Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Scott Brown: U.S. Senator from New Hampshire?

Francis Underwood


“What you have to understand about my people is that they are a noble people. Humility is their form of pride. It is their strength; it is their weakness. And if you can humble yourself before them they will do anything you ask.”
--Francis Underwood, House of Cards




Scott Brown wants to go back to the U.S. Senate, this time representing New Hampshire. If he wins, New Hampshire would be represented by two Republicans in the Senate, likely giving the Republicans both houses and ending any hope of President Obama being able to do much of anything in his remaining time in the White House. 

Karl Rove is salivating. The Koch brothers are sending millions to Brown's campaign.
All that stands between this dismal prospect and fruition is the New Hampshire voter.
United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen

It must be admitted, in terms of how we assess candidates for political office, Brown has the advantage from an "image" viewpoint: He is, as the lingo goes, an "attractive" candidate.  Even that stalwart Democrat, Maud of Hampton, has noted he is good looking.
He also has that most appealing of all characteristics:  A dark past. He says he was sexually abused by a camp counselor, mistreated by his several step fathers--his mother was married three times--and he was arrested as a youth for shop lifting before finally straightening out and attended Tufts and then BC law.

Brown will play on his wayward, dark past. As that most canny of all politicians, Francis Underwood, from South Carolina has noted, his constituents worship at the church of humility. Underwood always positions himself to be more humble than thou, and his constituents love him for it. He arrives with all the pomp and circumstance of a United States Representative and then throws himself on their mercy--and soon has them eating out of his hand.
Mr. Brown will do that same thing in New Hampshire. It will have wide appeal here, because, outside of the Seacoast, there are substantial populations of voters in the Granite state who burn with resentment at their "betters." For these voters, there was no chance of staying in school beyond high school, not when you come from a family of eight children, and your father drives a truck and your mother works at Walmart and your high school teachers think coloring maps within the lines is the highest form of academic achievement.  For many voters, their options were going to work after high school, or going into military service. 

Mr. Brown "served" with the National Guard in Afghanistan, albeit for only 2 weeks. He is something of a dilettante soldier.
Beefcake, Lightweight Brown

As a senator from Massachusetts, he had enough sense to realize he had to represent a liberal state from a reactionary party, so he voted for a Democratic jobs bill and spoke the words of bipartisanship: He voted for allowing the morning after pill to be given to rape victims to prevent pregnancy (implantation) thus risking the wrath of the Republican hard liners who would say a fertilized ovum is a human being and the morning after pill prevents that human being from finding a home in the uterus.

So, he was not the most right wing of the right wing party.
On the other hand, he talked the Republican talk, blaming the poverty stricken for their own poverty--they are poor because they are lazy, don't want to work and are deserving of their poverty. That is the fundamental doctrine of the fundamentalist Republicans, and Scott Brown embraces it.

Some have argued we need more Republicans like Susan Collins in the Congress, to help the Republican Party move away from the ultra right position it currently embraces. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth. That same argument is always advanced in the face of very extreme political parties:  There were no "good" Nazi's. Those who remained silent, who joined the party to change it from within, who excused their membership as an attempt to be in a position to moderate extreme positions found themselves being part of the problem, co opted by the villainy which sucked up the moderates.  The venomous snake also has muscles and bones and a nervous system, all of which function to put the snake into position to strike and to sink its venom into its victims. Those nerve, muscle and bone cells are no less a part of the snake than the venom.


4 comments:

  1. Mad Dog,
    Yes, you're so right-the Dickensian childhood-a horror to live through, but if one can survive it, a wonderful political asset. It's one of the major things squeaky clean Romney lacked. Poor, dutiful, sinless, boring Mitt-with a past only a Mormon could love. Scott Brown's dark past, on the other hand is quite compelling. He was overcoming obstacles right and left like a modern day Job. Objectively, I thought his coming forward regarding his abuse was commendable and, dare I say, a public service. Even if it was self -promoting, it also sent an encouraging message to children and teen victims that this was something that could be overcome.(How do you like that Mad Dog-stalwart but objective..)

    That goofy centerfold article won't help much, but didn't he have a good reason for it-it helped fund his education maybe-I can't remember. If it doesn't already have some lofty reason assigned to it-it will once Rove gets to it... "He gave the proceeds to his blind, starving mother...." etc.Your snake analogy is a great one, hopefully voters won't be lulled into thinking he is a reasonable and safe choice-he'll still support the Republican agenda-he'll be to beholden to them not to. One thing is for certain, the campaign will generate an enormous amount of money and national interest and Jeanne Shaheen, as well as Carol Shea Porter, are going to need a lot of on the ground campaign work to win.
    Maud

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  2. Maud,

    I'm going to see Book of Mormon in Boston. I'll let you know about Mormons.
    I wish I could get my puppet brigade up and running. Scott Brown would be so much fun to work with.
    Google Spitting Image and you'll see what I have in mind.

    Mad Dog

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  3. Mad Dog,
    Lucky you-Book of Mormon should be great. I had looked into tickets for NY last year and they were sold out for many,many months in advance..I'm jealous, and will be curious to see what you think. As for Spitting Image, the clips I saw were excellent-very funny. The puppets looked vaguely familiar-maybe I saw clips of them way back when, but I never saw the show unfortunately-I do love that British humor, clever and rude. You wonder why more of that wasn't done during the last campaign-there wouldn't have been a shortage of material with McCain and Palin puppets-I agree Scott Brown would also be a good subject...Just what kind of puppets are in your brigade?
    Maud

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  4. Maud,
    Bought over the internet puppets--Not like the Spitting Image puppets which were spitting images of Margaret Thatcher etc.
    Tried to get them up and running for the Palin/Obama race but discovered when you deal with young actors (voices) and techies, they just don't show up.

    Mad Dog

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