[Cross-posted from the ProgressMass blog. Like ProgressMass on Facebook and follow on Twitter.]
Watch out, Burger King! This past week, Republican Scott Brown made a serious play for the “Home of the Whopper” moniker with a couple of doozies. It’s just the latest in a long line of false claims, exaggerated boasts and misleading statements from Republican Scott Brown.
You’d think that, after a long run of embarrassing press coverage for Republican Scott Brown following his repeated claims of “secret meetings” with Kings and Queens, Brown would be under strict orders from Eric Fehrnstrom not to make exaggerated boasts about private conversations with world leaders. Well, you’d be wrong. What whopper did Brown come up with this time?
During a CNN interview that aired Tuesday, Senator Scott Brown said that President Obama and other powerful Democrats are regularly phoning him to get help passing their legislation. […]
“And the president had called me, and vice president calls me, and Secretary [of State Hillary Rodham] Clinton calls asking for my vote all the time.”
According to the inflated ego and fevered imagination of Republican Scott Brown, President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton call him “all the time.” In reality, however, Secretary Clinton has called him only twice ever, and both President Obama and Vice President Biden have called him only once ever. It isn’t exaggerating to label Brown a serial exaggerator.
Among Republican Scott Brown’s many roasters following his latest exaggerated boast was MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who offered both a thorough skewering of Brown’s ongoing delusions of grandeur in a segment on her program, as well as this clever Tweet: “Hardest job on Capitol Hill these days — Anonymous Clarifier of What Senator Scott Brown Really Meant.” All that said, whether it’s “secret meetings” with Kings and Queens or calls “all the time” from President Obama and others, we shouldn’t be surprised by Brown’s attempts to exaggerate his tall tales of connections to powerful people. As Blue Mass Group has reminded us, it’s a pattern Brown began literally decades ago.
While Republican Scott Brown’s untrue claim of calls “all the time” from numerous leaders was the misleading statement of Brown’s that garnered the most attention this week, it wasn’t his only misleading claim debunked this week. Recently, Brown also claimed that “oil companies don’t get subsidies.” I wonder how Brown manages to square that claim with certain aspects of his voting record in the U.S. Senate. As the Springfield Republican put it, “Scott Brown votes with Republicans against ending tax subsidies for oil industry.” The League of Conservation Voters offered a fact check of Brown’s false claim.
Yet again, we see that Republican Scott Brown is “The Great Pretender.”
Elsewhere on the policy front, the Boston Globe asked Republican Scott Brown and his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, for their ideas on how to trim our federal budget deficit. An independent, non-partisan budget watchdog then offered an analysis of how effective Brown’s and Warren’s proposals would actually be in trimming the deficit. What finding did the analysis yield?
Though Brown has made the deficit a larger issue in his campaign, an analysis prepared for the Globe by a nonpartisan group showed that responses offered by Warren, and positions taken on her website, would trim 67 percent more from the debt over 10 years than those offered by Brown.
Scott Brown’s fellow Republican, former President George W. Bush, might use the expression “all hat, no cattle” when describing Brown’s deficit proposals. This analysis certainly refutes any attempt by Brown to present himself as the more fiscally responsible option in Massachusetts’ 2012 U.S. Senate race, at any rate.
Further delving into Republican Scott Brown’s record, Go Local Worcester ran ProgressMass’ column reviewing “Scott Brown’s Anti-Woman Record and Rhetoric.” With Brown attempting to Etch-a-Sketch over his record courtesy of TV ads focusing on Brown pretending to fold laundry, it’s important to circulate items like this column, outlining Brown’s real record. Please consider Sharing the link on Facebook and Re-Tweeting the link on Twitter.
On the horserace front, Republican Scott Brown faced disappointing news. First, Brown’s opponent, Democrat Elizabeth Warren, announced a jaw-dropping $8.67 million raised between April and June. Then, Brown had to sheepishly announce raising less than 60% of his opponent’s total, reporting a $5 million take. Not only did Brown raise much less than his opponent, but he also reportedly spent about $4.4 million during the same time period, resulting in a burn rate of nearly 90%, seemingly very high for an incumbent this early in the year. That doesn’t suggest much confidence from Team Brown.
It was also a busy week for residents from across the Commonwealth taking to the pages of their local newspapers, writing letters to the editor critical of Republican Scott Brown’s representation. Among the highlights:
· The Brookline TAB ran this must-read letter from a Brookline resident who voted for Brown in the special election but has buyer’s remorse after being disappointed by the emptiness of Brown’s tenure in the U.S. Senate.
· The Holliston-Hopkinton Patch ran this letter from a Hopkinton resident pointing out Brown’s disappointing record on issues of concern to women, as Brown supported the anti-woman Blunt Amendment and opposed the Paycheck Fairness Act.
· The Boston Globe ran not one but two letters (from residents of Marblehead and West Yarmouth, respectively) noting the vapidity of Brown campaigning on doing household chores rather than discussing his voting record.
· The MetroWest Daily News ran this letter from a Marlborough resident sharing his belief that Brown perpetuates the “rigged game” that benefits “corporations and the really wealthy.”
· The New Bedford Standard-Times ran this item from a Westport resident reminding Massachusetts voters that support for Republican Scott Brown translates to support for right-wing Republican control of the U.S. Senate and a Tea Party legislative agenda.
What does this coming week hold for Republican Scott Brown? If last month featured “secret meetings” with Kings and Queens, and last week included calls “all the time” from President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State Clinton, it’s entirely possible that, at some point this week, Brown will start getting text messages from the Dalai Lama! Until then, stay tuned for the next “Weekly Scott Brown-d Up.”
