It’s A Day To Be Doubly Disgusted.

Well, the Republicans pulled it off in Massachusetts yesterday. They elected Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for almost 50 years. Scott Brown … a guy who promised to block health care reform, something Uncle Teddy fought for during most of those years. How ironic is that!

The Republican cause was aided by a typical slight-of-underhand: An wealthy arch conservative ran media urging people to vote for the third candidate on the ballot, an almost anonymous clown who happens to be named Joe Kennedy. Of course, this particular Joe Kennedy is a kooky-fringe-conservative and no relation to Jack, Bobby or Teddy. Nevertheless, the media campaign blathered that he was “a name you can trust,” thereby assuring all the brain-dead voters that he was one of the Kennedys. Of course every vote cast for Joe-Kennedy-the-stalking-horse, was one less vote for the democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, and a plus for the Republican Scott Brown.

And then there are the other miserable Democrats who abandoned their party, their president and (very likely) any chance of meaningful health care reform because … because … well, who the hell knows why??

Perhaps – typical Democrats! – they threw their candidate under the bus because Barack Obama hasn’t yet fixed an economy it took George Bush 8 years to wreck. Or because they actually believed the preposterous lies the Republicans told about “death panels” and other such nonsense. Or even because, Martha Coakley inexplicably had said Curt Shilling was a Yankee fan.

Whatever the reason, it was short-sighted and dumb. And, if it really does mean the end of health care reform, millions of Americans will pay the price for it.

We Democrats can be such damn fools!
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Will Massachusetts Vote for Selfishness?

On Tuesday, Massachusetts will choose a successor to the late Senator Ted Kennedy in a special election that could also turn out to have tragic and ironic consequences.

The contest pits State Senator Scott Brown, the Republican, against Democrat Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts attorney general.

The central issue of the campaign is health care reform. If he’s elected, Brown could reduce the Democrats’ crucial 60-vote margin in the Senate by one … and that could be enough to block health care reform altogether.

Brown says, if elected, he will do exactly that. They already have universal health care in Massachusetts by state law. So he is saying to Massachusetts voters, you’re already covered, so why should you pay more – an arguable point, by the way – just so people in the other 49 states can get health insurance.

That’s what I find so infuriating. Brown is skating right past the intellectual or ideological arguments and appealing directly to the most selfish instincts of the electorate. You’ve already got yours, who cares if others will be denied theirs?

And the ultimate irony is that – should this miserable bozo be elected – he will be assuming the Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy, who fought most of his career to see that all Americans had access to decent health insurance.

Tuesday’s vote will not only pick a new U.S. Senator. It will tell us a great deal about the people of Massachusetts.
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