# Congrats Scott Brown! Massachusetts Has A Great New Senator! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650 "2010-01-20T02:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/61 "2010-01-20T16:48:35Z")
> [@](#): > > If you’re saying voters will be surprised that he’s a member of the Republican party, that’s just crazy talk. No, I have faith in people to blissfully ignore the other side’s messages. I’ve seen too much _Jaywalking_. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/62 "2010-01-20T16:52:13Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Those of you celebrating, can you please share with us some fuller explanation of exactly what you think you’ve won? The Massachusetts Senate seat previously held by Ted Kennedy and widely considered to be unassailable by a Republican. Where have you been? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/63 "2010-01-20T16:53:35Z")
That’s as deep as it goes, huh? Just “My team good, your team bad”, nothing about the good of the nation? Sadly, that’s what I expected. Anybody else want a try? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/64 "2010-01-20T16:57:42Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Those of you celebrating, can you please share with us some fuller explanation of exactly what you think you’ve won? That has already been answered - they think it was a slap in the face of Obama. That is all this is about. They now have a pro-choice Republican that voted for Universal Health Care at the state level in the Senate. He has exactly two choices: truly be independent and vote with Democrats on a number of issues or stay a hard-core Republican and be voted out in 3 years. Look upthread - has anyone pointed out any single policy issue that they prefer Brown’s position on? No. Hell, they don’t even _know_ what his positions are. He is attractive, and he is not a Democrat. That’s as far as folks like Jimmy Joe have thought about it. Meanwhile, Lieberman is rendered meaningless, “machine politics” has been voted down, and any national legislation (say, the upcoming jobs bill) that is defeated will be defeated solely by the Republicans in the Senate or be passed with bipartisan support. At the end of the day, even as a Democrat, I’m not all that concerned about it. The big potential loss is all of the wasted effort towards UHC (can I make an aside to point out how stupid CNBC looks with their “Stocks ready to make Bull run on Brown win” headline yesterday?). Whether the House decides to just pass the Senate bill or not is the real question - I would guess they probably will and then do a patch-up via reconciliation. Those that say this means Obama is toast in 2012 or whatever are just wishcasting - but hey, things have been rough for them the last 4 years or so, who am I to shit all over their moment in the sun. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/65 "2010-01-20T16:57:58Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > That’s as deep as it goes, huh? Just “My team good, your team bad”, nothing about the good of the nation? > > Sadly, that’s what I expected. Anybody else want a try? Nope. That’s not what I said, you know it, and so does everyone else. Sadly, that’s what I expected. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/66 "2010-01-20T17:00:47Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > He is attractive, and he is not a Democrat. That’s as far as folks like Jimmy Joe have thought about it. Oh for God’s sake… Obama is attractive and he is not a Republican. That’s as far as folks like Jas09 have thought about it. Go outside and play, will you? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/67 "2010-01-20T17:01:47Z")
If you had a \*substantive \*reply, you’d no doubt illuminate us with it, **Jimmy**. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/68 "2010-01-20T17:03:45Z")
> [@Happy\_Booker](#): > > There is some good news. Joe Lieberman’s fifteen minutes is over. His sorry ass is now officially useless. Fifty-eight votes is as good as fifty-nine. The Democrats should be able to find the stones to expel him from caucus and from his ‘majority’ committee assignments. I highly doubt it. The Democrats have proved again and again that they’re all too willing to get kicked in the balls and then say “Thank you sir, may I have another.” Lieberman’s probably not losing any sleep. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/69 "2010-01-20T17:06:02Z")
> [@](#): > > If you had a substantive reply, you’d no doubt illuminate us with it, **Jimmy**. Actually, that might have been it. Hard to be sure, but maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/70 "2010-01-20T17:12:38Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](#): > > Oh for God’s sake… Obama is attractive and he is not a Republican. That’s as far as folks like Jas09 have thought about it. > > Go outside and play, will you? Can’t… although getting some work done would be nice. How about you answer the actual question? What _policy_ that Scott Brown laid out in the campaign do you support? What do you think his plan for economic recovery is? How about his position on health care at the Federal level? Because all I’ve heard in this thread is (a) he’s not Ted Kennedy, (b) he’s not a Democrat, and (c) he has an attractive family, is attractive himself, and drives a truck. Just be honest with me - had you heard of Scott Brown before one week ago? