How do you feel about Sen. Brown's abuse story coming out just as his book tour begins?
Readers ask why he supported Jeff Perry rather than the undage girls who were sexually abused by a Patrolman under Jeff Perry's direct supervision and sight.
Read CapeCodTODAY here. and take the poll below here.
| He didn't recall it when Lisa Allen went public. | |
| He's sincere and just remembered. | |
| I'm undecided. |
Please share widely!
First, because appearing to criticize a “victim” is just not done, and all the other victims may rise up against you.
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p>Second, because Scott Brown probably was abused given some of his public behaviors, and what is opportunistic is the combination of timing and over-the-top graphic detail which exceeds what was needed to go public in a manner that I find questionable from someone like Scott Brown trained as an attorney.
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p>To the extent that having a popular public male personality admit to a history of having been powerless and abused empowers other men to seek help – great.
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p>To the extent that Scott Brown seeks to use his status as a publicly identified victim to wrap himself in a mantle of untouchability – tacky.
And to the extent that people who need help, seek help who would not have done so – THAT is a good thing.
It is in incredibly bad taste. There is no more reason to doubt his claim than there is to doubt, with no backup, the claims of anyone saying they were abused.
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p>The timing of telling this part of his past and the defense of Perry is likely even more complicated. As the book will be out in stores this week, the final version likely was finished by the end of last year. Unless this was added at the very end, the likelihood is that around the time he was calling Perry an “honorable” man, he was relating this to his ghostwriter.
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p>I wonder if the fact that he knew and liked Perry from the time they were together in state government made it impossible for him to believe that allegations – and he just blocked out the charges when he first endorsed him. Still, it is hard to see how he could stand with him after Ms Allen spoke out.
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p>I don’t doubt his honesty in speaking of his own life, I do wonder why his own hurt and the fear he likely felt did not create enough empathy for Allen to make him – like many Republicans – walk away from Perry. To me, it makes his comments worse – as before you could think that he did not understand the long term trauma and hurt this could cause.
Walter Brooks was once a newpaper man, and had a genius idea about on-line newspaper franchises. He has a personal vendetta against Jeff Perry, allowed his businesses to be used as campaign instruments (his choice, and legal) and has now moved on to hounding Perry long after the election – and Perry’s career in politics – is over. He has, ironically, sacrificed any credibility he had as an on-line presence and has very much damaged his excellent and sustainable idea for on-line publishing by demonstrating how it can be abused by one person with a monomanical idea, thus setting on-line journalism back by years.
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p>Perry was elected after this issue was raised, and was reelected three times after that. His opponents after the first race never even raised the issue. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Brown never even heard about the ‘scandal’ until after he had already worked with Perry in the Legislature for 8 years, and endorsed before the issue was even raised. I had many people on Cape telling me that Keating/Malone was fabricating the whole thing, and were surprised that there was anyting behind the rumors.
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p>Perry was never charged with any wrongdoing, so he could not be found guilty – but he could not be acquitted either. Lisa Allen was silent durign all his prior campaigns. Her only statement is – ‘He MUST have heard me…’ not he did hear and didn’t act. Perry says differently, that he did not hear her, as he was occupied with arresting one of the several other sustpects at the scene (this is usually presented as only three people in a deserted place, but there were actually about a dozen people present). The only person who could corroborate either version with any credibility is the third police officer at the scene, who presumably also heard or didn’t hear – Officer Keveaney. He didn’t speak out during the campaign, as his sister-in-law, Maryanne Lewis, was also a candidate in the race, but I wish he would now that the election is over and the press has veered over into personal, non-political destruction.
But I see no reason to disbelieve his allegations. And if he were going to come out with them, it makes the most sense to do so in a book. As a politician, everything he does comes under political scrutiny.
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p>Maybe he could have figured out a way to reveal things without it being a political plus, but why should he bother? To please the kind of people who respond to non-scientific polls or leave anonymous on newspaper sites? These people tend to be the cheapest of the cheap, never giving anyone a break.
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p>As far as supporting Jeff Perry goes, well, that’s politics.
‘bestread’ IS Walter Brooks. The email address is his, and the web site is his. He is the publisher of the Best Read Guide books, those free guide books that have coupons in them for local businesses, as well as being publisher/proprietor of Cape Cod Today and Plymouth Today. So the poll and the post are both his own.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Walter is the ultimate one-man band! His publishing ’empire’ has only 4 employees, and some of them are family members. I will say it again – the man is a genius. He has more free bloggers than Ariana Huffington! But he has allowed a strong personal antipathy to strip his site of all pretense of objectivity and he’s damaged his brand.
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p>I have written for Walter (never for money), and admire him very much. No, I take that back. I admire his INTELLIGENCE very much – my admiration for him as a person has withered severely when he decided to carry on his crusade for vengence after the election is over, and has turned it into a bleak vendetta on a person.
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p>All I am pointing out is that the poster and the pollster are the same, and ordinarily that would be mentioned.
67% of those who self-selected to fill out an online poll have decided to be cynical. I think an attempt to make this connection has already been slapped down on a previous thread.
Nothing.
…are of the same strip as those who lapeled Lisa Allen (and thousands of other victims of sexual abuse) a liar who was politically motivated–which was pretty much everyone at RedMassGroup, including Peter Porcupine.
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p>Given the affects of victimization, I won’t question the motives or timing of either Brown or Allen’s statements. But Brown does have some explaining to do. As someone who knows first hand about the pain of sexual assault…how could he defend Jeff Perry?
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p>Even if Brown believes that Perry was lied to by Flanagan–the sexual predator that Perry defended up until the minute Flanagan plead guilty to some of his crimes (do we really think he assaulted two girls?)–Perry, and his supporters, engaged in a classic “blame the victim” mud-sling campaign against Lisa Allen and her lawyer. Perry and his close supporters played the game of playing the victim and Brown should be ashamed that he publicly and loudly supported Perry. How could a victim of sexual assault support someone who, at the VERY LEAST, accused another of victim of sexual abuse for “playing politics”?
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p>http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/showC…
I think it’s pretty ugly.
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p>New post here.
http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/d…
I don’t like Scott Brown, but I have no reason to believe that he is lying about this.
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p>On the other hand, you are clearly lying when you suggest that 67% of CapeCodeTODAY readers say that he is lying. You know perfectly well that is not even remotely true, but somehow you think that the people who read this blog will be fooled? Not only have you shown that you have abandoned any pretense of journalistic integrity, you also have seriously underestimated the intelligence of readers here.
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p>All you have accomplished is to severely embarrass yourself.