New England -- specifically, Massachusetts -- is all about tradition. History there permeates every aspect of life, not the least of which is religion.
And in that part of the country, there is but One True Faith.
So one has to wonder how the person the Democrats have been calling the (new) "smartest woman in the world" could make such a blunder.
From Taegan Goddard'sPolitical Wire: "Elizabeth Warren (D) and the rest of the Democratic field for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts couldn't answer a simple question about the Boston Red Sox at a forum yesterday. Apparently, they learned nothing from Martha Coakley's (D) defeat two years ago when she took heat for refusing to campaign outside Fenway Park and called Red Sox great Curt Schilling a Yankee fan." (See video clip below.)
Somewhere, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is smiling...
(Apologies to the original photog/source: Amendola/AP - appearing in the NY Daily News)...
The U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts is history…but that doesn’t mean we still can’t talk about it.
I’ll be onThe John Batchelor Show tonight, 10:30 - 11 p.m. (Eastern Time)/7:30 – 8 p.m. (Pacific). We’ll touch on the Massachusetts results and discuss what it means for the rest of the nation. You can listen to the show on WTTK-FM 96.9 Boston, WABC-AM 77 NY, WMAL-AM 630 Washington, D.C., XM/Sirius Satellite Radio and on more than two dozen other stations (check local listings for details). If you’re not in one of the listening areas, you can tune-in via any of those stations’ websites.
In a repeat of another big American election-related faux pas,The Boston Globe ran an online headline earlier today reminiscent of The Chicago Tribune's premature political obituary.
When all was said and done, the onetime underdog handily beat state attorney general Martha Coakley - one of the worst campaigners in modern American political history. Evah.
Just a few weeks ago, Brown trailed the heavily favored Democrat by double digits, but by the time Coakley surrendered tonight, the GOP upstart had won big (6 points-plus at "press time").
Ooops!
Massachusetts, a "blue-blue" state, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 3-1, not only failed to support Coakley, but more than 20 percent cast ballots for Brown. In retrospect, Coakley is coming under intense criticism for running a campaign that not only failed to address the largest concerns of voters - namely jobs and the economy - but she ran headlong to embrace President Barack Obama's health insurance reform plan - this at a time when Americans -and Bay Staters - are rejecting the proposal in growing numbers.
While Brown's election means the GOP now has filibuster power in the Senate, it's unclear as to whether Democrats will ramrod the Senate's version of the bill through the House - unchanged - as suggested by Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D). Regardless, on a whole host of other issues Brown now represents the chief stumbling block - the 41st vote against Obama's agenda.
The victor: U.S. Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R-Mass.)...
Brown, who will finish out the remaining two years in the late Edward M. Kennedy's term, is one of three Republicans (including the governors of New Jersey and Virginia) elected in the afterglow of Obama's inauguration last January.
These results have Democrat pollsters, pundits, party members and incumbents rightfully worried about the coming mid-term elections...not to mention a president with a severely weakened ability to now bring about the second half of "Hope & Change."
With the special election for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts today, the night’s going to be busy one on the radio…
To kick things off, I’ll be on Dave Congalton’s “Hometown Radio” broadcast on KVEC-AM 920 all along the Central Coast. From 6 – 7 p.m. (Pac Time), the two of us will discuss the Brown vs. Coakley race, its implications, and we’ll taking phone calls from listeners.
Then, around 9 p.m. (Pac Time), I’ll be on The John Batchelor Show and (cross your fingers) we should have a better idea of the Massachusetts results. You can listen to the show at WTTK-FM 96.9 Boston, WABC-AM 77 NY, WMAL-AM 630 Washington, D.C., XM/Sirius Satellite Radio and on more than two dozen other stations (check local listings for details). If you’re not in one of the listening areas, you can tune-in via any of those stations’ websites.
Martha Coakley(D) vs. Scott Brown (R) - Massachusetts votes for its next U.S. Senator on Tuesday - and the nation waits anxiously...
“Washington (CNN) -Multiple advisers to President Obama have privately told party officials that they believe Democrat Martha Coakley is going to lose Tuesday’s special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for more than 40 years, several Democratic sources told CNN Sunday. The sources added that the advisers are still hopeful that Obama's visit to Massachusetts on Sunday - coupled with a late push by Democratic activists - could help Coakley pull out a narrow victory in an increasingly tight race against Republican state Sen. Scott Brown. However, the presidential advisers have grown increasingly pessimistic in the last three days about Coakley's chances after a series of missteps by the candidate, sources said.”
If Brown wins, not only will he have signaled that perhaps the sequel to “Camelot” is weakening at the box office, but also that any additional installments might not see the light of day. Immediately, though, he presents a tough challenge to the Obamacare effort: he becomes the 41st GOP vote, effectively strangling any future votes on the effort to nationalize health care. Thus, the race becomes a referendum for/on the administration…which motivated the president to travel to Massachusetts on Sunday for a last-minute bit of rallying.
