Scott Brown swearing-in would be stalled to pass health-care

[shawn_oneil]

Suffolk pole released today has Brown up by 13%!

Go Brown Go!

What Brown can do for you....

[shawn_oneil]

Don't worry...Brown won't win.

Again - the point's moot, I'd be shocked to see a Republican victory.

Martha concedes with a loss of over 100K+ votes.
Rob,
How do you prefer to eat your crow?

Shawn

[SBinRockrimmon]

Today is a great day!!!!

[safety frog]

Great win, now the work begins to change the direction of the country away from deficit run away spending and taxing!

[Rob C]

Great win, now the work begins to change the direction of the country away from deficit run away spending and taxing!

I have no idea why you would think a Scott Brown win, the 41st Republican seat in the Senate, would suddenly "change the direction of the country away from deficit run away spending and taxing."

What "taxing" are you referring to?
You do realize that through Ronald Reagan's first term the top end of the graduated tax rate was 50%? Any $s over $175,250 you had to give half back.

You do realize in the last 30 years Clinton is the only President to actually decrease spending.
You do realize if we hadn't spent the money we did when we did in the last 15-16 months we would be a lot worse off?
You do realize the person driving this spending (Ben Bernanke) is a Bush guy?

Interesting chart below, the beginning of the "hockey stick" is on W's watch, last time I checked he is a Republican and he oversaw a Republican House and Senate through most of his two terms.



Let's keep some perspective folks!

PS - It was a shocking defeat I must admit. It's pretty clear Coakley's campaign dropped the ball more than Brown took it away however. If I were him I wouldn't get too comfortable in that seat...

[curt]

Great win, now the work begins to change the direction of the country away from deficit run away spending and taxing!

It was exactly those sentiments that caused Japan to back off from a full recovery after their crash in 1990. They are still in the economic doldrums after 20 years. That's what scares me about this much more than health care.

[safety frog]

I do not see how repaving a very nice section of 101 created long term jobs or rebuilt the economy when other roads are falling apart? How increasing the national debt by $1 Trillion to give health care "insurance" to a group of people who do not want it, have turned it down or are in the country illegally, or cutting Medicare by a Half $ Trillion improved our health care? How taxing anything and everything that burns, coal or oil, will help our economy? Exempting states (Nebraska) from paying their far share for health care while other states are made to pay? Why all these deals are being done behind doors with no input from the public? Passing 2000 page bills that are a shell game on the employers and tax payers without the public having input?

The list or reasons why folks voted Brown in over the status quo goes on and on. He was not the first will not be the last and if Washington at least opens their ears and eyes they may listen for a change and stop being arogent. Brown was not the first after the results of votes in November where the democrats also lost or came close to loosing in VA, NJ and NY. I have written Mr. Hodes, Ms. Shaheen and Ms. Porter many times and get the same white house party line back from each as if they are not even listening to what the folks in NH are saying.

What really scares me is that when I drive around NH and the rest of NE, all the buildings that used to employee people and manufacture things are closed, gone or turned into housing. As long as we import and not manufacture, we will go further into debt. That is where we need to be working on solutions.

[curt]

Why all these deals are being done behind doors with no input from the public? Passing 2000 page bills that are a shell game on the employers and tax payers without the public having input?

Deals have been done behind doors in Washington since the founding of the republic.

2000 page bills have been the norm for decades.

[shawn_oneil]

PS - It was a shocking defeat I must admit. It's pretty clear Coakley's campaign dropped the ball more than Brown took it away however. If I were him I wouldn't get too comfortable in that seat...

I don't think Obama, Reid, & Pelosi thought it was shocking. I suspect a couple of choice words come to mind that I can not repeat here. It is not clear that Coakley dropped the ball. Brown took it for a variety of reasons one being that he talked to the 'workingman'. The arrogance of the Dems with respect to this seat was astounding. Mass, Democrat, Senate seat = slam dunk. The National Dem campaign didn't support her until the end due to their arrogance. I loved Brown's speech about bring his truck to Washington when referencing his call with Obama. That was a nice poke at Obama who lost a lot on this election. As far as getting comfortable, that has little meaning from the man with crow feathers coming out of his mouth. I was surprised that you made that comment. Bon Appetit my friend.

