Blowback by Scott Siegel - HJ Reader Editorial
Normally, a Republican would lose by 20-30 points. Instead if the polls are correct, Scott Brown will become their newest Republican Senator for the first time since 1972. Both follow a similar trajectory (along with Governor elect Bob McDonnell of Virginia).
Across this country people are tired of massive pork barrel spending, government intrusion in our personal lives, and of course higher taxes. The healthcare plan is even unpopular in Massachusetts. AG Martha (or Marsha as Pat Kennedy calls her) Coakley has run a condescending lackluster campaign and figured that she would coast to victory. The most telling moment however came from former White House Chief of Staff David Gergen. After peppering Brown with hard questions such as the 2nd Amendment and abortion he lobbed a non Curt Shilling softball to Coakley asking her “what was toughest thing during your campaign?”.
Then came the killer: asking how he could vote against health care when it was Ted Kennedy’s seat, Brown calmly explained that it was the people’s seat. Like Coakley the question was dripping with condescension. Then the President made fun of Brown’s truck which has 200,000 miles on it. President Obama couldn’t help Corzine or Deeds and will probably fail here as he did for the Chicago Olympics and global warming in Copenhagen.
Even if Brown loses, the closeness of this race is astounding. After cash for cloture with special deals in Nebraska and Louisiana the public view on this healthcare proposal fell further down. Maybe now politicians in New Jersey and DC will get the message. When a regular citizen has cash flow problems the prudent thing to do is to cut spending. The Democrats in Trenton and Washington have chosen to max the credit cards. Tonight, the blowback begins!
- Scott Siegel
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