Scott Brown: How Do You Like Me Now?
'You feelin lucky punk?'
Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts was to be the the Republicans’ 41st vote in the Senate. He was thought to provide the Republicans with a 41-59 “majority” over the Democrats. Today, Republicans are reacting with a cautious nervousness in response to his having displayed a bit of voting independence by supporting the Democrats’ effort to prevent a filibuster against the Obama Administration’s Jobs Bill.
In doing so, Scott Brown has dismayed many Republicans who expected him to cast the kind of robotically drone-like, party-line votes that we have come to expect from Republicans over the last year. Brown released a statement saying, “I came to Washington to be an independent voice, to put politics aside, and to do everything in my power to help create jobs for Massachusetts families. This Senate jobs bill is not perfect. I wish the tax cuts were deeper and broader, but I am voting for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work.”
As PR moves go, this is sheer brilliance. Scott Brown does not need to limit himself to appealing to the GOP base in Massachusetts. If he intends to be reelected in this state, which often votes democratic he will need a broad-based appeal. Breaking ranks in this fashion will clearly raise eyebrows of Democrats in this state who believed that any hope of seeing their ideals reflected in their senate representative were dashed in the January special election. If he continues along this vein he is likely to see his personal “stock” continue to rise. Democrats like free thinkers and moderate conservatives like “mavericks.” With the failure of the McCain/Palin ticket, it seems that Americans like their mavericks slightly less INSANE and hypocritical than the two previous examples.
What do you think? Is Scott Brown the sexy beast who will sweep America off its feet?
UPDATE: Conservatives Declare Scott Brown Hypocrite
As seen in this HuffPost headline, there has been a nation-wide outcry of betrayal by conservatives over his Jobs Bill vote. Here is a brief sample of some of the comments from the party of tolerance (that is sarcasm in case you missed it):
SCUMBAG!
SCUM HYPOCRITE!
YOU DOUCHEBAG!
TOTAL BULLSHIT!
That’s about all I can stand in one sitting. Gives you some idea how much the party of NO hates the word yes. Of course the greatest irony is their use of the word hypocrite. Just call it karma.
