When the Herald does its job and the Globe does not.

[Mass]

Of course, there is a bias in the article, but at least, people will hear about it. Nothing like that in the Globe, which today is pimping Brown's favorability rating (Matt Viser may want to learn about MoE, BTW).

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20100627scott_brown_feeling_heat_on_jobs_critics_slam_gop_senator_for_filibustering_key_bill/

Scott Brown feeling heat on jobs

Critics slam GOP senator for filibustering key bill

By Jay Fitzgerald and Renee Dudley
Sunday, June 27, 2010 - Updated 18h ago
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Liberal activists are lashing out at Sen. Scott Brown for opposing a spending bill they say would have provided badly needed funds for summer jobs in Boston and across Massachusetts.

Brown joined his fellow Republicans late last week in filibustering the Democratic bill, which included money to extend jobless benefits, funnel funds directly to cash-strapped states and provide financial support for summer jobs across the nation.

“It’s unconscionable,” said John Drew, head of the Action for Boston Community Development, referring to Republican opposition to the bill. “I’m extremely disappointed.”


Lewis Finfer, head of the Massachusetts Community Action Network, worries what will become of thousands of unemployed teens this summer.

“Brown is really hurting us,” he said. The Republican filibuster “means no federally funded summer jobs - we had 7,000 last summer,” he said.

Sen. John F. Kerry said in a statement the vote was “one of the worst moments I’ve seen in 25 years in the United States Senate. . . . This is a terrible blow to Massachusetts.”

The bill would have provided enough money for 2,000 teen jobs this summer in Boston and 16,000 in Massachusetts - all of them at a time of record unemployment among teens, Drew said.

But even as the summer marches on, Brown said he will try to find money for summer jobs through other kinds of federal funding.

“The whole process isn’t over,” Brown told the Herald yesterday. “We need to find a way to pay by making other funds available.”

The senator, who says he opposes any spending program that increases the nation’s deficit, has urged federal authorities to instead dip into previously approved, unused funds to pay for such programs - including what he calls “slush funds” within the giant economic stimulus package.

“The money is there to pay for extension of current programs and not raise taxes,” Brown said in a statement last week.

Brown has co-sponsored legislation that calls for “redirecting unobligated stimulus funds and cutting other wasteful spending.”

Yet, the process Brown describes isn’t moving fast enough for summer jobs advocates.

“I’m deeply distressed,” Finfer said. “This is the Great Recession and we need these types of lifeline programs for people.”

A spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino said the consequences of not passing the spending bill could be “staggering” for both city teens and unemployed residents who need jobless benefits.

But Brown said yesterday that parents and mentors should “think outside the box” to keep teens out of trouble this summer.
...

[wisteria]

1. It is easier to write about unimportant things like popularity, than to report

on more serious matters. Brown makes the rounds at a picnic and it is news. Senator Kerry goes to Israel on committee business and no mention of it at all.

[Blaukraut]

2. Yeah, Brown will 'find' money for federally funded summer jobs

Mr. Superman will singlehandedly save the day he helped fuck up in the first place. Can I tell you guys how much I hate that man?

Matt Viser needs to let go of Brown's dick he's fellating just long enough to write an honest column. Shame that the BoHerd has become the truthteller here. Brown is dumber than a sack of hammers and I cannot believe that our media have become so craven to enable him to skate through the next two years right to an election win.(Gail Huff has taken a job with a local station in DC, so you know they're planning on screwing us for a long time.)

Senator Kerry has done exceptional work since his reelection, work that benefits not only Massachusetts but the rest of the US, as well. But don't look for our media to report on any of it. They would rather pimp Brown, because he has them all snowed with his "I'll look out for Massachusetts" gig. Despite his limited capacity for logical thinking (no earmarks but I'll put in stuff that's good for MA), he is clever enough (ala Palin) to snake hisw way right through reelection.

I am disappointed in our fellow baystaters that they can be so blinded by this guy, but the media's bias, laziness, and obvious agenda are really to blame here. I honestly don't know how to fight that.

[karynnj]

5. Given what seems to be important, there is one hope

In many pictures, his hair line seems to be receding. Is it ethical to pray that he loses more - very quickly - within the next two years? It's not praying for "evil" and, like Palin, his main asset appears to be his looks and flirtatiousness. A bit more hair loss could have an impact - maybe.

