In today’s Lowell Sun, Scott Brown complains about the negative advertising that calls attention to his Mitch McConnell-inspired record in Washington. Here’s an annotated version. Feel free to add your own comments to what is sure to become his “blame the liberals” campaign strategy.
Setting the record straight
By Sen. Scott BrownIf you turn on the television over the next couple of weeks, chances are you will probably see yet another attack ad distorting my record and misleading voters. This time, it’s the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) that is pouring nearly $2 million dollars into polluting the airwaves with their negative ads.
All told, special-interest groups allied with the liberal Massachusetts political machine have now spent more than $3 million attacking me this year, and their unprecedented negative campaign will only increase between now and next November. The reason is simple: They are upset because I don’t march in step with their plans for higher taxes, more spending and bigger government.
No, he marches in step with Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans. Remember that McConnell’s first priority is not jobs… is not fixing the economy… is not bringing a successful conclusion to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan… is not improving K-12 education so we can compete in a new world economy… the top priority is to make Barack Obama a one-term president.
My priority will continue to be the economy. When I vote against increased regulation, or higher taxes, I am doing so out of a belief that sometimes government itself is the biggest obstacle to job growth.
Instead, Scott Brown joins the Mitch McConnell in becoming the biggest obstacle to any Obama plan that might spur job growth.
At their core, campaigns and elections are fundamentally about differences on policy and the best way forward for our country during these challenging times. On that score, I’m happy to put my record up against anybody’s. But, these issues should be debated openly on the facts and merits, not with half-true and deceptive ad campaigns from thirdparty interest groups.
And I will filibuster any bill that would require issues to be debated openly on the facts and merits.
This most recent ad from the LCV grossly distorts my environmental record. For instance, they use votes on unrelated issues — such as my vote in favor of a border fence to combat illegal immigration — to suggest that I am anti-environment. They also suggest I am opposed to removing special breaks from the tax code, when the truth is I support a fairer and simpler tax code so long as the savings from eliminating special deductions and credits go toward lowering rates and not to feeding the insatiable appetite of the big spenders in Washington.
Lower tax rates, for both individuals and businesses, will put more money in the hands of people who know better than government how to spend it in ways that will get our economy moving again.
The 1%.
In reality, I have worked across the aisle on bipartisan legislation to protect our communities from harmful pollutants, to make our homes and businesses more energy-efficient and to begin to wean us off foreign oil. In the state Senate, I strongly advocated for energy efficiency and recycling efforts and supported legislation to advance the development of renewable energy in the commonwealth.
However, I can’t do that now because Mitch won’t let me.
But all of these issues, as important as they are, pale in comparison to the need to create more jobs and put people back to work. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs or are stuck in part-time jobs when they want full-time work. Millions more have simply given up looking for work. They don’t even get counted any more in the official unemployment statistics, but I have not forgotten them.
We have all seen examples throughout this state and certainly throughout the country of businesses that have closed, or are afraid to hire because of uncertainty about the future. While it’s popular among left-wing activists to demonize our employer community, I want to work with them because I believe the key to our economic future lies in unleashing the innovative entrepreneurial spirit that built this country from its very beginning.
As your U.S. senator, I have drafted and am promoting an ambitious Bay State jobs agenda that includes more than 10 pieces of legislation to boost targeted areas of the commonwealth’s economy. From protecting our fishermen from burdensome regulations, to fighting to repeal the health-care bill and the medical-device tax, to streamlining the drug-approval process for our biotech sector, to creating incentives to hire unemployed veterans, I want to put more people back to work now.
Corporate welfare bills. Maybe they will hire people with their increased profits. Probably not.
I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, I am willing to work with anyone if it serves the people I represent. However, there are some who don’t like the fact that I approach the issues in an independent and open-minded manner.
They view me as a threat to the one party status quo and the entrenched political interests.
Instead, I want to promote a one-party status-quo where Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Michelle Bachmann, and the Tea Party support OUR entrenched political interests. Wouldn’t it be really cool if my buddy Mitt gets the White House? I won’t say a word about one-party rule then!
