Brown > Palin

A lot has been made the last few days over Scott Brown's decision to forgo Sarah Palin's Tea Party rally on Boston Common on Wednesday.  While I try not to read too much into decisions like this - Brown's explanation was that he's busy, you know, doing Senator stuff - you have to admire the guy for leaving the loonies to themselves.  Of course, the Palin Teabag machine had to spin it as if they weren't pissed about it:

“It’s not about paying favors back,” said Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, which organized the rally and invited Brown.   “I’d happily forgo (having him) if he’s truly doing the job of the people.  He has half a century of Kennedy damage to compensate for, after all.”

Of course, this isn't the first time Brown pulled the ol' 'I'm going this way; which way are you going?" routine. 

Barbara Klain, head of the Greater Lowell Tea Party, said Brown also turned down an invite to speak at their April 15 rally in downtown Lowell.    “He said he was going to be in Washington,” Klain said. “He needs to be doing his job.”

And of course we know that Brown somehow forgot that Caribou Barbie herself called to congratulate him after his special election win.  Pretty shrewd if you ask me. 

You've gotta commend this guy for keeping a safe distance from the loony brigade.  In a state where there are more liberals and independents than conservatives, palling up with the neo-cons and fringe fuckers would be like doing tequila shots with your alcoholic uncle at thanksgiving dinner.  

Keep up the good work, Scott. 

Well, he does drive a truck...

Just saw on Boston.com that Scott Brown inked a deal with Harper Collins to publish his memoir.  And why not?   After all, he's been relevant for a whole two months and a whopping three senate votes. 

I love how right wing ballwashers fawn over flash in the pan people like Brown and Palin because they catch a few headlines but then shit all over Obama for being inexperienced in the very next breath. I'm sure Glenn Beck will be pimping this book out in early 2011.  

"Dissent is called Disloyal"

Here's a great piece by John Avlon highlighting the disconnect between Washington and it's constituents i/r/t  nasty partisanship:

Ninety-three percent of Americans believe that Washington is too partisan, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll taken one month ago.

That's not a subtle message. Ninety percent of Americans rarely agree on anything—60 percent is a landslide mandate in elections. But the professional partisans and pundits in Washington have been falling over themselves arguing that bipartisanship is a fool's game as of late. They insist that Americans must get more sophisticated when it comes to the ways of Washington and embrace the town's bitter and predictable partisanship as both wise and inevitable. 

This disconnect is the reason more and more Americans believe that government is broken—addicted to division and controlled by corrupt special interests. Ideological absolutism always comes dressed up as purity and principle. Conformity is characterized as courage. Dissent is called disloyal. Partisanship is confused with patriotism.

Thursday's bipartisan health-care summit is already being dismissed by cynics as the equivalent of a show trial. But both parties had better wake up to the clear message that Americans are sending Washington: This is not a game. This is our country, and we elected you to work together—to move America not left or right, but forward.

Just this morning I had to listen to a blowhard on the local news yapping his trap about how Scott Brown is a turncoat for breaking ranks on a bill that would create an assload of jobs.  Didn't see that one coming.  

Problem is these talking heads have convinced themselves that Brown was elected to solely serve the out-of-state parties that contributed 75% of his campaign funds.  Wrong again, teabaggers.  He was elected in defiance of a worthless shrew of a woman on the left and by a large majority of centered individuals - from Massachusetts.  So, save your purity test for someone else. 

Maybe I misjudged you, Scott Brown

In his first vote as the answer to the Party of No's prayers, Scott Brown broke ranks and stopped a far-right-led filibuster on the $15B Jobs Bill.

"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," said Brown, whose election last month gave Republicans the 41st vote that could sustain filibusters. "This Senate jobs bill is not perfect ... but I voted for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work."

Certainly a tinge of self-preservation here, since Brown of all people knows he can't just fall into lockstep with the Tea Baggers and expect a sniff at re-election in this state.

Kudos to Brown and the other GOP senators who stood up for the people over partisan politics - something Washington's been completely devoid of for the last 13 months.