The following is a Letter to the Editor I sent to the Sudbury and Wayland Town Criers.
To the Editor:
Who is the real Scott Brown? In his two years in the senate, Scott Brown has not held one single “Town Hall” meeting where he could be questioned by voters and would have to think on his feet. We only see scripted versions of our junior senator, the ads in the pickup truck and barn jacket, where he claims to be a nice fellow. Even the debates are scripted. Brown memorizes lines telling us how bipartisan he is, raises bogus charges against Elizabeth Warren, and ducks questions about his voting record. He actually refused to promise that he would vote for Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader. How can anybody believe this when he tells his wealthy out of state donors that keeping him in the senate would help ensure a Republican majority, with Mitch McConnell as the majority leader?
In the last debate, there was one shining moment when we got to see the real Scott Brown. It was an almost casual question, late in the debate. Brown was asked for his favorite Supreme Court justice. He had no script for that question. Brown began by stalling for time. And then he told the truth. His favorite Supreme Court justice is Antonin Scalia, the most ideological right wing justice on the most ideological right wing Supreme Court in my lifetime. Scalia – Scott Brown’s favorite justice – is consistently anti-choice, wants to overturn Roe v. Wade; he sees women having no constitutional right to birth control; he opposes all gun control laws, including laws against private possession of assault weapons; he sees no constitutional protection against executing factually innocent people; he vigorously supported the Citizens United decision that claimed that corporations are people (where have we heard this before, my friend?) and allowed unlimited and undisclosed corporate spending on elections; he opposed Obamacare and objected strenuously when Chief Justice John Roberts broke ranks to save that important law; and in 2000 he voted with the Republican-appointed majority in Bush v. Gore to elect George Bush president. That is the real Scott Brown.