I’ve never been part of the inside crowd either on Beacon Hill or on Capitol Hill. I don’t work for any political party, leader or interest group. I work only for the people of Massachusetts.
You know the people in Massachusetts that I work for – the corporate special interests, the Tea Party, Mitt Romney, and Grover Norquist. Grover’s from Massachusetts, you know.
You probably remember that during the special election in 2010, the political machine decided the best way to stop me is to tear me down and they were willing to distort my record in order to do it.
Well, they’re up to their old tricks again.
I’m confident that once again Massachusetts voters will see through the lies and distortions and reject the negative politics of my opponents.
Note to Scott: Keep on expecting the same old campaign that you experienced in 2010. You know, the Democrat takes the election for granted, goes on vacation, and wakes up a week before the election hopelessly down in the polls. The Democrat doesn’t refute your ads. The Democrat doesn’t put your record out for public scrutiny. Expect the same campaign that you ran against in 2010. See you in 2013, Scott.
Brown says, “In reality, I have worked across the aisle on bipartisan legislation.”
Hmm, isn’t this the same guy who was so thrilled about being the 41st Repub vote so he could block Democratic legislation that he giving signatures after his election that just said “Mr. 41”?
Hmmm. You have a point there. I hope he runs around town as Mr. 41. Gets a license plate with number 41. Gets a Red Sox jersey with number 41. Birds of a feather?
Pass the chicken and beer, it’s going to be a fun year.
Sarah Palin, the half-term Governor from Alaska, was able to turn her perceived victimhood into rapt media attention. Her schtick elicited all sorts of sympathy — even from some less-than-substantive commentators here on BMG.
Possibly our half-term Senator believes likewise that whining about machines allied against him will help with fundraising and win him the media he needs. Mr. Brown needs a big megaphone in order to rail against environmental regulations on the one hand, and then environmentalists on the other who “unfairly” point out the consequences of his drive against regulations.
It’s like Palin in another way. Ms. Palin insists you judge her by her own standards, not yours. So too Mr. Brown wants to be judged by the pure, innocent heart that beats within his noble chest.
Forget about what the idiot actually does.
Scott Brown marches in step with his party leadership considerably less than his fellow Senator marches in step with Harry Reid.
In fact, he ‘marches in step’ less with his party leadership than any other member of the MA delegation.
So is your main aim to reinstate ‘marching in step’ with one party by electing your Primary winner? To make SURE that another point of view from MA is never voiced in Congress?
What’s your point?
A better test would be how often a Democrat elected in a very red state would vote against his party. Lacking a Democrat elected by Wyoming, Texas, or Idaho – the best comparison might be Ben Nelson, from Nebraska. I would bet he votes against his party more often than Brown does against his.
When Brown votes against his party, it is because the MA electorate strongly prefers the Democratic side. It would be bizarre to expect Kerry to vote against his own stated positions, his party AND against the opinion of MA electorate just to have a more bipartisan record.
As to Warren, I would bet that she will be a strong Democratic vote on most issues – just like Kerry.
Brown refuses to accept the reality of global warming, and he refuses to accept that human activity is causing global warming. He actually gets off easy in the ad that so distresses him. To ‘explain’ his vote to block EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions-an outcome Brown contributed to by helping to block cap and trade, he claimed that the regulations would damage restaurant owners and small businesses even though the EPA regulations said precisely the opposite and gave these as examples of businesses that would not be regulated. Apparently it was too complicated for the mainstream media to expose Brown’s comments. What we have then is a Senator who represents a clear and present danger to the environment but also expects to get away without any critique of his voting record or vapid statements. But hey, he must be good on he environment because he says he is.
Gee, the U.S. Army, to which the senator reports as a National Guardsman, seems to think climate change is A Very Big Deal. Or at least this Guardian UK piece says so. Wonder why he thinks the Pentagon doesn’t know what it’s talking about?