seeking appointment.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/02/12/brown_may_win_seat_on_key_panel/

Rather ignores that Kerry's seniority and relationships with the chairs of all the committees has more inpact than the junior most member of the minority party.

[MBS]

1. yup, that article really annoyed me

Deep into the article they finally get around to saying that the MA congressional delegation has able to work as a collective to bring in plenty of defense $$, thank you very much, consistently and effectively, without the help of Scott Brown.

Otherwise, it's a misleading article.
Sigh

[Mass]

2. When did the BG become a branch of the RNC?

This is a very stupid article and propaganda for the Brown campaign, absolutely without any facts (there is not one information in the article, only guessing and vague inferences). The fact is that, in order to get seats, he needs to find Republicans ready to leave their seats on committees. Who will be ready to leave an influential seat for a newbie? McCain seems to want him on his committee, so I guess he will get this, for the rest, it depends on whom is ready to leave a seat. So, we'll see what he gets.

This said, this shows senator Kerry and the House Democrats will need to be more visible in the state. Did you notice that, while the BG was reporting fairly well on Kerry's work in the Senate since the last year, they seem to have stopped all coverage, while they continue their BS articles about Brown

[wisteria]

3. I agree with you. He could get this coveted spot, but someone would have to allow him to have it

so changes are he won't get this spot because others have been around longer and are more deserving.
This was definitely a make nice piece for Brown. And, once again, Kerry does not get the respect that he deserves.

[blm]

7. GOP infiltrated Globe decades ago. Don Segretti was always planting stories there.

It's obvious to anyione who has followed Kerry since the 70s....Globe has NEVER called it straight for Kerry. Even when they HAVE to give in to some of the truth about him they will still manage to throw in a smear or two.

[ladym55]

4. I've come to believe that the RNC controls all media

The coverage of PickupTruck Guy has been nauseating nationwide. I've heard some gushing about his potential as President in 2012. Excuse me????

The "liberal media" becomes more and more of a joke everyday. It is an ongoing assault against reality to meet an agenda that is not in the nation's best interests. Massachusetts was sold a good-looking snake oil salesman. The rest of us were told the vote was a referendum on Obama and health care.

Apparently all that JK has done means nothing. I'll be interested to hear from all of you who live in Massachusetts just how well Pickup Truck Guy serves his constituents. Will he care for the people the way Ted Kennedy did and John Kerry still does?

[MBS]

5. I'm also nauseated

I rarely watch local TV news, but had the local NBC affiliate on last night after the Olympics. . with footage of a recent "no new taxes" protest running in the background, some (clearly Republican) commentator last night was frothing at the mouth with enthusiasm over the "end of the Kennedy era" and interpreting (in my view, overinterpreting) recent events as a "revolution". WHAT?

My theory (and perhaps JK and THK can look so composed in public because maybe they have a similar view, hopefully based on more solid data than me) is that, in the long term, this will sort itself out. Brown will show himself to be the fool he is (in two years, surely a scandal or two is possible--don't you think it likely that he's going to embarrass himself in some way? I mean he's already embarrassing. ), the Dems will heed Obama's SOTU advice NOT to run for the hills, a few laws will finally get passed, the economy will start to emerge (please, God) from the ditch, and Palin will get more unpopular.

Palin hysteria provides a good model for putting Brown hysteria in perspective(The Palin-watch at the Daily Dish has noted her increasing unfavorable ratings: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/02/maybe-tomorrow-does-not-belong-to-her-ctd.html Palin's favorable ratings have been steadily declining since Sept 2008, from 52 to (Feb 8, 2010) 37%. Unfavorable has gone up since then from 37 to 55. In a related post, Sullivan quotes the Cato Institute blog, which actually makes some sense (keeping the Cato perspective in mind)
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/02/11/president-palin/

Yes, well, I’m old enough to remember that Newsweek prepared six covers for the week of the 1968 election (I was very precocious), and one of them proclaimed “President-elect George Wallace.” Wasn’t gonna happen. Nor is this. As for those who compare Palin to Ronald Reagan, yes, there are some similarities. They both lived in the West, they’re both “conservative” in some sense, and they were both dismissed by effete East Coast intellectuals. But I see just a few differences:

1. Reagan served eight years as governor of a very large state; he didn’t quit after half a term. . .

All that said, I confess that I'm nervous, and also nauseated, and not a little gloomy, about the current state of the country right now. But I also think (OK, I hope desperately) that enthusiasm for people like Palin and Brown will turn out to be a flash in the pan. Sullivan's recent Palin-watch posts, "Tomottow doesn't belong to her", seem aptly named.

