This just in from Boston Magazine (email, no link to the article yet – it goes public tomorrow, but you can view the PDF here).
Boston Magazine Calls Out Senator Scott Brown
Claims Brown is using painful disclosures in book as political strategy
Boston, MA (March XX, 2011) – Boston magazine Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Eileen McNamara has written a column in the April issue criticizing Scott Brown of being “more interested in using his story to help himself get reelected than to help those who are suffering the way he once did.”
From the article:
“Governor Deval Patrick has described Senator Scott Brown’s candor about the beatings and molestation he suffered as a boy as “very brave.” Senator John Kerry has said brown’s revelations in his new memoir, Against All Odds, could help those who have endured similar abuse as children.
Of course, Patrick and Kerry were at something of a disadvantage when they offered fervent reviews, not having actually read the book. But buyer beware: Brown’s memoir might be a voyeurs delight, but it has no wisdom to impart. No counsel to offer battered women besides making better choices. No guidance to offer children trapped in violent households besides toughing it out. No example to offer sexual abuse victims besides getting on with their lives…”
McNamara continues,
“Did Brown sleep through the clerical abuse scandal in Boston? Did he miss the fight for the Violence Against Women Act? It’s true that “telling” is good but it’s not nearly good enough for a United States Senator who has chosen to market his childhood trauma as an all-American success story.”
McNamara concludes with,
“Socrates was wrong. The unexamined life is worth living. Scott Brown has put one between hard covers and, with the complicity of a fawning media, dramatically launched his reelection bid for the United States Senate from Massachusetts.
The April issue hits newsstands Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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Some here have raised similar points before, although perhaps less forcefully than McNamara does in this article. Here was my assessment, offered in the light of Brown’s voting against funding for jobs programs of the exact kind that he benefited from as a kid.
Rather than drawing on his personal experience to find empathy for people who now find themselves in situations similar to where he once was, and to figure out ways of helping those people, he seems to be using his personal experience as a shield. In effect, Brown seems to be saying, “hey, you can’t accuse me of not caring about those people because I was once one of them” – regardless of how he votes.
Profoundly cynical, and profoundly disappointing.
Thanks for flagging Eileen’s piece, David. It’s an essential piece to understand who Scott Brown really is. I think folks seem to misinterpret – or rush to judgement – on the critique about Brown’s handling of his tragic past. In fact, some readers were critical of my post about Scott Brown’s endorsement of Jeff Perry (in light of Brown’s revelation). The truth is, it all doesn’t add-up; Scott Brown is about Scott Brown, that’s it.
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p>I think Eileen captured it best when she wrote:
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My sense is that people handle abuse in different ways, judging an abuse victim on how they handle it is obtuse.
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p>But that being said, I agree that Brown in instances has voted against programs that he knows firsthand work. He knows that they make a difference and often times are cheaper than the alternative. Why is he voting against them?
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p>It still comes back to this is an issue race and in Massachusetts and Brown’s policies don’t jibe with how voters want to be represented. He’s a weak Senator, it seems that he really doesn’t understand some of the nuances of the position, he doesn’t do that well in talking policy. He is ripe for a strong candidate who knows what they are talking about.
Unless Senator Brown has privately briefed authorities, including the camp directors who have, understandably offered to help find the camp counselor who sexually assaulted him, I cannot understand why he would allow this person to go unpunished and unidentified.
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p>How many other young boys have paid the price for Senator Browns wish to put this all behind him?
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I posted such when the book came out. Where has he been on these issues? I fought for kids after I was abused. He didn’t. He is using this story to get elected. He is an egomaniac just many of them.
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p>That being said, I don’t have a problem with him not going after his abuser. Many rape victims do not and frankly, I was molested by a priest and never went after him. Should I now be blamed that other kids were molested after me? I did blame myself and it took me years before I believed it was not my fault. Blame the victim is not right.
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p>I just think as a public official, he should have used his personal experiences to lead. He hasn’t. He is not a leader, he is an outlet, an option for many who see the failures of the Dems. I couldn’t read much of his book…it was too self egrandizing.