There are times when Globe columnist Brian McGrory drives me crazy, and if he even knows we exist, I’d imagine that the reverse is true as well. But I’ll say this for the guy: there are also times when he absolutely nails it. If you missed his brilliant series of columns on Liberty Mutual’s penchant for flushing millions of dollars down the gold-plated toilet in its CEO’s office, go read them.
You may also recall a couple of McGrory columns during Charlie Baker’s ill-fated run for Governor. They were terrific columns, not because they tended to help out the guy I was backing (though they did), but because they zeroed in on exactly what it was that bothered a lot of people about Charlie Baker. Baker was a candidate who looked great on paper, but who in reality often left a sense of something missing, something not quite right. McGrory’s columns were some of the first mainstream media pieces to put into words what it was that people found lacking, and that ultimately was a big part of why he lost.
All of this brings us to today’s McGrory column, in which he pungently asks,
What in this wide and wonderful world is Scott Brown thinking?
Our junior senator is, as everyone in Massachusetts well knows, the Luckiest Man in America. He has an accomplished wife, a pair of smart and successful daughters, and model good looks. He was blessed in that lightning strike of a Senate campaign with an opponent that lacked any semblance of intuition about those people known as voters. In the end, a barn jacket and a pickup truck were all he needed to vote on the START treaty.
Brown rolled sevens through the spring as word broke that Elizabeth Warren had claimed Native American heritage that couldn’t be substantiated. As Warren tripped over the issue for the next month, it looked as if Brown could do no wrong — largely by doing nothing of any great consequence at all.
But how quickly things can change, and Brown, somewhat surprisingly, seems to be shrinking before an electorate’s eyes.
Start with his two new television ads. They are, and I’m sorry to report this, ridiculous.
The next bit, on the content of the ads, made me laugh out loud.
I have no doubt that Gail Huff is a nice person, wonderful mother, and dedicated wife, but should anyone care that, and this is her quote, “Scott did all the morning routine. Get the girls up, get them fed, get them dressed, get them off to school.”
Then she adds, “And he was the one who was always there during the day.”
Of course he was the one who was always there during the day. He was a Republican member of the Massachusetts state legislature. There was little else he had to do.
Brilliant – captures in just a couple of sentences both the ad’s painfully transparent pandering, and also the fact that Scott Brown didn’t really accomplish very much during his years in the state legislature.
And then there’s this (emphasis mine):
And when he’s not focused on his domestic life these days, he’s talking about Warren’s. Her claims to Native American ancestry are fair game in this race; I’ve raised them here myself. But for Brown, it’s the only game he seems to want to play.
He played it on Thursday’s Fox appearance, then trumpeted it on the homepage of his campaign website. He did it with a CBS reporter earlier this week, then sent out a news release with the small portion of the story that dealt with the issue. He has remained at the scene of this crash so long that voters are inevitably going to wonder if he has anywhere else to go.
I made a similar point yesterday in response to a news report about Brown’s Fox & Friends appearance:
Apparently, this is all Scott Brown’s got. And that’s pretty sad. #masen #mapoli
Finally, McGrory slams Brown’s campaign for its absurd failure to agree to participate in all four televised debates that are currently on the table.
Brown has accepted invitations for one in Springfield, and another hosted by WBZ-TV in Boston. Warren has accepted those two, plus one by the Kennedy Institute and another by a consortium of Boston media outlets, including the Globe.
Brown’s campaign manager refuses to discuss a debate schedule with Warren’s campaign, saying he will be accepting invitations “as we get them.” Small problem: that’s not true, given that he hasn’t responded to the consortium’s invitation to a final debate and offers no clue as to when he might.
“I don’t have a timetable,” Brown spokesman Colin Reed said.
Someone’s starting to look an awful lot like Martha Coakley on that front, and let’s all try to remember how that worked out for her.
Oof. That’s gotta sting. And I am constrained to point out that, again, McGrory’s point about debates is strikingly similar to one previously stated here.
McGrory is famously from Weymouth, a town that went for Brown nearly 2-1 (64%-35%) last time around, but that Charlie Baker won only 45%-37%. I don’t know whether he’s enrolled in a political party, but he generally seems like a decent proxy for exactly the kind of middle-of-the-road voter that Republicans in this state, whether named Charlie Baker or Scott Brown, need to win in very big numbers in order to have a chance. If he and BMG are singing from the same hymnal when it comes to Scott Brown – as was the case for Charlie Baker – then Brown has got big trouble.
…been singing from a different hymnal when he offered an equally pungent take on Elizabeth Warren’s nativist issues several weeks back. Perhaps he is an equal opportunity, and decidedly non-partisan, chorister.
I did not know being molested as a minor or being raised by an abusive alcoholic stepdad is now considered “lucky”. Now we read Brown is pandering to voters….THE SHOCK!!!!! A politician who panders is news????