Tomorrow won't belong to Brown either, as long as the @#$% MA Dem part will get its act together and mount a strong, energetic challenge in 2012, and, in fact, start NOW answering back to Brown, and the overenthusiastic Republican party (and their collaborators in the media).

PS My theory is that the media (I think I'm quoting someone, either an oped type (Dowd?), or someone on this forum, maybe even myself: anyway, I do believe this)has a tropism not so much to the Right, but to power. Brown won, so that's The Story for a while.The Story will change. The perception of power will change. Myself, I'm waiting for that first scandal.:evilgrin:

[Mass]

6. I saw him too and there was something surreal in his commentary.

as was surreal the commentary of Jon Keller on CBS the previous night, that, because the federal government was closed for 4 days without any major disruption, it was probably not very useful. How is it that these people, who are supposedly educated, insist in propagating BS like that.

[blm]

8. I believe you KNOW the answer to your question. Who do you THINK a fascist would hire to read news?

.

[MBS]

9. I've long assumed that Jon Keller was far-right in his personal politics

(if memory serves, he's always been awful to/about JK).
But even rightwing politics aside, Mass's description of "surreal" to describe that guy last night on Channel 7 was right on the mark. Yes, right wing, for sure: but most of all just plain WEIRD.

[blm]

10. heheh....all right wing thinking IS weird to me.

.

[MBS]

12. my final thought on my field trip to local TV news last night

Realizing that most people get all their news, or virtually all their news from people like this and programs like this, it's no wonder so many people are so ignorant about politics and science and, well, everything except local murders. .
:(

[ObamaKerryDem]

13. Exactly! Other than a few like Olbermann, Maddow, and the like..

..the idea of a 'liberal media' in this country is a mirage, at best.

And the right wing hypocrisy about Brown is so transparent, it's downright laughable (or would be, if it weren't so annoying!). They jumped all over our party for nominating Obama after "only a few years in the Senate", yet a lot of them were talking about a potential Brown 2012 run..even before he was sworn in! LOL!

It's the whole style over substance (though I think JK has more of both of those things in his pinky finger than Brown does in his whole, human Ken dollish body), "Guy you'd want to have a beer with" thing, all over again. Dissapointing that so many people fell for it.....again. *sigh*

I can only see Brown going down from here, however..because I VERY much doubt the answer to your last question will be a "yes".

[ProSense]

11. What a ridiculous article. In addition to your points,

Brown is going to be dealing with the hypocrisy that comes with being a Republican.

[Mass]

14. This is an interesting read for anybody who thought we would have a senator for our state.

So, one of the first thing our dear junior senator does is to rent a "six-room condo on Pennsylvania Avenue while Brown and his family look for a more permanent place to live."

Six rooms? for a junior senator just arriving in town? Except for people who have been there a long time or rich people, many senators share appartments together. Even people like Durbin or Schumer are known for sharing appartments with 2 or 3 other people. But the Brown family needs their 6 room appartment (for 2 people at best). Talk about an absence of common touch (and note that the article does not say what the rent is).

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/14/brown_to_rent_ex_tenn_senators_condo_in_dc/

I particularly like this last sentence:

living there won’t dent Brown’s regular-guy image as much as if he had rented Thompson’s other place: a massive brick mansion in Virginia worth millions.

You think?

[MBS]

15. yup, a real man of the people, just commuting to DC

just a regular guy, no money, interested only in MA . .. yeah, right.
do you think he'll have to sell his truck to scrape together the $$ to buy a second home in the most expensive real estate market in the country?
Somehow I think not.
He is such a phony.

[wisteria]

16. His followers will make excuses for him no matter how he lives.

Don't you know the only elitists are Democrats. If you happen to drive a pick-up truck no matter where you live, you are just an average guy. :eyes:

[karynnj]

17. If it doesn't dent his regular guy image, it is because the media helped create the image and is

sticking with it. Not to mention, what is he likely to buy.