Senator Brown has accomplished the impossible, a Republican in Massachusetts. Great job! It does send a message. As we have been arguing for over a year now here we believe in a health care reform but what Congress has delivered is a sham. It creates an untenable situation which is more "gifts" to friends and nothing of merit to the US citizens. There are parts we believe in but as a whole it is a disaster.
In the late 60s and through the 70s I was a staunch Massachusetts Democrat. I ran a portion of the Tsongas for Congress campaign in Acton, I was a rep at the 1974 mini convention, I was a strong supporter even of McGovern and spent four years in and out of secondment in the Carter Administration. But alas enough was enough. I know Massachusetts quite well and as I looked at town after town the tale is overpowering. Woburn, Reading Peabody, true blue collar Democrats, going powerfully for Brown. Falmouth, Bourne, Barnstable, solidly for Brown, just look at the map. The towns of Concord and Newton and Lexington were as expected Democrat. The Concord Lexington creep went to Acton but died at the border. Littleton went Brown. This was truly amazing. The central western regions went Democrat as expected but they also wanted to have Guantanamo prisoners sent there as well.
Frankly a major key to the win was the blatantly arrogant question of the Harvard based Gergen, presuming a Kennedy entitlement to the position, and Brown's brilliant retort, it was the people's Senator. The isolation of many academics from the people is dangerous, and one would suspect especially so in a School of Government. I have spent time years ago walking and talking on the campaign trail. People do listen, they do think, they do decide. That is what Gergen missed in his insular academic mindset but that the people did respond.
This will be a loud call for Washington to listen. Yet I suspect this will not be the case. This was not a Glenn Beck cult but a massive shift. Hopefully we do not see Congress ignore the people.
In the late 60s and through the 70s I was a staunch Massachusetts Democrat. I ran a portion of the Tsongas for Congress campaign in Acton, I was a rep at the 1974 mini convention, I was a strong supporter even of McGovern and spent four years in and out of secondment in the Carter Administration. But alas enough was enough. I know Massachusetts quite well and as I looked at town after town the tale is overpowering. Woburn, Reading Peabody, true blue collar Democrats, going powerfully for Brown. Falmouth, Bourne, Barnstable, solidly for Brown, just look at the map. The towns of Concord and Newton and Lexington were as expected Democrat. The Concord Lexington creep went to Acton but died at the border. Littleton went Brown. This was truly amazing. The central western regions went Democrat as expected but they also wanted to have Guantanamo prisoners sent there as well.
Frankly a major key to the win was the blatantly arrogant question of the Harvard based Gergen, presuming a Kennedy entitlement to the position, and Brown's brilliant retort, it was the people's Senator. The isolation of many academics from the people is dangerous, and one would suspect especially so in a School of Government. I have spent time years ago walking and talking on the campaign trail. People do listen, they do think, they do decide. That is what Gergen missed in his insular academic mindset but that the people did respond.
This will be a loud call for Washington to listen. Yet I suspect this will not be the case. This was not a Glenn Beck cult but a massive shift. Hopefully we do not see Congress ignore the people.
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