Get Over Your Scott Brown Problem
Monday, February 22, 2010
Most of us are already aware that Scott Brown and Senators Voinovich, Bond, Collins, and Snowe joined with Democrats to support a $15 billion "jobs bill." If you check out Scott Brown's Facebook page, you will see that he is taking a real beating:
u suck Scott!!!! I cant believe you sold us out the first chance you got.
America was depending on you and you went and sold your soul. What else did you sell mr. Brown? Will your life and those of your families be better now? God have mercy on you because you'll need it. The people of MA will speak again so don't get to comfortable in Washington in THE PEPOPLES SEAT!!
It is very true that the people of my home state of Massachusetts will speak again in 2012. And if Scott Brown does turn out to be a "lockstep Republican" as Martha Coakley tried to make him out to be, there will be another liberal Democrat in "The People's Seat" in 2012.
Sometimes, politics is about strategy. Pure, principled conservatism plays well in 40-45 of the states. Unfortunately, Massachusetts is not one of them.
Yes, Senator Brown's vote sets a bad example. Yes, this bill sucks. Yes, its 15 billion dollars we don't have. No, it won't create any jobs beyond some small tax cuts.
But politics is a marathon, not a sprint. It does no good for Brown to vote the party line and get crushed in 2012. We need to keep this guy around. People who are now turning on him for this are idiotic and do not understand Massachusetts.
They also do not understand that this bill was going to pass with or without Scott Brown's vote. Throwing this bone gives him more credibility to block really bad stuff that we know will be coming very soon. Scott Brown is in the Senate to keep this seat out of Democrat hands. I don't see anyone flipping out about George Voinovich and Kit Bond...they are from red(ish) states and they voted for it. But they pick on the Massachusetts Republican?
I know many of you contributed to Scott Brown and may be very upset right now. But we did warn all of you that this was likely to happen. Scott Brown did not campaign as a principled conservative. If you expect purity, you should not have donated. People simply shouting "RINO!" is unhelpful.
If you don't like it, primary him in '12, and if he loses to a conservative in the primary, watch a Democrat win the seat by 20 points. You have been warned. Hold the seat. This is the kind of nonsense that is going to get Alexi Giannoulias elected in Illinois.
Lets turn our focus to red state RINO's like Lindsey Graham. They have no excuse. Scott Brown does.
Allahpundit has more great analysis at HotAir. The comments there are more supportive. HotAir posters tend to generally have a good grasp on political strategy.
1 comments:
We explained this very kind of thing to people at CPAC. Conservatives have to understand that Scott Brown won because of his appeal to independants.
I know you understand this Doug, hence the blog post, others need to realize that even though 50% or so of Massachusetts is registered independant, much of that independant leans left.
Scott Brown won by appealing to that independant base. As you point out well in this post, Scott Brown has a delicate game to play here. Leave the strategy to people like us.
If Scott Brown lines up lock step with Republicans, (especially Conservatives), all the time then he will be replaced next election in a heavy handed defeat. Since the bill would have passed anyways lets have some faith in the stragety and see how it all plays out.
Remember, if Coakley had won here then you'd be looking at a jobs bill and a healthcare bill. It's not that we like the jobs bill as this post points out. It's simply a matter of fact that Scott Brown can't be seen as someone who will oppose everything Obama does.
After all, Obama won with over 60% of the vote here. Don't forget that. If he becomes a Liberal posing as a Republican then we'll begin with the criticism. For now though, have a little more faith and respect the stragety that must be used in this state.
We've made great strides in MA and we're not about to blow it by attacking Brown for not being in the partisan line. Doug and I talked before Brown's election and fully expected this kind of thing to happen by people who don't understand what we're up against here.
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