Shawn

[curt]

This is another instance of candidates who have to win the base in a primary then go on to lose the general election.

There were at least two Democratic candidates who could have blown Brown out of the water, Capuano and the rich guy.

[SBinRockrimmon]

This is just another instance where the Democrats make every excuse in the book and continue to bash the qualifications of the person who was elected into that office. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.......bla, bla, bla. Fact is the people have spoken and I would expect to see the trend continue in the mid-term elections later this year. What happened in this election is the people are pissed off that their voices aren't being heard and let it be know at the ballot box. No matter how bad a campaign Coakley ran, it is still very unusual for someone with a (R) after their name get elected to that seat. It just shows that people are fed up.

[Rob C]

What happened in this election is the people are pissed off that their voices aren't being heard and let it be know at the ballot box. No matter how bad a campaign Coakley ran, it is still very unusual for someone with a (R) after their name get elected to that seat. It just shows that people are fed up.

I agree it is unusual for a Republican to be elected in MA to Ted Kennedy's seat however your reason why I'm not so certain of.

Fact is 12 months ago the Dems swept the national elections running on health care reform as one of their major issues. ONE MONTH before the MA special election Coakley had a 20 + point lead in the polls. Seems to me the loss of Ted Kennedy's seat to Brown has more to do with the candidate and the campaign than the issues and the temper of the voters.

The Democratic party still holds an 18 seat lead over the Republicans in the Senate (the last time the Republicans had a showing that strong was in 1923). The mid term elections appear to be an opportunity for the Democratic party to GAIN seats in the Senate not lose any (based on incumbents, previous performance and their potential challengers). There has been a great deal of misinformation and jumping of the right on every aspect of the health care reform bill and it hasn't been finalized yet, most likely it will change between now and then. Time will tell.

I saw this the other night and thought it was very funny and mostly right on. 10 minutes long but worth the watch, most will get a good chuckle out of it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mass Backwards
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

PS - Shawn - for me to eat crow would imply that I was humiliated in some way. That just isn't the case. Brown won, I didn't expect it (along with a LOT of other people) and he won't be sitting there very long, end of story,

[SBinRockrimmon]

I agree it is unusual for a Republican to be elected in MA to Ted Kennedy's seat

Whose seat is it? All I see is more arrogance. The seat NEVER belonged to Ted Kennedy. It has ALLWAYS belonged to the people of Massachusetts.

Rob, are you as certain about Scott Brown being re-elected as you were about him being elected in the first place? If your past predictions are any indicator I think he stands a very good shot of remaining in office.

Since I’m at work I don’t have time to respond to the rest right now so I’ll just leave it at

[Rob C]

I agree it is unusual for a Republican to be elected in MA to Ted Kennedy's seat

Whose seat is it? All I see is more arrogance. The seat NEVER belonged to Ted Kennedy. It has ALLWAYS belonged to the people of Massachusetts.

Just yanking your chain SB! Why so serious? Just trying a little levity...

Rob, are you as certain about Scott Brown being re-elected as you were about him being elected in the first place? If your past predictions are any indicator I think he stands a very good shot of remaining in office.

Well, we'll know in a couple of years. Of course, you do understand I wasn't the only one that predicted the outcome the way I did?

[curt]

I think this New York Times editorial puts it well.

In particular:

The Democrats had an exceptionally weak candidate in Massachusetts, but the results call into question their tactical political competence. The party now has less than 10 months to get it right before the midterm elections, when they are in danger of losing more seats in the House and the Senate. It is indisputable that the Republicans have settled on a tactic of obstruction, disinformation and fear-mongering, but it is equally indisputable that the Democrats have not countered it well.