Scott Brown is apparently feeling the heat over the abortion controversy that has unexpectedly flared up in light of Rep. Todd Akin’s crazy commentary. Here he is in the Herald:
“Apparently she’s a little confused as to who she is running against,” Brown said of Democrat Elizabeth Warren. “She is running against Scott Brown. I am a pro-choice, independent Republican who has a history of being an independent thinker.” … “I know she wants to run against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, but she’s running against Scott Brown. The desperate attempts to try to shift the conversation away from the things that matter – it’s sad. I get it. It’s typical. People deserve better though.”
That’s all well and good, Scotto. But as long as you are voting for Mitch McConnell to be the Republican leader in the Senate, and as long as you are contributing money to Republicans whose extreme views you say you don’t share, and as long as you’re working to elect Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to the presidency, you are part of the problem. You are an enabler of these people, like it or not.
Here’s our offer, Scott. You commit not to support any Republican for leadership, or donate any money to any Republican candidate, or work on behalf of any Republican candidate for president, who doesn’t share your pro-choice views, and then we can talk about not nationalizing this race. Until that happens, it’s entirely fair game to run against you as if you are enabling the national party to advance its extreme agenda … because, in fact, you are.
Deal?
UPDATE: The Globe reports that, when it comes to trying to move his party on this issue, Brown is all talk and no action. Surprise surprise.
Senator Scott Brown said Wednesday that he would not take his fight against the Republican Party platform’s anti-abortion language to the party’s convention in Tampa next week.
He said he would be in Tampa for only one day, as he has always planned, and would let his letter to GOP chairman Reince Priebus convey his opposition to the strict anti-abortion language. He said he hoped other moderate Republicans, including Maine’s two senators, would pursue the matter further.
“I’m only there for Thursday. I have obviously a race to run. I have a job to do,” Brown said at an event with female small business owners in Quincy. “I wrote a letter immediately. So they know my position. It’s up to others now to join forces, the Olympia Snowes and [Susan] Collins’s and others.”
Oooh – “I wrote a letter immediately.” And that letter accomplished everything it was supposed to, and not a thing more: it allowed Scott Brown to claim the mantle of the pro-choice Republican, without actually doing a damn thing about where his party is going. Which helps him in his effort to be reelected, and not a single other person in the country.
It’s all about Scott. Always has been.
oceandreams says
about what it means to be an elected official who is a member of a political party. Since it does mean he will be voting for the leadership of that party to control the United States Senate.
It might help clear up his own confusion if Scott Brown checked with Lincoln Chafee about how this works.
SomervilleTom says
So long as Scott Brown lists his party affiliation as “Republican” and caucuses with the GOP, he is REPUBLICAN.
I find it revealing that he is so unhappy about being identified with his own party of choice. He chose the GOP label, nobody else.
Senator Scott Brown (Republican) MA
danfromwaltham says
Hello McFly????? Anyone home????
mike_cote says
And I would be willing to bet without even looking, that he would accept exceptions based on rape and incest. Shiny Object Alert.
danfromwaltham says
Same as Reid?
http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Harry_Reid.htm
stomv says
Have a look at the party platforms. It’s true that no individual politician is beholden to the planks, but it’s a good bet that the majority of the elected US Senators *within that party* line up fairly well with the plank.
There’s no danger of Reid pushing through abortion restrictions over the objection of his colleagues. Do you really think Scott Brown could talk McConnell et al out of pushing through restrictions on abortion? I don’t bloody well think so.
New England has a long and active recent history of politicians who are neither Dem nor GOP. If Scott Brown doesn’t want to be presumed to share the values of his GOP colleagues, he should leave the Republican party.
Shiny object indeed.
danfromwaltham says
Both are pro- life Dems. How does Mitch McConnell get through the Senate an anti-abortion bill? Scare tactics is what there is, a sure sign of a failing campaign. However, it may work with ” uninformed” or “low information” voters, as somervilletom would say. Good luck with that.
stomv says
when his competitors hold up the behavior of Democratic Leadership in his campaign. Reid doesn’t run around proclaiming “Ignore what Democratic Leadership feels, I’m independent!” Yeah, it wouldn’t make much sense.
So let’s consider Senator Casey. If Senator Casey doesn’t like it when people point out that the Democrats are in favor of X, Y, and Z, then yes, he should leave the party. Senator Sanders of Vermont isn’t a Democrat, nor is Senator Lieberman.
Look, the party leadership of the majority party wield significant party — more than 1/100th or 1/435th. A vote for Scott Brown is a vote for Mitch McConnell having that significant US Senate power, just as a vote for Elizabeth Warren is a vote for Harry Reid having that significant US Senate power. That Scott Brown tries to deny that reality suggests that either he’s a rube or he thinks that the voters are rubes.
In the mean time, which senate majority leader do you think will do better by pro-choicers — Mitch McConnell or Harry Reid?
mike_cote says
You said previously in other postings that you vote for the “SMARTEST” candidate. So why do you care what here position is, you only need to determine who is smarter, Warren or Brown. Your lack of independence is showing.
Mark L. Bail says
pro-choice. Try looking at his record, rather than labels.
http://www.ontheissues.org/social/Harry_Reid_Abortion.htm
danfromwaltham says
Rated 29% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record.
Voted to ban partial birth abortion and for the Laci Peterson bill. If Warren has the same views, ok then, I did not know that. She is not as extreme as John Kerry.
