Well, it looks as though Republican Scott Brown has won Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, ending the Democrats super-majority, and possibly with it healthcare reform. Some, like the MM.com reader who calls himself Edge of Sprawl (quoted below), feel as though this marks some kind of huge turning point in American history, where regular everyday people, emboldened by Glenn Beck, tea parties and the like, turned against the socialism of the left. I think, however, that the opposite is more likely true, at least in this case. I think that had Obama come out and fought hard for meaningful healthcare reform, instead of playing it safe, that Martha Coakley would have won tonight. The people of Massachusetts aren’t stupid, and they aren’t, generally speaking, Republicans. Knowing how important the 60 vote majority is, I believe, they would have been there for the President, had he given them something meaningful to rally around. But, instead they stayed home. It may have been a miserably run campaign, and she may have been a less than stellar candidate, but I think a majority of the blame for this one lies with Obama. And, now, I guess, all that’s left to do is just sit back and watch the stock market run wild as investors place their bets on the side of corporate America… Oh, and here’s that incendiary comment by EOS:
Circle the date on your calendars! The people have put an end to the Federal takeover. If you like tonight’s results, just wait till next November. Those Democrats not on the extreme left will be trying to buy their redemption with a no vote on the second attempt of the health bill.
The Senate lost their super majority and the House will never approve the Senate version that mandates federal funding of abortion. The buyouts of Ben Nelson, Landrieu, and the unions pushed the limits. The closed door meetings and lack of transparency were the fatal blows that sealed the defeat of this administration.
And if the Republicans think that we’re in for another round of musical chairs, exchanging one corrupt party for another, they will be sadly mistaken as well.
update: To balance things out a bit, I thought that perhaps it made sense to also move this comment by Glen S up to the front page.
I’m not optimistic this will happen, but I hope the Massachusetts vote will be a “wake-up” call to the Obama administration that they need to stop chasing the illusion of bipartisanship (and stop kissing Joe Lieberman’s ass), and instead begin fighting on the side of the American people regarding the issues that got them elected in the first place — jobs, the economy and health care reform.
First, he needs to push a second stimulus plan that begins putting people to work — immediately. By this, I mean less tax-credits and incentives… and more FDR-style jobs programs that take people out of unemployment lines and gets them earning a salary while contributing to the rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure.
Second, he needs to fire Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, etc., and send an unequivocal message to Wall Street and the banks that the days of “Too Big to Fail” are over, and that going forward, we are going to encourage financial services that encourage savings and investment in REAL products and services and REAL jobs; while discouraging the flow of dollars into speculation, arbitrage and disastrous commodity “bubbles.”
Third, he needs to work with the Congressional Democratic leadership to scrap the ridiculous House and Senate health care “reform” bills as they currently exist, and begin working immediately to craft legislation that taxes the wealthiest Americans in order to create a strong public insurance option that guarantees an affordable, quality choice for all.
Finally, he needs to re-instate Howard Dean and DNC chair, and let him begin rebuilding the brilliant 50-state strategy that was so successful in allowing the Democrats to regain their House and Senate majorities, and which, frankly, played a major role in Obama getting elected in the first place.
46 Comments
Congratulations on making it to the front page EOS. If you want to send me a picture of yourself, I’d be happy to post it alongside your comment.
It’s disappointing but, once again, the Democrats really have no one to blame but themselves and yet seem to be incapable of self-reflection. There was a lot of arrogance in assuming the seat belonged to them, just like Hillary Clinton thought she was entitled, and the threat of not certifying the election until after the health reform vote was exactly the type of corruption people were tired of in Massachusetts. I want reform but Pelosi and Reid still think that the ends justify the means no matter what. That strategy bit back and they are to blame.
I thought that once the house and senate passed their respective versions, the bills went to committee and then, once reconciled, it required merely a majority vote in both houses to pass the bill. Do I mis-remember School House Rock?
