Brown: Election NOT a Referendum on Obama

[Clio the Leo]

I have to say that despite my very clear understanding that the President is PERSONALLY popular (as poll after poll after poll has shown) I was not anticipating the LACK of venom his direction from Mr. Brown. There were obviously remarks about his policies and that's a definite concern, but there were no personal insults flung at him during Brown's victory speech last night like we did with Bush. Hmm.

Sen.-elect Scott Brown said Wednesday he does not believe the special Senate election in Massachusetts was a referendum on President Obama and his administration.

"It's bigger than that. It really - for us in our area - we have three speakers that were indicted, three senators that have resigned in disgrace, we have out-of-control taxation, spending in Massachusetts," Brown said on NBC's "Today" show. "You couple that with what's being proposed nationally, people are angry. They're tired of the backroom deals. They want transparency, they want good government, they want fairness and they want people to start working and solving their problems."

http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard01202010.html

[Political Heretic]

1. With language like that, compared to our candidate I'm not surprised he got elected.

[Clio the Leo]

4. We had a candidate? lol .... I'm pretty sure candidates...

.... are willing to shake hands at Fenway park.

[jefferson_dem]

2. He talks a good game.

Thing is, teabaggers are not going to let him stray from the plantation. Let's see how long he can pretend to be "independent" while keeping the GOP leadership, the teabagger mob, and real Massachusians satisfied. 2012 is not far off.

[Clio the Leo]

5. Yep, that's going to be an interesting dynamic. NT

[Vicar In A Tutu]

6. He's between a rock and a hard place in that respect.

It wouldn't surprise me if he ends up running as an independent in 2012 in a desperate attempt to salvage his seat. Tow the main GOP line too readily and he'll be kicked out by the voters, refuse to do so and the party will see to it that he ends up out on his ear. Either way, at this stage I think it's unlikely he'll be in the seat come early 2013.

[Clio the Leo]

10. Lets hope so.

... as I was just saying, it's not like he ran a "conservative values" type campaign. He ran a campaign that we (with a few policy differences) could have run as well. We screwed the pooch royally on this one ... but it will be a relatively easy fix I think.

[dipsydoodle]

3. They want transparency............

they want fairness and they want people to start working and solving their problems."

Blood too I assume. :sarcasm:

[Clio the Leo]

8. Well of course they want blood, from the terrorists....

.... now HERE is where we're going to have problems .... I need to go back and look at the polling data but IF this notion that Brown was really able to score some points taking what is in fact an unconstitutional stand against terrorism we're going to have problems.

I can TOTALLY understand people being upset about the economy. I can understand (even though I disagree) about their anger over health care reform. But *I* do not agree and I know must of us here and I know the President and the party to are NOT ready to change our stance on the rights of prisoners and we're NOT ready to start torturing again. Nope.

But if the President and the party are able to do enough to improve the mood on the other two things maybe terrorism will be less of an issue. No one ever said, "It's water boarding, stupid!"

[AndyA]

7. That just doesn't make sense.

"...people are angry. They're tired of the backroom deals. They want transparency, they want good government, they want fairness and they want people to start working and solving their problems.

So they go out and elect a homophobic, bigoted, teabagging Republican?

The cold weather up there in Massachusetts must contribute to a short memory, since homophobic, bigoted teabagging Republicans are largely responsible for the current mess. And the weak Democrats we have in Congress just emphasize that voting for a Dem is not necessarily the solution to the problem.

Democrats pissed away the last year, trying to reach across the aisle and being bipartisan. They screwed it big time when they allowed Baucus to chair the health care reform. They've made too many mistakes, and everything we've fought for will be taken away if the Dems in Congress don't get tough and get their shit together.

Moving to the middle isn't the solution. That's not change. WE WERE PROMISED CHANGE, and we're not getting it. THAT'S THE PROBLEM.

[Clio the Leo]

9. Your "homophobe" is not overtly opposed to gay marriage....

... said he was personally opposed to it but believe that states should be free to decide (which is basically the same approach a large hunk of the Democratic party uses.)

He may very BE a homophobe and a bigoted, teabagging Republican, but he didn't RUN as one.

Read his "issues" if you haven't already. His statement that "I recognize that our strength as a nation is built on the immigrant experience in America. I welcome legal immigration to this country," is NOT something I expected to read.
http://www.brownforussenate.com/issues

You take Martha's complete failure as a candidate and couple it with him driving his truck down the middle of the political highway and it's a wonder he didn't win by a larger margin.

[depakid]

11. Read between the lines

Anger. Taxation. Backroom deals. "What's being proposed nationally."

No need to come right out and act like a graceless jerk.