Yeah I know this is not a post I can be proud of.

I wonder if the media's agenda is really related to the fact that the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year. They sunset because they could not be justified as permanent because even when we had a surplus they were unaffordable. There recently was a tax man who died with a $9 BILLION estate, who thanks to 50 Senators and Cheney, had no estate tax. None. Even keeping a 10% tax above the first billion, would have resulted in $800 million in revenue - leaving the heirs a measly $8,200,000,000 and that rate is far lower than the rate in 2003. Going from the 2003 rates before that bill was rammed through reconciliation needing Cheney to break the tie to zero has cost an enormous amount and benefited an incredibly small portion of the population.

[Mass]

3. On the bright side, I found a GOP voter who said she will not vote for Brown next time. He is part

of the machine (I did not have the courage to ask her what machine she was speaking of, because, generally, she means the Democratic machine in MA. Who knows? )

[MBS]

4. Many thanks for this article -- I'm still seething about that front-page article

in the Globe. What is it about Matt Viser and Scott Brown? and their continuing shallow reporting?

And, yeah-- that MOE thing. 3% is NOT a significant difference.
STUPID Globe article.

[karynnj]

6. Matt Viser was one of the reporters at the CSM Kerry interview

He looked very young, slightly built, and seemed very nervous when asking his question of Senator Kerry - something not true of any other reporter. His question was shallow and about the up coming elections. Kerry had the rest of the reporters on his side when he responded that a month in politics is like a lifetime - so that was 5 lifetimes (which got a nice laugh from most) then Kerry said that in today's 24 hour cycle news, a weekend could be a lifetime - which was met with agreement and laughs.)

I suspect that his reporting is shallow, because he, at this point, is pretty shallow. It might also be the case that he sees a future of being a press secretary or at least someone with an inside tract for access if Brown became more important. His Kerry articles have been pretty straight from what I can remember. In addition, it would be his editor who assigns him what to write (I think). Covering Brown, which is politics or lifestyle is easier than understanding anything John Kerry is involved in.

(I went and found this when looking for his bio - http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/resources/bio.aspx?id=4140 )

[Mass]

7. Let's just say that between today and yesterday, the Globe has done nothing to regain my confidence.

Yesterday, Deval Patrick was in dire straights because he was 8 points ahead of Baker, but today, Brown is more popular than Kerry and Obama with 1 and 3 points more in favorability? Really? My head hurts.

[karynnj]

8. I guess the cuts at the paper have been too deep

It is startling to think of the change in the media since the 1970s. It was bad enough when a huge percent of the articles were basically from the AP. It is really bad that there are few reporters and that this obviously junior reporter is writing many of the political articles not written by the AP. The sad thing is my small hometown paper in the 1970s did a better job than the premier Boston paper now does.

[ladym55]

9. I find myself watching the created narratives

The Senator with a pickup truck needs to be portrayed as some kind of hunky maverick, instead of stupid opportunist that he is, so every time he takes a breath, it must be covered with gushing awe. The REAL Senator from Massachusetts continues to work hard, demonstrate leadership, and support the needs of his constituents, and he is at best ignored and more often treated with scorn.

My cynicism about "journalists" has degenerated to downright contempt. The poll results in this morning's Globe didn't make much sense ... given the responses to ISSUES were in line with Kerry's positions, not with the Senator with the pickup truck. The Senator with the pickup truck either "needs to study issues more" or doesn't feel informed enough to answer and then votes like the Republican tool he is.

[wisteria]

10. I agree with you. Senator pick-up truck needs to start putting out for the people of Mass.

he can't continue to influence people and win votes with just a smile and an empty pick-up.

[MBS]

11. there have been some hard-hitting ads on TV

from a Mass environmental group (sorry, I didn't pay attention to the sponsor. .maybe it's the successor to the old MassPIRG?), really taking Brown to task for his yes vote on the ridiculous Murkowski bill, among several other transgressions.

Pleased me to see them. I think I saw them on MSNBC, several times over the last week or so.

Have any other MA folks seen them, and can offer more details?

May there be more.

