Wow! Just WOW!
By Bronwyn's Harbor on January 20, 2010 at 7:19 AM in Current Affairs
I woke up in the middle of the night, and am watching Greta’s show which I DVR’d but didn’t get a chance to watch because I was listening to Larry and John Batchelor on John’s excellent syndicated radio show (the podcasts should be up soon).
Greta offered her typical spot-on analyses and interviews. (Below the fold, you can see the video of the Karl Rove interview in which he says, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this, that one single contest that is going to have as big a ramifications for America as this one does.”)
Then Greta broke away to Scott Brown’s thrilling acceptance speech. And now I’m browsing the ‘net, soaking up all the enthusiasm and excitement. Among all the articles, this Boston Herald story — “Scott Brown roars to Senate upset win – Scott heard ’round the world” (with the photo above) –may be my favorite:
Upstart Republican Scott Brown rocketed to victory in the race to the U.S. Senate yesterday, steamrolling Attorney General Martha Coakley’s layabout campaign in an against-all-odds triumph that sent shock waves from the Heartland to the White House.
“I thought it was going to be me against the machine. I was wrong. It’s all of us against the machine,” Brown told rollicking supporters at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. “You have shown everyone now that you are the machine.”
Demoralized Democrats were left grappling with the notion of a once-obscure GOP insurgent snatching the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat in the so-called bluest state, only to possibly seal the demise of the late senator’s health-care dream – and single-handedly knock President Obama’s agenda off course.
“I never thought I’d see the day when a Republican replaces Ted Kennedy,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino told the Herald last night. “I think Scott Brown caught the wave of anger that’s out there, and the wave of anti-Obama.”
A Rasmussen Reports poll found one in five Democrats supported Brown, who benefited from high suburban turnout to beat Coakley by 52 to 47 percent.
“There is a revolt going on in this country,” gushed GOP activist Bay Buchanan, a former adviser to Gov. Mitt Romney in his presidential bid. “Massachusetts will just inspire the patriot movement.” ….
And now here’s Karl Rove’s analysis of Scott Brown’s victory, smartly interviewed by Greta Van Susteran:
You can also read the full transcript, but Rove’s first statements say it all:
KARL ROVE, FORMER BUSH SENIOR ADVISER, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: I’ve never seen one election like this. As you said earlier in the program, a month ago, Coakley was up as many as 31 points. This was a deep blue state. Barack Obama carried it by 26 percentage points. And yet storming onto the stage and into victory tonight is a young state senator from suburban Boston who has pulled off an extraordinary thing tonight.
[...]
ROVE: Yes. Look, they’re going to blame her and — but remember, she was the popularly elected attorney general of the state of Massachusetts. She beat other Democrats in a primary to win this nomination. This is not a — you know, this is not a dreadful candidate. But you’re right, she was burdened by a year worth of policy from the Obama administration which is out of sync with America, even in a deep blue state. And think about it. She was ahead a month ago by big margins, and yet what crystallized this whole race was the Christmas Eve vote on the health care bill, which, as you pointed out, included things like the “Cornhusker kickback,” the “Louisiana purchase” and all these special privileges given out hither and yon in order to buy votes.
And the more that sunk in and Brown seized upon this — he’d been talking about the deficit. He’d been talking about spending. He’d been talking about the establishment. He’d been talking about Washington and its ways. He’d been talking about government — the expansion of government. He’d been talking about the war on terror. And you know, that sort of crystallized and gave him momentum. He then had some good debates.
And then, as you pointed out — and I think it’s absolutely right — there it was, negotiating this bill behind closed doors after President Obama promised to do it out in the sunshine on C-Span, and then the big celebration about having reached the key deal which said if you’re a union member or work for state and local government, you escape the Cadillac health care tax, but if you work in the private sector and got a Cadillac plan, you get with a 40 percent tax, unlike those union guys. It just stunk.
And what was amazing to me was, in the polling, the recent polling, Senator Brown was barely losing union households in the state of Massachusetts. I mean, this is a shocker. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this, that one single contest that is going to have as big a ramifications for America as this one does. … Read all.
We have all witnessed history being made. Ironic, isn’t it, that this week marks the one-year anniversary of Obama’s presidency.
Those of us who were villified for opposing his candidacy during the primaries and then the general election are being vindicated.
I just wish we’d been wrong, but we weren’t. We tried to warn people, didn’t we. Well, now we and the country are stuck with this president for another three years.
All we can hope is that last night’s shocking results may rock the White House into putting the people’s interests first — not into building a phony legacy for The One.
But, as Larry Johnson has pointed out on John Batchelor’s show, the Democrats will not learn the necessary lessons from last night. Let’s just hope that the country survives three more years of a self-serving, self-indulgent, myopic presidency.
by Ronald Scott
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