"Sestak Cites Massachusetts Senate Upset In Last Minute Campaigning"

[Clio the Leo]

Ok, I know some of you are rooting for Sestak .... talk me down, tell me why I'm NOT supposed to think this is a bit odd....

Rep. Joe Sestak said he learned an important lesson from the Massachusetts special election that resulted in Sen. Scott Brown taking over a seat held by the Democrats for a generation, and he's sounding pretty confident that voters may reach the same conclusion and nominate him on Tuesday.

"Massachusetts said it best, 'A pox on both your houses.' They voted for change in politics,"

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/sestak-cites-massachusetts-in-last-minute-campaigning.php?ref=fpblg

How is the fact that the voters in Mass took a Dem held seat and gave it to the GOP supposed to be a POSITIVE thing again? Anytime anyone cites anything Scott Brown did as something POSITIVE ... well, that perks my eyebrows up a bit.

[Arkana]

1. I'm unsure why Joe Sestak thinks it was good that MA voted Senator Softcore

into office.

[KingFlorez]

2. Bad thing for him to say

What was he thinking?

[Arkana]

3. I look for the same people who slam President Obama

for drawing rhetorical comparisons to Reagan in speeches to defend Joe Sestak for this.

[FrenchieCat]

4. This is too bad.

He has been extraordinarily careful up to this point not to disparage the current administration even when he has discussed of how Washington is broken.

It is unfortunate that he chose to possibly speak more than he needed to at this time.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. For Better or for Worse, He's Got It Right

As far as I can tell, voters here were voting for change. They are so desperate for change that they voted for a pinhead.

This was just after Obama told his supporters to go screw - that the Public Option, ending DADT, and may other campaign pledges were just ephemera. Many in Mass figured that Coakley's promises were equally fleeting.

I voted for Coakley - but man, I did not feel good about it.

[blue neen]

6. When I read the whole article it seems that Sestak's emphasizing more a change

in politics...i.e. he's up against the machine. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Cha]

7. He's got that whole

meme goin' that I've heard a few of them going for..i.e. "Washington bad..I'm good. Vote for me":silly: To me it's just lazy short talk.

They want it black and white but it ain't so.

[elocs]

8. Sestak/Specter Maybe it's better to go with the devil you know than the devil you don't.

Or, be careful what you wish for because you may get it.

[Jennicut]

9. Hmmmm. I would vote for Sestak if I was in PA but that does not really

sit well with me. MA was a unique case where the Dem candidate was terrible, not running a good campaign, went on vacation during it, etc. Blaming it on Obama? After all the years of Bush? DC did not become DC overnight. It has been that way for years. Lazy research and claims on Sestak's part.

[MBS]

18. " " " n/t

[Inuca]

10. I heard him say this twice

last time was last night. Cringe moment, worse the second time around. There is something about Sestak that just makes me uncomfortable... Also, in the interview last night (Hardball?), I noticed that he is talking in a disjointed kind of way, sentences that seem to make sense and be coherent, but actually are not, almost Palin-like.

[karynnj]

11. It's a little weird, but everyone once to portray themselves as fitting a winning model

I do think it gives far too much significance to Brown.

The Brown win has been blown up to have all kinds of different meanings. But, in reality, it was an election like all other elections. The fact that Coakley had a 31 point lead to blow only a month before the election shows that there was no seismic change in the political leanings of MA. In addition, if you look at the 2008 results, even though both Kerry and Obama were winning in landslides - both got nearly twice as many votes as Brown. Brown got slightly more than McCain. The story was the Democrats did not turn out.

Here, Sestak is making it about "outsider" vs "insider", but he has been in DC for the last 4 years. That's far less than Specter. There clearly is anti- incumbent anger. the problem with Sestak making that the issue is that Toomey fits it better than he does.

I agree with you - I am sick of Brown. I also think the reasons were - an opponent who was a poor campaigner, who had some major gaffes - "there are no Al Qaeda in Afghanistan" (did she even think to talk to the state's senior Senator, who held hearings on it?) and saying Shilling is a Yankee - I'm not from MA and have no interest in baseball - and I know better. In addition, he was pushed as a good looking guy with a charming personality.

He also had adoring media coverage - and still does. To see how extreme it is - read this transcript of a BG interview with Brown http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/09/transcript_from_the_interview_with_scott_brown

Now read the article and watch the "edited video" - http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/09/a_star_from_day_one_brown_settles_in

Now had Kerry ever given such an idiotic interview (that might have required being in the hospital under strong medication), there is no way, the idiocy would have been hidden. Could they have had shorter segments fading to smiling Brown pictures if they tried?

[Jennicut]

12. A total empty suit...may fit the example better then any politician out there

right now. I still can't get over how much of an idiot he is, I was hoping for SOME improvement after the election.

[freddie mertz]

13. Sestak has successfully stood up to the Obama-Rendell machine.

They are using OFA, DNC, DSSCC and other resources to try and stop him.

And he's brought it to a tie and just may win it.

I hope he does, and cast my vote for him today, which was also a vote cast AGAINST the interference from the WH and Rendell.

[AtomicKitten]

14. Bold statement admitting your vote was to screw over the WH/Rendell.

The deal struck with Specter for the 60th vote yielded passage of HCR and the stimulus. Regarding this seat in Penn, I have no doubt the WH's only concern is the seat remaining blue. I hope whoever wins this thing today can deliver that win in the GE.

[freddie mertz]

15. I understand the nature of the deal.

And I am not so nuts that I will do anything but support the winner either way.

That said, I despise the Rendell machine (as many PA Dems do) and resent the use of DNC etc, funds to interfere in my state primary.

So yes, I am delighted to vote against these electoral meddlers while voting for a candidate who happens to be a Democrat by choice, and who had the "stones" (as it were) to stand up against the steamroller.

Yes indeed.

[AtomicKitten]

16. I think we all can agree that we want the seat to remain blue.

I don't really care for either candidate and it's not my state, so I will rally behind whoever wins today.

[freddie mertz]

17. I prefer Joe, who I also think has a better chance of winning the general.

Specter seems to have little more than grudging support around here.

Most Dems have been voting AGAINST him for years, after all.

[Radical Activist]

19. Way to miss the point.

The Mass race changed the national attitude about health care and other issues. If Sestak wins it will change again but in a different direction that favors progressives.