“You absolutely cannot trust the United States Senate to live within its means.” Say what you want about Senator Corker, but the guy is among an ever-dwindling group of “grown-ups” still walking the halls of the United States Senate when it comes to getting the country’s financial house in order. He may not always represent the model conservative this Tennessee constituent longs for; but on fiscal matters, he rarely finds himself on the wrong side of things.
There are few things in life that give me more joy than seeing a Republican win in a predominantly Dem-community. So, needless to say, I was more than pleased to see that New York’s Ninth Congressional District special election to fill Anthony Weiner’s seat has gone Republican for Bob Turner. Polls showed Turner had an edge heading into Tuesday’s contest with State Assemblyman David Welprin, but I do not think I am in the minority saying that the Republican victory still comes as a very big and unexpected surprise. Just look at the history of the Ninth District if you need some perspective. This seat hasn’t gone Republican since 1923. 1923!! In full disclosure, I lived in the 9th District while attending law school and for some time thereafter. Actually, I lived just around the corner from disgraced Former Congressman Weiner
I know the headline may scare some of you; infuriate many more of you; and cause a fair amount of concern and trepidation for a lot of you, but… rest your weary heart fine people. Its just one vote, and it wasn’t just Collins and Snowe joining forces with the Dems on this one. Senators Kit Bond and George Voinovich voted for cloture on Harry Reid’s $15 billion “jobs bill” as well. So what does this mean? Absolutely nothing… YET. I only comment on this vote – in the fashion which I am commenting on this vote – in the interest of offering a admittedly premature “I told you so” just in case this is the first of many times Brown finds himself siding with Snowe and Collins.
Senator-Elect Scott Brown sent a letter to Governor Deval Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin of Massachusetts today asking them to certify his victory “without delay” so that he can take his seat and vote on legislation coming before the Senate this and next week. As you likely know – unless you’ve been living under a rock – Brown will give Republicans 41 votes in the Senate ending the Democrats’ filibuster-proof super-majority once he is seated. Regardless of your position on Brown, such a development is a good one for all Americans weary and frustrated by the of the out-of-control spending engaged in by this Congress.
This week’s trip around the Sunday Circuit was of course filled with a great deal of commentary reflecting on the President’s first State of the Union Address. The other big story that found its way into all of the programs was the President’s trip to Maryland to meet House Republicans there on retreat for a little Q&A. All sides of course claimed victory leaving me to wonder why they felt the need to discuss it or even video tape the thing in the first place. Both sides were preaching bipartisanship and will now use video from the event for the next 12 months to promote just the opposite. I liked the format and apparently everyone else in the pundit community did as well. That being said, if I hear one more comparison to the British version I may have to throw something. It was similar in the grand scheme of things – that being Q&A from the opposition, but the very fact that the stakes are unbelievably different makes the comparison slightly misleading. We have a President – not a Prime Minister – and there will be no vote of confidence on our Chief Executive any time soon – well at least not until 2012. Great for show; invaluable for future campaign sound bites; but otherwise nothing more than political theater.
It may be a bit premature as a Scott Brown victory in today’s special election in Massachusetts is anything but a foregone conclusion at this point, but the success of his campaign in even reaching election day with a glimmer of hope has got me to wondering if we are on the verge of one of those “threshold moments” that inevitably shape the direction of our Party going forward. The candidate – Scott Brown – is anything but a traditional cookie cutter Republican. He comes down on the Right side of most “conservative” issues, but his stated policies appear to take more of a pragmatic approach than many conservatives typically are comfortable with. As I have stated here before, I could not see Scott Brown as a candidate in Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, or a host of other more traditionally conservative (RED) states, but what I do see in candidates like Brown is an opportunity to chip away at the Blue states. Far Right conservatives – that so often love to entangle their religion with their politics – simply have no chance and I mean no chance in a state like Massachusetts. This is one of those “we don’t like to talk about that” issues / dilemmas facing the Republican Party, but I believe it is one that has to be addressed in the years to come.
President Obama is out on the campaign trail for the nosediving campaign of fellow Democrat Martha Coakley. At a rally in Boston, a heckler put things on hold for a bit. Watch… its a full two minutes of silence followed…
Internal poll results leaked from the Coakley camp last night show the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat even worse for the interim senator than the 46 to 44 number “leaked” from Wednesday night. So how is 47-44 worse than 46-44 you ask? Because Coakley is now trailing Republican Scott Brown by 3 points instead of leading by 2. In fairness, polls are all over the place predicting the outcome of this race (Suffolk University / WHDH poll showed Brown up 50-46). Take into account the statistical margins of error and regardless of the poll you’re looking at, this race is close. That being said, this was HER poll. This wasn’t Fox Opinion Dynamics or even Rasmussen. These are the numbers she goes to bed every night either patting herself on the back for or crying herself to sleep over. I think its safe to say that she’s been approaching curfew less than elated the last few evenings.
The Massachusetts special election race to fill “Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat” may be beginning to look like a late night drama or blurb from TMZ at this late hour, but Democrats fearing a final hour defeat are certainly taking this race seriously – well kind of. Photos of scantily clad candidate Scott Brown (here at The Other McCain) have surfaced and union workers are reportedly being paid to hold up Coakley signs (Michelle Malkin). The “Late Shift” in the polls has Democrats from across the nation flocking to the aid of the slipping candidate as a defeat in that liberal stronghold would be a mighty blow to Dem’s as they move toward 2010; and more importantly the loss of the seat to Brown could seal the fate of the Senate’s health care bill as Brown has vowed to vote against it.
“It’s not the Kennedy seat. It’s not the Democrat Seat. It’s the People’s Seat.”
Massachusetts Republican Senatorial candidate Scott Brown dropped that one on “moderator” David Gergen last night in a debate with his Democratic opponent Martha Coakley when Gergen asked if he would be willing to sit in “Ted Kennedy’s seat” and vote against the health care bill even if it meant 15 more years before reform was achieved. The response was the epitome of ballsy and precisely what needed to be said to the voters of Massachusetts. The result of this special election has been deemed a foregone conclusion for months and Coakley had all but packed the U-Haul before the race tightened in recent weeks with some polls showing Coakley’s lead to have dwindled to as low as three points.