Dear God, Please give Harry Reid a set of testicles and have him walk into Joe Lieberman’s office today and tell him to screw himself. Droopy dog is no Democrat and now that he is no longer the “magic 60th vote”, boot his ass out. Then go down, use the nuclear option and pass the reform, just like Bush passed the tax cuts. How come Dems have no spine?
Brown is hardly a staunch conservative. Quotes from his website follow.
– Pro-choice, with a similar stance to Bill Clinton (“While this decision should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America.”)
– OK with state-by-state legalization of gay marriage through legislation and/or referendum (“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. States should be free to make their own laws in this area, so long as they reflect the people’s will as expressed through them directly, or as expressed through their elected representatives.”)
– Supports a two-state solution in the Middle East (“I support a two-state solution that reaffirms Israel’s right to exist and provides the Palestinians with a place of their own where both sides can live in peace and security.”)
Sure he’s more conservative than Kennedy (that could be said of most Democrats too!), but he’s probably to the left of several congressional Democrats.
I find this to be a non-issue and hardly the great victory for rightists that it’s being touted to be.
People act like we are going to enter an era where Roe v. Wade is overturned and we abolish science from schoolsand turn public schools into Christian madrasahs.
The health bill, which noone has seem to have read, has middle of the road Republican written all over it. After some capitulations, it will be passed with moderate Repubican support. Too many people have too much invested in it at this point to have one single Senator from Mass. derail the whole thing.
Pete’s right. The legislation isn’t progressive at all. Sure, there are some good things about it, but, by and large, it’s a giveaway to big health care companies. It didn’t start that way, though. If you’ll recall, there was a big push for a public option, which would have created a public entity to compete with health care. That failed. What we’re left with is a shell that’s been labeled “socialist” by the right, which couldn’t be further from the truth. And the only reason Republicans are against it is because doing so hurts the Dems. It’s pathetic.
Michael – You’re right, but Reid and Pelosi are changing the game plan. If it goes to committee, they would have to allow the opposing party to have some input, and that’s what they want to avoid most. So, seeing as they got the 60 votes in the Senate already, Pelosi needs to put the Senate version of the bill before the House and get 51% to affirm. Then, the Senate takes a quick vote on the exact same bill they already approved. The hurdle that may be impossible to clear, that I alluded to earlier, is that the House bill does not approve of Federally funded abortions and there are a significant number of representatives that voted for the house version who would not vote for the Senate version.
cmadler- I agree with your observations of Brown. He’s pro-choice. But in electing him, who won’t vote for the health bill for multiple other reasons, the pro-life side gains. The significant event is that Cokely had a twenty point lead in the polls on Dec. 19th, the State is overwhelmingly liberal, and they are opposed to the proposed health bill and the tactics of the Democrats.
Peter – You won’t find a single fingerprint of any Republican on any page of this bill, much less their name written on it or any votes for it other than a couple of the fringe — maybe.
Mark – It’s been a whirlwind week. Two persons agreed with me on something else I had written and now I get a byline on the front page. Excuse me for my disorientation, but I’m in unexplored territory.
I more upset about EOS getting a front page than I am about Brown winning in Massachusetts.
I’m not optimistic this will happen, but I hope the Massachusetts vote will be a “wake-up” call to the Obama administration that they need to stop chasing the illusion of bipartisanship (and stop kissing Joe Lieberman’s ass), and instead begin fighting on the side of the American people regarding the issues that got them elected in the first place — jobs, the economy and health care reform.
First, he needs to push a second stimulus plan that begins putting people to work — immediately. By this, I mean less tax-credits and incentives … and more FDR-style jobs programs that take people out of unemployment lines and gets them earning a salary while contributing to the rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure.
Second, he needs to fire Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, etc., and send an unequivocal message to Wall Street and the banks that the days of “Too Big to Fail” are over, and that going forward, we are going to encourage financial services that encourage savings and investment in REAL products and services and REAL jobs; while discouraging the flow of dollars into speculation, arbitrage and disastrous commodity “bubbles.”