The president didn’t get all the love he was hoping for when he came to speak for Coakley on Monday…
So, as a service to voters and non-voters alike, here’s a last-minute run-up to tomorrow’s special election.
Is history repeating? More than 200 years ago, a bunch of colonists – dressed as Native Americans – threw British goods into a Massachusetts harbor. Thus, the Boston Tea Party was born. Now, we’ve got conservatives, independents and others revolting against the administration and Congress…and we’ve got the modern Tea Party. In addition, if polls hold up, Bay State voters are once again going to throw their rulers’ “goods” into the (figurative) harbor when they elect a Republican to the U.S. Senate for the first time since the mid-1950s. As columnist Mark Steyn so aptly puts it (again, referring to one of the great moments of the American Revolution), tomorrow’s vote could be “The Scott Heard ‘Round the World.”
If you’re behind in the polls in Massachusetts, do you really want to take on a Red Sox legend?
Add Schilling: He’s an even more important asset in Mass. when he and Doug Flutie join together. (If Brown signs-up Bobby Orr and Larry Bird, he will automatically be named King of the World.)
If you’ve seen any of Coakley’s appearances or any of her ads, you’ll notice the person she’s really running against is…George W. Bush. Hmmm. I guess she didn’t read her ballot closely enough.
If you’re the Dem candidate – and, apparently, Martha Coakley is – you’re praying for sunny skies on Tuesday.
Everyone thinks of the Bay State as the mecca of Eastern elitism…that is, except for the run-of-the-mill folks who live there. “Unlike the past when a liberal who lives in Beacon Hill, and the plumber who fixes his sinks and lives in Somerville could generally be relied upon to both vote for Ted Kennedy, this year the plumber from Somerville has a choice that easily appeals to *him* and will stick it to all those Ha-vahd snobs who have always looked down at him. Scott Brown can win, because he authentically appeals to a voting block that has been taken for granted in the Bay State for a long, long time...” (h/t: Charlie Foxtrot)
Finally, enough about Coakley being a “poor campaigner.” Heck, even the best of ‘em can blow it…as evidenced here.
“Republican Scott Brown is a regular guy who drives a truck with nearly 200,000 miles on it. He says the truck has brought him closer to the people as he’s traveled around Massachusetts during the special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. Today Barack Obama campaigned for Martha Coakley in Boston and bashed Scott Brown and truck owners several times during his speech. Obama told the crowd, ‘Anybody can own a truck.’ Of course, Obama’s latest attack on middle class Americans surprises no one. Obama has a history of this. Later Scott Brown responded to the president’s attack. FOX News reported: Brown took that opportunity to slam the president on government spending…’Mr. President, unfortunately in this economy, not everybody can buy a truck,” Brown said in a statement. “My goal is to change that by cutting spending, lowering taxes and letting people keep more of their own money.’” (huge h/t: Gateway Pundit)
Here are the president's remarks:
...and here is Brown's original ad the president was poking at...
Which guy is the politician who sounds like someone you know is talking to you...not down to you?
It’s a miracle! The NY Times’ Maureen Dowd manages to get through an entire column without mentioning a Hollywood movie/celebrity/scandal/plot device/line.
During this year’s Super Bowl,Chrysler will present a 60-second television ad. (30-second spots are going for approximately $3 million each.) Can you guess who paid for it? If you guessed you and me, you move to the front of the line.
There's just something about Fridays that brings out the idiots.
Maybe it's all the idiots running for the exits at the same time...piling onto elevators, clogging freeways, turning bars into Land of the Idiots.
Who cares? Let's just roll out this Friday's offerings...
Did you hear the one about the shoe-in running for the U.S.Senate (as a Democrat) in a blue-blue-blue state that hasn't had a GOP since the mid-'50s...in a state that has Dems out-numbering Republicans by more than 3 to 1...campaigning for Teddy Kennedy's seat...and that Obamacare could very well hinge on her winning it? No? Well, in short she's running herself into the ground. A seat that is often viewed as "owned" by Dems has now gone over to the GOP candidate (State Sen. Scott Brown) in pre-election polls with just a few days in the run-up remaining. Even her own party is calling her an idiot.
Martha Coakley: Massachusetts State Attorney General…U.S. Senate hopeful…full-blown idiot. (Reason for being an idiot No. 356 - this was a photo published by her own campaign.)
You’d have to be an idiot to believe the promise that he wouldn’t tax you. Was he crossing his fingers ? (Labor unions – you’re smarter than we thought.)
Radio bonus: I'll be on John Batchelor's radio show beginning at 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) tomorrow night - Saturday, Jan. 16 - to discuss a number of recent events, including the Google-China dust-up and the state of the State of California. You can listen to the show at WABC-AM 77 NY, WMAL-AM 630 Washington, D.C., WTTK-FM 96.9 Boston, and on XM/Sirius Satellite Radio. If you’re not in one of the listening areas, you can tune-in via any of those stations’ websites. (Guaranteed "idiot-free" radio!)
