The TV pundits claimed that the Democrat Martha Coakley, running against Brown, was disinterested in the obligatory campaign functions herself, but Politico blogger Ben Smith presented a memo from a Coakley adviser stating that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and “other Dem organizations” failed to contribute early in the election, and “didn’t engage until a week before the election.”(i)
Jon Stewart on the Daily Show exclaimed “The Kennedy legacy is going down to a naked guy that owns a truck?” Referring to a long-ago nude magazine photo of Scott Brown and a campaign commercial where Brown introduced his truck. Later Stewart asks “how does the Democratic candidate, a one Martha Coakley, state attorney genera, lose to this cat?” proceeding with a series of clips.
CNN: “Martha Coakley may have made a big political gaff here in Boston when she referred to Kirt Shilling, the former Boston Red Socks Pitcher as another Yankees fan.”
Stewart: “That doesn’t sound like much but let’s put it in some perspective here for non-sports fans. Uhh, that would be like saying that John Lennon’s favorite Beatle was Mickey Dolenz” [of the Monkeys].
The Boston Globe reportedly once asked Coakley if she was being too passive in campaigning to which she replied “As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?”
More damning clips followed, but the point is the Democrats either thought they were going to get a landslide victory or they had no interest in maintaining the majority votes necessary to pass health care reform. The Democrats have a bigger majority in the senate than the Republicans had since 1923, yet the longer health care legislation lingers in limbo, the more it continues to mutate and deform into a cash cow for the insurance industry.
“The people of Massachusetts already have a more progressive health care system than anything in the current health care bill” Stewart said.(ii) One could conclude that voters typically don’t see beyond their own state borders when they vote for someone who is supposed to make decisions that affect the nation as a whole.
It’s not surprising because most senators and representatives are lauded for “bringing home the bacon.” Earmarks are okay when it’s your own state, but if it’s another state, it’s called “pork.” The short-sightedness of the voters should not be further exploited by politicians, but the voters have a responsibility to the country as a whole too.
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i. Ben Smith, - Politico.com – Coakley adviser memo: D.C. Dems 'failed' Coakley 01/19/2010 [ http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Coakley_adviser_memo_DC_Dems_faled_Coakley.html?showall ]
ii. The Daily Show – Mass Backwards – Video air date 01/18/2010 – [ http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-18-2010/mass-backwards ]
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