--more--"
Related: Meet Your Antiwar New England Liberals
Ted Kennedy's Legacy
Brown Steps Into Kennedy's Boots
That's "change," huh?
"McCain taps into Brown’s star power" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 6, 2010
PHOENIX - Senator John McCain is locked in one of his toughest reelection fights of his career, and is hoping US Senator Scott Brown’s two-day swing here can bolster his image with irate Tea Party activists and other conservatives. McCain’s chief opponent in the Republican primary, former congressman and talk radio personality J.D. Hayworth, pulled close to McCain in a poll last fall after criticizing McCain as too liberal, although a January poll showed McCain with a strong lead.
There was nothing liberal about the message McCain and Brown dished up for the crowd, as the pair hammered the administration for the nation’s continued high unemployment rate and railed against President Obama’s health care plan.
They also warned that Democrats are hatching plans to ram health care through the Senate using a process known as budget reconciliation, which allows for a simple majority vote in the Senate, and would get around a Republican filibuster.
“Scott and I just returned from trying to do the Lord’s work in the city of Satan,’’ McCain said. He called the health care plan “unsavory, Chicago-style sausage making,’’ and said, “We’re going to fight, and fight, and fight.’’
Yeah, except you guys are both are working for the other guy.
And they ain't gonna stop sheeeet.
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“He brings star power. Kinda like Sarah Palin does, you know?’’ McCain said in an interview. “He’s a national figure. People react to him in the most positive way . . . He comes in a position of significant influence, in our party and in the Senate.’’
That is NOT the kind of STAR I want anywhere near me.
The campaign swing to Arizona could also test Brown’s fund-raising ability, although McCain and his aides would not say how much of a haul was expected at events at the home of a former McCain aide last night in Phoenix and a similar gathering today in Tucson.
With the rise of Tea Party activists, the Republican Party is being divided by some of the same antiestablishment populism that is afflicting majority Democrats in Congress. Brown has been able to bridge that GOP divide thus far, appealing to both independent-minded moderates and far-right conservatives.
I'm not a "bagger," folks.
I'm one of the privileged one-percenters.
“Everyone’s been really impressed with Scott Brown,’’ said former Arizona attorney general (and McCain chief of staff) Grant Woods, who hosted last night’s fund-raiser. “He could do great things for the Republican Party. More importantly, I think he represents the potential that maybe things could actually get done in Washington.’’
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And they just can't leave well enough alone, huh?
The pair flew to Arizona together yesterday morning from Washington. He and McCain are also planning to go to Tucson today, where they will attend a University of Arizona basketball game.
Brown’s trip, however, will cause him to miss several basketball games of greater rooting interest to him. His daughter, Ayla, who plays for Boston College, is participating in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C....
Related: Taking Obama to the Hoop
Will you guys please stop invading the sanctuaries that keep me sane?
And the reason Massachusetts voters sent him there?
See: Selecting a Senator: Beyond the Globe's Analysis
No, Democrats didn't hear it; they never do.
"Brown calls his election ‘a message’ against health bill; Rips Democrat plan to bypass GOP filibuster" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 10, 2010
That won't stop them.
WASHINGTON - Senator Scott Brown railed yesterday against President Obama and congressional Democrats for continuing their quest to pass a comprehensive health care bill, saying the majority party in Washington has failed to heed the lessons of his own surprise victory in January.
“I was sent here in a message almost, to the administration and people up on Capitol Hill, that the American people expect us to do better,’’ the Massachusetts Republican told a conference of the National Association of Health Underwriters in his most extensive remarks on health care since arriving in the capital. “Right now the health care plan they’re pushing, in particular, and the way they’re trying to do it, is wrong.’’
Yeah.
We were hoping for a good national health plan like the rest of the industrialized world; failing that we were hoping for a good public option and expansion of Medicare; what we got was a health tax written for 60 senators when they only really needed 51.
Won't rewrite the bill, though. Some lip service about changes, blah, blah.
Brown ran against the health overhaul during his special election campaign, and his win stalled the bill because it took away the Democrats’ 60-vote, supermajority needed to pass the measure over a Republican filibuster. Democrats are contemplating pushing the bill through the Senate using “budget reconciliation,’’ a procedure that would allow passage of most aspects of the bill with 51 votes.
Doesn't that just PISS YOU OFF, Liberal Democrats as well as the rest of America?
Echoing recent comments from GOP leaders, Brown said reconciliation is unacceptable.
“You’re going to basically ram through something that is really unpopular and is clearly not good for the people in my state,’’ Brown said. Brown said it should be left up to states to decide how to expand health coverage.
Brown has cast only a handful of significant votes since arriving in Washington seven weeks ago, but Bay State voters overwhelmingly give Brown a thumbs-up so far, a new poll suggests. The poll of 500 likely voters, taken Monday by Rasmussen Reports, said 70 percent gave him a positive job performance rating.
Fifty-seven percent also said the Kennedy dynasty is over in Massachusetts.
Related: Reclaiming the Kennedy Crown
Brown replaced Edward M. Kennedy, who died in August of brain cancer.
You know, I really didn't care for the guy's political positions myself; however, he SURE WAS FORGOTTEN FAST!
Several Bay State Democrats declined to comment yesterday on Brown’s criticism of the health bills, versions of which have passed both the House and Senate but which have not yet been merged. Senator John F. Kerry, approached while leaving a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations meeting, twice declined to comment on Brown’s criticism. “Yeah,’’ Kerry said, as he headed to a meeting at the White House. “I can’t do it right now. I can’t.’’
Yeah, right, John. Since when?
Several business groups are launching an ad campaign today to convince Americans that the health care bill would hurt jobs, raise small-business costs, and fail to reduce health expenses. The ads, sponsored by groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, will target areas represented by moderate and conservative Democrats whose votes could be pivotal.
Like THEY HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS at heart!
One of those potential swing votes, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, yesterday laid out the case for health care but said reconciliation “is my least favorite way of doing things.’’
“Yes, we need to go back to work on jobs, job, jobs,’’ said Nelson, who spoke after Brown at the meeting of underwriters. “But in the meantime we need to make sure we do everything we can to help the people who don’t have health care coverage.’’
In a brief interview after his speech, Brown also said Americans would prefer that Democrats focus on creating jobs.
Well, we are STILL LOSING THEM last I checked, and I've only heard talk down there!
But later yesterday, the freshman senator voted against an amendment cosponsored by Kerry to provide $1.3 billion for summer jobs programs for young people. Brown voted against the amendment because it “would largely have been funded by adding more to the deficit and the national debt,’’ said his communications director, Gail Gitcho.
Bay State Democrats criticized Brown’s vote. “Many people in Massachusetts will be very, very disappointed when they learn that Sen. Scott Brown was not on the side of the people of our state who need summer jobs and other support as they struggle through this global recession,’’ John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said yesterday in a statement....
Somebody say something, readers?
See: Turning Over the Massachusetts Legislature
Yeah, THAT GUY is OUT of TOUCH!!!!!
We are DUMPING DEMOCRATS this fall, sorry!
Also see: Who Bought Brown's Election?
I guess none of us should be surprised at how things have worked out, huh?