Now the article brings mentions his daughters and how lucky Brown is. Ever occur to you his kids are “normal” b/c Scott actually took part in raising them? Perhaps they are well adjusted (hello Patrick Kennedy) b/c Scotty Too Hotty Brown did what any good dad would do, actually be a good father??? And this is criticized b/c Gail talks about it in an ad? Really????
Scott Brown is lucky that the gets to wear the uniform of our armed services and does training in Afghanistan, and is lucking to have good looks, and a model of a wife, and nice kids, and dogs that don’t bite, and a barn coat, and a American-made truck (not a BMW). What is next, he doesn’t dye his hair!!! How unfair!!!
nothing about how he votes. I think you proved his point.
Your complaint is with Brian McGrory, not with me. I didn’t say anything about Brown being lucky – he did. You can reach him at mcgrory@globe.com. Let us know how he responds.
I could have sworn you wrote how McGrory and BMG are on the same page and that McGrory can really nail it with his articles and then mentions the one above. So he missed the mark or nailed it? Or, am I entering The Twilight Zone?
you’re crazy. 😉
So sad …
Brown did it again. One trick pony?
Warren on Morning Joe (watch the video) it’s great, her quote on Wall St. and she also discussed Brown’s votes and role in weakening legislation:
Scott Brown on the Wall St. criticism (Politico):
Politico continued:
That about sums it up. It used to annoy me that Brown is refusing to discuss issues, but as danfromwaltham’s rebuttal demonstrates, he’s never been about debating issues or discussing policy.
So honesty is not that important other than “high” elective office? (whatever than means)
Would you not agree the ramifications are greater if we have a POTUS or senator who is dishonest, as opposed to let’s say, a city councilor?
n/t
So what u r saying is regardless of ones power such as a POTUS declaring war and sending a few hundred thousand troops into a foreign land to die or voting to send troops to war like a senator, versus a mayor/state rep with their responsibilities, the consequences of electing a dishonest person are equal across the board???? All I can say is WOW. Utterly amazing statement from Johnk.
It’s amazing how you can take a one-word refusal to accept your kind of pointless proposition, and spin it into an entire lecture on the relative power of different branches of government. I’m in awe of your mind-reading ability.
Quick – what am I thinking right now?
Just come on out and say it. Why beat around the bush like this?
David’s article does not mention past votes, just how Brown has been carrying a horseshoe all his life.
But if you want to talk about Wall Street, how many times has Dimon visited Obama? Does this make Obama a sellout?
is see specific references to heritage as the only think Brown can talk about. That’s what I referenced.
Your the one moving off topic again, unless of course Obama is running for the MA Senate seat.
Still proving the point. Very funny.
Went to a crappy college
Married the wrong guy, had kids, got divorced
Went to a crappy law school
Started teaching at another crappy law school
Marries a great guy
Starts teaching at a great law school when they give her a job as a trailing spouse because they want her great husband to work there.
Begins reporting herself as a Native American.
Gets hired by one of the best law schools in the country. Is the one professor there to not be from a top 10 law school.
Becomes quite wealthy.
Works in Washington. Gets on the news a lot.
Gets passed over by the President for her dream job.
Decides that despite the fact that she’s never run for public office, will start with being US Senator for a reasonable large state.
We’ll see how it all turns out.
And this is why Brown is hammering it home, and Warren wants it to go away. I am still waiting for all of the facts to come out, but here is where I stand. I find no difference between Wall Street gaming the system to feather their own nests by selling junk mortgages at the expense of the entire economy, and anyone who claims to be a minority and taking advantage of a benefit to which they are not entitled to, in order to advance their own career.
trumpfromwaltham, no evidence will be enough for you.
I think he should go back to calling her “Professor” Warren, that polled with a big thud too.
And this, friends, is why we call ourselves “reality based,” and why many on the other side of the aisle cannot make the same claim.
Perhaps David, if you or your any of your kids were passed over for a job or enrollment at a school b/c of a quota, you could easily equate the two.
I hope Warren is clean on this issue but from what I gave read, she never participated in Indian activities or tribal rituals. Very strange but I am willing to wait for all the facts to come out.
.
that if you just look at the capitalized letters in Brian McGrory’s name, you get … BMG. EERIE!!!
Make me a Senator
I could also call up sports radio and refuse to take questions on anything I didn’t want to talk about.
While we might think that the ads are ridiculous, they aren’t oriented toward us. They are oriented toward independent women who balance a work-life and a home-life. They are also oriented toward white blue-collar men who fear that they will lose their jobs (to an undeserving minority) and be forced to rely on their wives. Those people can see part of themselves in Gail Huff and Scott Brown. The ads are absolutely brilliant.
precisely because of McGrory’s reaction. I know they’re not pitched to me. But for the most part, I think MA voters have pretty good BS detectors.
It certainly looks like that is the demo he is going for in the ad.
Unfortunately for him, that’s not going to be enough.