Third, he needs to work with the Congressional Democratic leadership to scrap the ridiculous House and Senate health care “reform” bills as they currently exist, and begin working immediately to craft legislation that taxes the wealthiest Americans in order to create a strong public insurance option that guarantees an affordable, quality choice for all.
Finally, he needs to re-instate Howard Dean and DNC chair, and let him begin rebuilding the brilliant 50-state strategy that was so successful in allowing the Democrats to regain their House and Senate majorities, and which, frankly, played a major role in Obama getting elected in the first place.
Glen, if wishes were horses…
Well written, Glen. This “move to the middle” and the capitulation by Obama and the dems to Wall Street, Big Pharma, Mountaintop Coal Removal companies, ad nauseum, makes me wish I’d have voted Green last election.
This is nothing more than victory number one in the 2010 election cycle for candidates supported by the independent Tea Party movement. Fiscally conservative, freedom loving, small government candidates, whether republican or otherwise, will do very well this year.
I expect that democrats will be keeping as much distance from President Obama in 2010 as VP Gore did with President Clinton during his presidential run in 2000.
FWIW, I voted, and didn’t choose the no-hope 3rd party candidate, as I usually do. However, I did pick the losing candidate–as I usually do.
Well said, Glen.
Mark, please move this up to the front page to cancel out the silliness of EOS.
Designated Republican, don’t you mean teabagger?
Not that petitions help, but I liked this letter from From Move On:
“Peter – You won’t find a single fingerprint of any Republican on any page of this bill, much less their name written on it or any votes for it other than a couple of the fringe — maybe.”
You clearly have not read either version of the bill. Most of it is capitulations to get Republicans and conservative Democrats on board. Republicans can sit out because they can. It’s easy to scream “No” when you have little voting power.
I’m glad to see the Democrats lose their 60 vote margin in the Senate. Maybe this will induce sitting Republicans to actually do something besides bitch and beat their chests like monkeys.
EOS, I’d like to offer you my swelling teabag of patriotism to suckle on.
The Democratic Congressional leadership in Washington DC would not know a “working family” if they came into their office and whacked them over the head. If you want real change, then the 2010 “clean sweep” voting strategy is the only way to go.
Change to what? Back to 2003? Did something amazing happen through the Republican controlled Congress and Executive that I am unaware of?
Please tell me.
OK, having read your post, I realize there’s more to it. Not terribly constructive, nor revolutionary but entertaining nonetheless.
It’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, Obama will react to this. I’d love to see him take some of the advice offered here today, but I’m not sure that he’s got it in him. At least that’s my fear. I fear that maybe we all, in the wake of Bush, were too eager for change and projected upon him that he’s going to be this great progressive leader who brings back reality and wisdom to government and ushers in a new American century… But maybe he’s not that guy. Maybe, deep down, he’s the guy we’ve been watching this past year – just a conservative Democratic politician.
Has anyone started making red, white and blue “clean sweep” brooms yet? If not, I want that concession.
Obamas next move should be firing Rahm Emmanuel. He has stupidly bought in to Emmanuels belief that progressives/independents will support him no matter what he does because we have nowhere else to go.
Amen to that.
And, judging from this letter that I just received from the folks at BarackObama.com, it doesn’t sound as though they’re going to change one damned thing.
As for Scott Brown, if Glenn Beck is right, we won’t have to worry about him for long. No, Beck seems to think that he’ll kill an intern.
Don’t read too much into this vote. The majority of voters are vastly under-educated about the issues. It’s really simple: economy is bad, vote against the party in power, economy good, vote for ’em.
Fivethirtyeight.com has a good post on where the current crop of Democratic leaders has gone wrong: “Post-Partisanship Epic Fail?“
Thanks for the link, C Man. It’s a good article.
