Scott Brown Saves the Union

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

What a great, great day it is! The country is saved!

 

[cranberry]

From whom? People who don't know who Curt Schilling is?

 

[dooley_womack1]

Before this gets locked for being a blatant political thread: How? Health care reform is not being voted on again; it's in conference. There's still enough of a majority that GOP policies will not get passed; the GOP could just effect occasional compromises.

 

[Fudgie the Whale]

Health care reform is being passed regardless -- as it should.

Only in this screwed up democracy is 59 out of 100 not a majority.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Oh, and polls still open for a few hours, and didnt see any exit poll results

 

[GoochMan]

Is this a political thread? I thought these didn't grow in this environment anymore!

 

[User 1019]

nb4lck

 

[dooley_womack1]

kthxbai

 

[Fudgie the Whale]

VIVA EL SALVADOR!

 

[21]

Now maybe Scott Brown can save the Politics board.

 

[OnTheRiver]

Just glad to post before the ol' Master Lock gets applied.

 

[Ace]

Hooray!! It's nice to see that scare tactics still work in 2010!!!

 

[21]

Maybe if folks just treated it as a major news story, and not an opportunity to relive second grade, we could have these occasional threads?

 

[Fudgie the Whale]

Maybe if folks just treated it as a major news story, and not an opportunity to relive second grade, we could have these occasional threads?

Maybe you suck.

 

[Chef2]

End well, this won't.

End soon, this will.

 

[Tarheel316]

Amen, Fudgie, amen. If 59 out of 100 isn't a majority, then that's what you call voodoo math.

 

[D-3 Fan]

I didn't know that Mass was going to have a special election to fill Teddy's seat. I thought they were going to do that next November, but given the HCR and other stuff in Congress, I can understand why they are doing this now.
I find the Brown story interesting, not as much about who he is and what he's for, but for how Martha Coakley can be that gaffe-prone and think that this was going to be a walk in the park.
Call me crazy, but if there is anything that Teddy's constituents hate and that's being taken for granted and being frozen out, which is what Coakley is in trouble for.

If she wins, she's one lucky and fortunate person.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Maybe if folks just treated it as a major news story, and not an opportunity to relive second grade, we could have these occasional threads?

Maybe you suck.

Glad to see the knuckle-dragging attack brigade is alive and well. No quicker way to get a thread you don't like locked than to start spewing cyber diarrhea.

Glad to see you haven't lost your touch Fudgie...

 

[User 1019]

That's rich.

 

[suburbia]

Before this thread gets locked, I'll just say that Martha Coakley may have run one of the worst major election campaigns I have ever seen. She may still pull it out, and I hope she does. But she deserves to lose, and she has no one to blame but herself if she does.

That being said, Coakley's errors don't change the fact that the Democrats have validated the stereotype of them that they can talk and campaign but not actually close the deal. The White House needed to be out in front of the message from the beginning, giving at least a clear framework of what it wanted in healthcare reform, the stimulus or any of its other initiatives, and clearly state how they would benefit the American people. President Obama then needed to be willing to get down and dirty, and twist arms if need-be, to get that accomplished. I initially thought using reconciliation wasn't worth the other political risks. But hindsight shows that he should have been prepared to go that route from the beginning, and then done so once Lieberman began acting up (I can excuse Ben Nelson, since he has to run for re-election in a very red state). Basically, Obama needed to LEAD and do the dirty work, and demanded that Harry Reid do the same.

Instead, Obama didn't want to do the dirty work. It seemed like he didn't give a damn what the final product was as long as he got something he could slap a "reform" label on and use as a trophy in his next campaign. He left a large message void, one the Republicans were very willing to swoop in and fill. And once the political narrative is set, it's VERY hard to break.

President Obama didn't lead the way in the beginning and wasn't willing to get tough in the middle. And he and his party may pay a VERY steep price in the end.