[Mass]

12. Good ads, calling Brown for what he is. A friend of oil companies.

But unfortunately, the latest one is one that calls for Kerry and Brown to vote for energy and climate reform, without stating Kerry is one of the leaders on that. I yelled when I saw that because it puts Kerry and Brown at the same level. Idiots.

https://psychcorp.pearsonassessments.com/pai/ca/research/publications/techrpts/reslist.htm

Also, I hope somebody will take Brown to task for his votes against extending unemployment benefits and wavering against financial reform.

[Mass]

13. I see the Globe continues its pimping of Scott Brown, who gets a

post about his introduction of Kagan, while Kerry does not.

Another point of irritation: Byrd's eulogy in the papers quote Kerry as an unprincipled guy by opposition to Byrd's principled voted against IWR. FGS, there were nearly 30 Dems voting for this bill. Why Kerry?

[karynnj]

14. More incompetent pimping

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2010/06/brown_testifies.html

This article completely overstates what this "bill" is. As a story, it is poorly written - not even mentioning the committee that Brown was "testifying" before. It completely ignores the far broader bill - that the Chairman of the committee sponsored that may well become part of a Reid bill that combines it and climate change. The likely course of the Brown/Feinstein bill that codifies what President Obama proposed is that it will, possibly in an amended form, be added as an amendment to the Bingaman bill. (just as Kerry regularly gets pieces in bills before committees he is on.)

Here is a Daily Kos article that explains the Bingaman bill - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/26/13596/2110

Now, I would have no problem with this coverage of the state Senator, but Kerry has never been given similar coverage for all the pieces of legislation that he introduced and testified about before committees. This gives people the idea that Brown writes important legislation - more so than Kerry, when the opposite is true. A parallel theme in both the BG and BH comments is that Brown "reads" the entire bills and Kerry doesn't - ignoring the fact that Kerry can speak in detail off the cuff on the bills and Brown only can say that he "is studying it".

[Mass]

15. Unfortunately, it is partly Kerry's fault. For years, he has stayed in the shadow of Kennedy

in the local arena (which partly freed him to work on issues he cared about, but did not give him the type of recognition a senator needs). The same problem is true for Boston congressmen, who are barely reported upon, while Brown has a write up each time he ties his shoes.

I am happy he has an important role in foreign policy, but he dramatically needs to reinforce his visibility in the state.

Just finished to read the link about the bill. First, the fact that Markey, who has been a leader on these issues, is just named as an afterthought, is what I was talking about. In addition, it is amazing to see that Brown taking the position taken a week ago by Boenhart and Cantor would be seen as being a maverick. God.

[Blaukraut]

17. Viser is twisting himself into a pretzel here

The comment section was better than the article, especially the last one, that puts Brown's "bill" into perspective. That was nicely done ;)

[karynnj]

18. thanks

That person cheated getting most of the information and then regrets not crediting RL Miller's excellent diary - for the obvious reason that Daily Kos would be considered to be just a left wing blog - but Miller's article runs circles around all the others. Fortunately she had the Houston paper's link.

One interesting thing is that the likely course is that Brown/Feinstein may be added to Bingaman's spill bill as is or amended. The current plan seems to be to take that bill and merge it with the climate change bill. This could be a niffy way to co-opt Brown. If he wants to vote for "his" bill on the Senate floor, he needs to vote for Reid's bill.

(Brown aside, it shows one of the reasons that Thomas can not be used easily to show an individual Senator's contribution well. Here, the Brown bill seems to be "codifying what Obama proposed", but the same thing happens to things that are complex pieces of legislation that could have stood alone - like Kerry's affordable housing fund, that was rolled into the Banking bill in 2008 or the entire education piece that was rolled into the HCR reconciliation bill for which I have no idea which member of the House's legislation was inserted.

[Blaukraut]

16. I called that as soon as I saw JK's and Brown's introductions

Told my daughter to watch our beloved local asskissing media bloviate about how Brown introduced SG Kagan and nary a word about Senator Kerry's much more eloquent words only moments before Brown's drivel.
It's disgusting.

[karynnj]

19. Not to mention, sid by side there was no comparision,

Kerry was eloquent, sincere and incredibly comfortable doing what he was doing. In spite of having been in Israel over the weekend, he looked great. The lobster, aka his obviously sun burned JR Senator sounded somewhat awkward. It is interesting that he agreed to introduce her - but hadn't made up his mind as to whether he supports her - I've never seen that before.