Last night's Boston "D"(ebate) Party. (L-R: Scott Brown-R, Martha Coakley-D, Joe Kennedy-L)
The best line of the night...
When Massachusetts lost its senior U.S. senator back in August, there was grave concern among those in the Obama Administration - and those in Congress pushing for a nationalized health care system - that with their “lion” now gone, much of their fight would disappear as well.
Edward M. Kennedy is gone but certainly not forgotten. At almost every turn, his name is intoned. Among liberals, especially in Massachusetts, it’s “let’s do this for Teddy.” Among conservatives in Massachusetts – and everywhere else – it’s “never again.”
To be sure, there are strong personalities in the U.S. Senate but none carried the Kennedy mantle/gravitas and none made liberal causes – particularly health care/insurance “reform” their legacy like Teddy did.
Since his "departure," we’ve seen Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Fisherman’s Wharf) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-ialects) come together with the president to buck the polls, despite them showing the majority of Americans against the trio’s bill. The proposed Obama-Pelosi-Reid law managed to get by in the House with relative ease (thanks to a Dem majority), but the bill before the Senate passed on party lines (60-40) only after the votes of certain Democrats were bought by Reid and paid for by taxpayers.
One of the last hopes opponents of the bill have is that the race for Kennedy’s seat – there is a special election on Jan. 19 – might result in a Republican being elected and bring a filibuster-enabled minority (59-41) to the fore.
They can dream, can’t they?
It’s a mighty big dream. In Massachusetts, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by at least 3-1, there hasn’t been a GOPer representing the Bay State in the upper house of Congress since 1956. When it comes to Blue States, Massachusetts is among the bluest. You could say it’s “Kennedy Royal Blue.” Despite all this, the contest represent s the Republicans’ best chances in more than a half-century.
Enter Scott Brown. He’s a lot like Mitt Romney, only not as wealthy or Mormon. The State Senator, Army Reserve Lt. Colonel (JAG Corps) and former Cosmo model (true) pledges to be tough on terrorists, wants to finish the job in Afghanistan, doesn’t like Obamacare, and is giving the Democrat – Martha Coakley – a run for her party’s money. Coakley, who has run a horrible campaign, is the state’s Attorney General. She’s fully invested in passing Obamacare and wants the U.S. out of Afghanistan quicker than you can say, “Let’s invite the Taliban and al Qaeda over to Pakistan to play with the nukes.” The biggest issue in her very liberal quiver: she’s pro-abortion. Oh, and she also detests George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. (There is a third candidate, Libertarian Joe Kennedy – no relation to Teddy – who is smart and able but doesn’t stand a chance; though he could siphon votes from Brown.)
Currently, Brown is trailing in all polls but many have him behind by a very small margin. This has Coakley – and the DNC – very, very nervous. In fact, between now and the 19th, you’ll be seeing a parade of Democrat big guns roll into town to prop up Coakley’s sagging campaign. (They’re thinking, holy cow! This is a state where – sort of like the old Woody Allen joke goes – to win in Massachusetts, 80 percent of winning is being a Democrat and showing up.)
In last night’s final debate, which was between all three candidates, it appeared that Brown cleaned Coakley’s clock. In addition to her clear stand on getting out of Afghanistan (Brown says to stay til the job is done…and that he agrees with the president’s position to finish the war), the Massachusetts AG was very fuzzy when it came to how she would deal with terrorists (Brown decries detainees like Khalid Sheik Muhammad not only getting a trial on U.S. soil, but being given Constitutional rights.) Kennedy’s main thrust was to cut spending across the board – entitlements, Obamacare proposals, even funding for the war. (Further pointing to growing voter interest in Brown: prior to, during and after the debate, his campaign ran a special online fundraising effort, boosting his hopes an d chances as it raked-in more than $1 million in one day.)
The two biggest lines of the night came from Brown. The first was his response to moderator David Gergen calling it a race for “the Kennedy seat.” Brown corrected him quite smartly as evidenced in the clip above. The other line had to do with what it would mean if he were elected. I will be the 41st vote against the Obamacare scheme, he said.
And that’s what it comes down to, plain and simple: If Coakley is elected, the only delays the national health care/insurance bill will face in being implemented will be procedural. If Brown wins, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Special bonus from The Bliss Index™: The attack ad (below) released by the Coakley campaign today didn't last long. In fact, her campaign team pulled it after just a couple hours. The chief reason? They spelled "Massachusetts" incorrectly. (Maybe if Coakley is elected, she'll sit on an education committee.)
If you're going to run for the U.S. Senate, you should at least know how to spell the name of the state you want to represent...
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