Mark L. Bail says
I already answered you below, but 29% was in 2003. He got a 50% rating in 2008. Part of the rating, I’m guessing, depends upon what bills come up. Look at him in context of Mitch McConnell who rates perfect scores for anti-abortion extreme.
And looking at what Reid voted against, it’s easy (for me at least) to forgive him. The Laci Peterson bill was an attempt by the right to define the fetus as a human life. It doesn’t restrict abortions, just an attempt to make a case for it. States already have such laws on the books already. It’s not a big issue like banning federal funding. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Reid would permit partial birth abortions when a woman’s life is threatened.
The thing is that every senate vote takes place in context. If a party can’t muster enough votes, its leaders know ahead of time. Senators can then vote as they wish without worrying about the caucus. I don’t know the history of the these particular votes (and I don’t care that much), but it’s possible Reid was casting these votes when they didn’t truly matter. The same is true for Brown.
Does it matter whether Scott Brown is the most liberal Republican senator in a wingnut party with wingnut leadership? He will find it very difficult to resist them when they want him to do their bidding. He’ll have the choice of opposing them or doing what they want and making it look the way he wants it to as he did on Dodd-Frank. looking like a brave independent while defanging it.
danfromwaltham says
Most voters are concerned about jobs, energy prices like gasoline, deficits, working with current Prez or new Prez to get us out of the malaise for the past decade or so. Who will have your back and wallet/pocketbook.
I would like the nation make a decision, either vote for Obama and a Dem congress or Romney with Rep majorities in Congress.
Mark L. Bail says
that’s not what I’m personally worrying about. I do worry about others, mostly about my kids’ future. People are freaked about the costs of college and the amount of loans kids are accruing.
I think you’re right when you imply that this election won’t be decided on Scott Brown’s record on abortion, but I think people are also getting a bit freaked out about the wingnuts who want to turn back the clock on women. I may be wrong, but I think the dominance of the religious right is fading. They will always be around, but people are sick of their craziness. They have gone too far. And most people are moderate, due to a moderate temperament or a lack of political engagement. So far Brown has managed to keep the middle, but a lot of those folks don’t like the party he belongs to.
Bob Neer says
And still run around with a Red Sox jersey. Wouldn’t he be more honest to wear a Yankees uniform to Massachusetts campaign events?
Christopher says
I’m still not convinced this will fly with voters, the vast majority of whom probably don’t know who Mitch McConnell is or understand how the Senate is organized.
Dan, I’ve heard that Reid is personally prolife, but I highly doubt his voting record matches Brown’s.
danfromwaltham says
I think the Democratic plank favors unrestricted abortion access, which is pretty radical, and cruel.
So Warren will vote against Reid? Or does she favor the Democratic plank on abortion from A-Z?
oceandreams says
Are Rhode Island voters that much more knowledgeable about how the Senate is organized or care that much more about inside baseball? Voters liked Lincoln Chafee. Really the only negative on him was that he was a Republican — and he had some truly independent votes he could point to, such as opposing the war in Iraq.
danfromwaltham says
Can’t run a 06 playbook in 2012.
Christopher says
Democratic Party 101: Unlike the other side we can work with people who don’t tow the most extreme lines, and even elect them to leadership. I don’t know off hand how absolute our platform is on abortion rights, but let’s say you’re right. I don’t know how closely EW’s views match the platform, but let’s say they match exactly. Even if both those statements are true, it is possible for her to vote for someone like Reid who may not share all of her views on every detail. Do you know two people who think exactly alike on every issue? I don’t.
danfromwaltham says
What I am saying is both Warren and Nrown will be voting for pro-life Majority Leaders. So she can’t use the argument in this post, unless she is targeting less-informed voters. It is patently absurd ( sorry David).
Mark L. Bail says
Mitch McConnell. He just has to tow the line when the GOP insists.
Harry Reid doesn’t vote the platform 100% of the time on abortion. The pro-choice lobby doesn’t give him high ratings, but his record is okay by me, and my guess is, most Democrats. Compare his record to McConnell’s.. Your “argument” falls apart pretty quickly.
As Christopher points out, Democrats are more tolerant of diversity within their party than Republicans are within their own.
danfromwaltham says
Just as Brown does not with the Rep Platform.
Mark L. Bail says
I just don’t think everyone has to march in lock-step to it. It’s not a loyalty oath. It’s not even a Constitution. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the abortion plank in the Democratic Platform says.
Quite honestly, I don’t think platforms matter all that much. During the conventions, they will make the news, particularly given the GOP’s far right views.
Bob Neer says
That seems a bit extreme. But, you said it!
JHM says
Happy days.
Mark L. Bail says
not been very good. Her ads suck. Typical Democratic crap that focuses on issues to the exclusion of emotion. Issues are important, but if people are emotionally neutral about the candidate, getting elected gets that much harder.
Brown’s campaign, as it was in 2010, is excellent. I think he’s a turkey, but his image has been effectively managed to look likable and independent.
jconway says
That email to supporters would’ve made a much better Akin based ad than what she did. I want her to fight like Truman and get mad like Obama has and nail every single bad Brown vote straight to his chest.
methuenprogressive says
His now in/famous letter starts:
The rest is basically ‘hey, I need to say some stuff I don’t believe so my PR staff can leak this letter to the media’…
hesterprynne says
Like there are any?
Why didn’t he just say — Female Senators are going to have to carry the weight on this abortion thing. I can’t, because it would damage the inroads I’m trying to make with the Catholics here in Mass. And it wouldn’t do much for my masculine image, either.
David says
.