Brown tells AP he'll sometimes side with Democrats

[villager]

Source: AP


Brown tells AP he'll sometimes side with Democrats

Brown Reaches Out To Democrats As He Heads To DC

BOSTON – Scott Brown says he has already told Senate Republican leaders they won't always be able to count on his vote.

The man who staged an upset in last week's Massachusetts Senate special election, in part by pledging to be the 41st GOP vote against President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he staked his claim in early conversations with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip Jon Kyl.

"I already told them, you know, `I got here with the help of a close group of friends and very little help from anyone down there, so there'll be issues when I'll be with you and there are issues when I won't be with you,'" Brown said Thursday during the half-hour interview. "So, I just need to look at each vote and then make a proper analysis and then decide."

Asked how McConnell and Kyl responded, Brown said, "They understood. They said, `You can probably do whatever you want, Scott. And, so, just let us know where your head's at, and we'll talk it through, and just keep us posted.'"

The senator-elect did not elaborate on possible breaking points, though the Washington newcomer dismissed any suggestion he will relent once he starts working in the highly partisan capital.

<snip>


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100128/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_successor

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I'm just simply waiting for the Freepazoid/Rushbot response to this...

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. And by "Democrats" he probably means....

The Lieberdouche/Nelson twins/Landrieu extreme right wing of the party.

[villager]

5. No doubt, but to today's fascists, even they are on the "left..."

which is what those who cooperate with fascists always -- always -- fail to understand. In the end, their cooperation doesn't really save them...

[cosmicone]

14. By these fascists' standards.......

Nixon and Reagan would be construed as liberals hahaha

[golfguru]

32. So true, especially Nixon n/t

[Mithreal]

8. +1

[Jennicut]

12. Lieberman is hated here in CT right now.

Brown probably thinks he can come off as "independent" but that only flies for so long...

[TheCowsCameHome]

18. ...as well as in many other states, I'd bet.

[No Elephants]

40. By "Democrats" he means, "I want Massachusetts to re-elect me."

Senator Kennedy's unexpired term will expire not too long from now. Scott began planning for 2012 as soon as he knew he had a chance at beating Coakley. The guy who wanted to ban hospitals from giving rape victims emergency contraception said he respected Roe v. Wade.

Fuck you, Scott and the lying elephant you rode in on and anyone who falls for your deceits.

[totodeinhere]

48. Yes, and if he thinks he might have a chance to be on the GOP ticket in 2012,

look for him to move even more to the right.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Heh.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I'd love it if he was a Manchurian candidate.

Republican heads exploding all over the place.

[FarPoint]

4. This guy will only serve the final 2 years

left on Senator Kennedy's term...then a Democrat will resume the post. The people/voters of Massachusetts had this in mind when they voted.....a way of sending a clear message to Washington.

[Alcibiades]

30. Especially if he keeps keeping the company he keeps

Saw an ad to "seat Scott Brown now" on Facebook, which is laughable, because he's due to be sworn in on February 11. The ad's sponsor? "Friends of John Thune."

http://www.johnthune.com/seat-him-now/fb

I'm not sure, but I don't think Brown had Thune stump for him in MA. If this is the sort of person who Brown pals around with, Massachusetts voters won't be fooled again.

[totodeinhere]

34. At first we heard he could never win that seat in the first place.

I saw several DU posters guaranteeing that he would lose. And now we see people saying with a certainty that he will lose next time. I guess we haven't learned the lesson yet that nothing in politics is a sure thing.

[No Elephants]

42. Bingo. I just posted something similar, without having read your post.

[No Elephants]

41. Never be complacent about an election, or try to make other Democrats complacent about an election.

I could not believe the posts here every time I started a thread to try to make sure Massachusetts Democrats got how important it was for them to vote.

It's "Take nothing for granted. You need to fight, fight, fight, until you're seated." Just ask Al Franken and Martha Coakley.

[bluestateguy]

6. Could we have him on the DADT repeal?

Massachusetts is a pretty gay friendly state. Even many opponents of gay marriage think that gays should be allowed to serve openly.

[karynnj]

22. He told MA that gay marriage was settled law on his web site

[No Elephants]

43. Please see Reply 40. Also, during their confirmation hearings,

Roberts and Alito both said they'd respect settled law, including Roe v. Wade. Roberts even said it with a smile meant to be ingratiating on his face. Now that they hold office, as it were, the story is a lot different.

Besides, gay marriage is settled law in Massachusetts--probably despite Scott Brown's efforst. At the level of the U.S. Congress, DOMA is settled law.

[tom_paine]

7. Count the lies in the story.

1..2..3..4..5.....more...

[tanyev]

9. Just checked--not posted on FR yet.

I've noticed some stories are a little slow to show up there.

[louis-t]

20. They have to wait for Drudge or rush to tell them

what to think.

[fascisthunter]

27. I'm Sure Conservative Think Tanks haven't given FR the Go Ahead Yet

They still need to work out a plausible denial... freaks.

[burning rain]

10. When Specter was a Republican, Reid acidly observed of him,....

that he was with Senate Democrats whenever they didn't need him. Look for Scott Brown to be much the same. He's probably looking for Democrats to help him look like a "reasonable Republican" going into his 2012 reelection. Hopefully they won't fall for such a game.

[karynnj]

23. Given their filibuster everything game, any vote we get him we may need him

They filibustered the defense bill in December just to waste time - they weren't even against it.

[burning rain]

39. Accepting that legislating requires 60 votes is killing us.

Even with 60 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, it led to making the health care bill so unlovable to the public, that it helped cost us the Massachusetts Senate race. If we keep on accepting the 60-vote rule, in November we're going to find if we can't make it in Massachusetts, we can't make it anywhere.