Seems to me, this seat is a welcome throw-away for the Democratic leadership. Now they can somewhat more credibly blame the Republicans again for their own suckitude (regarding not changing policy with the “war/s”, a sell-out healthcare bill, complicity in the bailouts, etc) and redirect their base’s anger away from themselves. Republican = bad, democrat = good again, just like base likes it.
With all due respect, it’s the people’s seat. Coakley and Obama lost big because they are ignoring the will of the people. Over 60% of the people don’t want the health care atrocity bill. I’d say the system works.
The significance of this is being overplayed by both sides. The underdog party in any state has its best chances in a special election like this. That is especially true when the underdog is the GOP due to the fact that almost everywhere higher turnout benefits the Democrats.
For one thing, money flowed in from the entire country for Brown because it was the only race in the country at the moment.
The turnout was 54% of what it was in the 2008 general, and only about 40% of total registered voters. In that perfect environment for the GOP, they got 51.9% of the vote – not a terribly huge margin. It couldn’t be repeated under even slightly less favorable circumstances.
The Democrats’ loss of the Governor’s race in New Jersey back in November was a more significant upset statistically.
Of course the GOP and the Tea Party are going to get as much PR from this Brown win as they can. Likewise, the Democrats are going to try to use it as a “wake-up” call to their base of Obama supporters. Therefore, everybody has an interest in exaggerating the significance of Brown’s win.
Here’s my prediction; No matter what happens, that seat will be held by a Democrat by 1/4/2013. Either Brown will switch parties or he’ll be beat in the 2012 general…even if Obama loses his bid for a second term in the same vote.
I’ll take bets on that one if anybody’s interested.
Scott Brown is really pissing off the Republicans for his vote with the President yesterday on the Jobs bill.
Check out the anger:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scott-Brown/178795233167?v=feed&story_fbid=325681096282
Now, I wonder if he’d support health care reform.
Last week they were all screaming that he was the 2nd coming of Reagan – the savior of the party. Remember how people on the right were saying that he was Presidential material? You’re not hearing that so much today.
Quote:”Here’s my prediction; No matter what happens, that seat will be held by a Democrat by 1/4/2013″
Sure it will!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say that I’m impressed by Brown, but it definitely took balls to stand up and vote with the President on the Jobs legislation. Even if it was good for his constituents, I’m sure it wasn’t an easy choice to make, as it may well have ended his Presidential aspirations.
Heck of a Job, Brownie!
They already have universal health care in Mass, so, conventional wisdom seems to be that Brown wouldn’t vote with the Dems on a public option. Maybe that’s not the case though. It would certainly be cool if he could be the 51st vote.
johnqpublic, you’re a complete idiot if you don’t know that. I am willing to put up any bet on it. Let’s make it a $1,000. What do you say, moron?
Headline: Scott Brown Snubs Tea Party
More conclusive evidence proving Senator Scott Brown is a moron:
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/2011_0505dems_blast_brown_over_fake_bin_laden_photo/srvc=home&position=4
Any idiot who is suckered by internet hoaxes can not serve responsibly in public office. They are simply too stupid to do anything but harm to the interests of those they represent.
I’ll bet johnqpublic or any other similar idiot that Scott Brown is defeated by Elizabeth Warren. Let’s make it $50 for every “HA” in your post above.
johnqpublic is probably a pretty good name for that idiot. After all, the vast majority of the population of this country is right about on his level intellectually.
All it takes is a very basic level of understanding of demographics and statistics to know Scott Brown can not win in a standard general election as a Republican.
Even a much better candidate than Brown would still get beat, and even by a much worse candidate than Elizabeth Warren. The demographics simply make it impossible for a flake like Brown to beat a reasonably acceptable candidate like Warren.
Where is that moron, johnqpublic, now? Where do any of these anonymous idiots go when their previous statements prove conclusively once again that they are nothing but obnoxious dumbfucks?