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/71 "2010-01-20T17:47:09Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > That’s as deep as it goes, huh? Just “My team good, your team bad”, nothing about the good of the nation? > > Sadly, that’s what I expected. Anybody else want a try? Sure. What was was was an injection of greater sanity into the process. Obama ran on being a centrist and openness and bipartisanship. Congress had hit the accelerator and left that notion in the dust. This is a slap of reality to the liberal partisans. STOP! We don’t want you doing what you’re trying to do and int the manner you’re trying to do it. Amazingly, many STILL have not felt this slap. Many on this board, anyway. Now the dems can either listen (like Weiner and Webb) and seek to deliver more on what Obama painted so convincingly in '08, or they can double down and try to ram through whatever they can. I’m a little torn on this. While I hope they get the message and start doing the job they’re supposed to in a responsible manner, IF they double down, they will get killed in November. I suspect, though, that the dems will have seen [this.](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/19/us/politics/massachusetts-election-map.html?ref=politics) There is not one place in the state where they didn’t lose votes. Not one! IN MA!!! For Teddy’s old seat!!! Another small thing that was won was a ticket to the show to watch the more loud-mouthed partisans—on this board and elsewhere—eat some humble pie. Those that refuse to take a bite, well seeing them dial up the contortions is fun at any time. I’d just like to offer up a little applause of admiration to Webb. That was a statesmanlike move. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/72 "2010-01-20T17:52:56Z")
"A great new senator’. Don’t you think it is a little too early for such a proclamation? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/73 "2010-01-20T17:56:04Z")
Just how will this alleged “sanity” be manifested? Through the simple obstructionism you’ve just described, or by some actual responsible, reality-based policy proposals? The other 99% of that post of yours (or maybe 100%, depends on your reply) was “My team good, your team bad”, exactly as expected. Party Before Country once again. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/74 "2010-01-20T18:04:48Z")
What a mess. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/75 "2010-01-20T18:08:31Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Sure. What was was was an injection of greater sanity into the process. Obama ran on being a centrist and openness and bipartisanship. Congress had hit the accelerator and left that notion in the dust. The democrats made a hundred thousand concessions to you on health care, and let you rewrite it to take away universal coverage and socialized insurance and include a mandate forcing the public to buy private health insurance and keep feeding the fat, rich assholes who have been fleecing us our entire history. Even that’s not good enough for you. What the fuck do you WANT from us? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/76 "2010-01-20T18:26:20Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > The democrats made a hundred thousand concessions to you on health care, and let you rewrite it to take away universal coverage and socialized insurance and include a mandate forcing the public to buy private health insurance and keep feeding the fat, rich assholes who have been fleecing us our entire history. > > Even that’s not good enough for you. What the fuck do you WANT from us? Why stop there? 33% of the stimulus package last February consisted of tax cuts, another huge concession to across the aisle, and yet didn’t get a single GOP vote. The Republicans have gotten so used to “bipartisanship” meaning “my way or the highway” that they’re completely content voting down every single good-faith effort by the administration simply because it’s not exactly what they want. NEWS FLASH: You aren’t the majority anymore, but you still strut around with a false sense of entitlement as if they have some phantom mandate that allows them to obstruct every attempt at reform or improvement. And when they’re asked for their solutions? To put a reign on spending, or extending coverage to the poor, or to contribute to solving the fiscal crisis that their last president played such a major part in creating? TAX CUTS! LESS REGULATION!! NO TO SOCIALISM!!! It would be laughable if they weren’t so earnest in their cynicism, pettiness, and paranoia. Brown won the race fair and square and the Dems (less the POTUS himself) are such an incredible joke in so many of their efforts to unite or convince, but for Repubs to actually whine about how things haven’t been bipartisan up to this point is a delusional absurdity. But it’s easier to complain then to strategize real answers, so it would be marvelous if they’d actually Put Up or Shut Up, but with all the crowing going on this morning, I know that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/77 "2010-01-20T18:30:26Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > Despite the bazillion ads of his I’ve seen, I don’t know anything about the guy. Who _IS_ Scott Brown? Turns out he was born in CANADA… (ad nauseum) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/78 "2010-01-20T18:33:31Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Who _IS_ Scott Brown? > > Turns out he was born in CANADA… (ad nauseum) [And “wonders” if Obama might have been born out of wedlock.](http://washingtonindependent.com/74111/scott-brown-hey-maybe-barack-obama-was-born-out-of-wedlock) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/79 "2010-01-20T18:38:29Z")
So, why haven’t they announced that they’re firing the entire state Democratic Party for this failure? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650/80 "2010-01-20T18:59:13Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [And “wonders” if Obama might have been born out of wedlock.](http://washingtonindependent.com/74111/scott-brown-hey-maybe-barack-obama-was-born-out-of-wedlock) :rolleyes: That guff is neither great nor anything new. I don’t understand the thread’s title. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congrats-scott-brown-massachusetts-has-a-great-new-senator/525650.md?page=5)