We need a new idea beyond the 60-vote rule.

[No Elephants]

44. Great point and recollection.

[Jennicut]

11. He is from Mass and has to keep the voters if he wants to win again in 2012

[billymayshere]

13. Didn't he vote for HCR in Mass.?

This guy knows there is no effing way he gets reelected as a right winger. IMHO he will side with the Dems on HCR at some point.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. Yes, he was right there for Romneycare.

[No Elephants]

45. Did he?

[livetohike]

15. "You can PROBABLY do whatever you want" ?

or who do they have to check with before hand? Interesting.

I actually heard some encouraging comments on local tv from my Congressional rep on the morning news. He is a Republican and a Freshman who voted lock step with the Republicans all last year, but now he seems a little more reasonable.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. He will be summoned to the Altar of the Fetid Fatman.....

....and that will be the end of that silly talk.

[madmax]

19. Right, we'll see...

[karynnj]

21. I hope that it wil be them who are dissapointed and not any here who want to believe this

He likely has to decide if he wants to be a Senator or if he simply wants to use the seat and hope to get on the 2012 ticket. (Note - this timing is not much different than when Edwards was on Al Gore's list and Palin is only a half term governor.)

He won't get re-elected if he decides to be Mitch McConnell JR. But, if he harbors hope of being VP or President, he can't vote against them often.

From the TV video of his meetings with Kerry and McCain, he actually sounds like he does in this article. The funny thing is that he interacted better with Kerry. (Might be unfair as he knew him.) But he did not sound like Palin saying that he always had great respect for Kerry. (or that he did vote for health care in MA - when he told McCain he wanted to be a maverick.)

http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2010/01/21/Brown-meets-with-Kerry-on/1264090686.html

http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2010/01/21/Brown-meets-with-McCain-says/1264093247.html

These two clips are really worth watching. The thing that really stands out to me is that he really seems to have been in the right place at the right time. He seems somewhat overwhelmed, not what I expected.

[No Elephants]

46. Word is that he never expected to win against Coakley, only to get more

statewide name recognition--and he wanted that because he wanted to run for Massachusetts Secretary of State or some state office like that.

Don't know if it's true, but I would not be surprised.

As for Kerry, they've known each other a long time--and Kerry's been nice to Brown's family. Don't forget, Brown's wife is a well known TV news correspondent in Massachusetts.

[karynnj]

50. That actually makes sense and his not expecting it

likely made the last few weeks really weird for him. It was clear that he and Kerry knew each other - I wonder what his RW fans would think of the fact that he likely does respect and like Kerry, who they demonize, on a personal level.

It was interesting that his daughter voted for Kerry "because he was incredibly nice".

It won't happen but it would be so much better if each side could see the other as people.

[depakid]

24. I reckon so, since he's up for re-election in 2012

There won't be much difference with the Senate over the next eight months.

[customerserviceguy]

25. All he's gotta do

is stay in bed with the Repukes for a bit less than a year, and since that's an election year, there won't be too much running through Congress for him to oppose. The exception, of course, is HCR, and he's already said he's in opposition to that.

By this time next year, the Rethugs figure that they'll peel off a few seats from our majority, and they won't need him for fillibusters. They'll be content to let him vote however he wants after the 2010 election, if he keeps the seat, he prevents a Massachusetts progressive from occupying it.

[deacon]

26. Yeah, right. He'll vote "no" or be disowned by the party. n/t

[Phlem]

28. Whatever

If ya'll haven't figured it by now, you don't trust Republicans. If you hang legislation's passing on a republican, it's not going to pass or it will become an abomination of what it was before, and it'll pass.

Your fucked either way. A lot of people have figured this out, and we're supposed to assume our Dems' don't get this?

I'm not buying and F@%k Brown.

Man of tired of the play stupid approach the Dems take with their base.

Replace all of them with authentic left liberals and get rid of the R's dressed in D's clothing already.

F@%k F@%k F@%k F@%k F@%k F@%k !!!!!!!!!!!!!

-phlem

[valerief]

29. He'll vote however he's paid to. nt

[SlingBlade]

31. Aww, Isnt he a cute little son of a bitch

Fuck 'em, And Fuck any Dem that would support something that he would sign on to.

[unblock]

33. oooh, how mavericky of him! he'll vote with dems whenever dems vote yes on republican bills!

or whenever democrats want to declare some day "national pander to some massachusetts constituency day"

[TankLV]

35. Well - if his ballsack hangs left when he's posing for porn, I can see how he comes to this

position...

[AwakeAtLast]

36. HA HA HA!

:rofl: :spray:

[JoeyT]

37. I read that as

a request for the earmarks they're always for until they're against.
Which is probably exactly how he means it.

[Dogmudgeon]

38. He may even cross over and become a Democrat

I wouldn't count that out.

Distasteful? Sure. But (speaking of his previous profession) that's why God made semen, liquor, and toothpaste.

He has a need for attention, and there are so many batshit-crazy teabaggers out there that they may make it a worthwhile choice.

And, hey, whose crotch is better positioned into which to rub their faces?

--d!

[No Elephants]

47. Not sure. If he ran for the Massachusetts legislature as a Republican, I'm guessing he's

really a Republican. The legislature is about 96% Democratic (tho not all liberal) and so was our entire Congressional delegation.

Then again, it could have been that his district was one of the few solidly Republican ones.

[AlinPA]

49. Sounds like bullshit to me. Limbaugh will straighten him out.