Was Niki Tsongas A Joke, Too?

Rep. Patrick Kennedy has called Scott Brown’s election to the Senate “a joke”…

Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) election has been shown to be “a joke,” the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Thursday.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) castigated Brown for having pushed to be sworn in ahead of schedule to permanently fill the Senate seat left vacant by the congressman’s father’s death in August.

“Brown’s whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama’s appointment to the NLRB,” Kennedy said Thursday.

Kennedy was referencing some Democrats’ thoughts that Brown tried to bump up his swearing-in in order to give Republicans 41 votes, enough to filibuster the nomination of Craig Becker, a controversial nominee to join the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

I keep coming back to this, but how is that any different than Niki Tsongas getting the express swearing-in so she could help vote to override a President Bush veto?
Call it whatever you want–the joke will be on you in November and in 2012.

Galvin Said What?

William Galvin, Secretary of State, said something disturbing before certifying Scott Brown’s election to the Senate today.

Secretary of State William Galvin this morning called on U.S. Sen.-elect Scott Brown to “respect the rights of the majority” during a Governor Council’s meeting called to certify the results of last month’s special election.

Galvin said he was referring to speculation Brown made a sudden push yesterday to be seated quickly because of an effort to block an up-or-down vote on one of President Obama’s nominees for the National Labor Relations Board.

“I’d like to call on Senator Brown now to respect the rights of the majority,” Galvin said. “I hope that we will be able to see an up or down vote on all the nominations of President Obama and that the rights of the majority that are being respected here will be respected by the United States Senate and Senator Brown.”

Excuse me, Mr. Secretary of State… Let’s lay out the facts. The will of the majority is what put Scott Brown in Washington today. If there is anyone who needs a lesson in “respecting the rights of the majority,” it’s you. How is that it has taken until today to certify the election results?

Let’s talk again about Niki Tsongas, who was swiftly certified and sent to Washington so she could vote to override a veto of then President Bush.

You want to talk about the blocking of presidential nominees? How many nominees of President Bush were blocked or otherwise held up by a minority of Democrats?

Respect for the rights of the majority is something you and your Party need a lesson on, Mr. Secretary.

Brown To Be Sworn In Today

U.S. Senator-elect Scott Brown will be sworn in as a member of the United State Senate today at 5:00pm.

Vice President Joe Biden will perform the swearing in ceremonies on the Senate floor.

Congratulations Senator-elect Brown!

Take A Seat, Senator

Scott Brown is asking to take the seat the people elected him to serve in.

Massachusetts Sen.-elect Scott Brown on Wednesday demanded to be seated immediately, saying that while he is set to be sworn in Feb. 11, “there are a number of votes scheduled prior to that date.”

In a letter from his lawyers to Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, Mr. Brown argues that the results of the special election in Massachusetts on Jan. 19 are not in doubt and he should be able to take the seat right away.

“We represent Senator-elect Scott Brown. We understand that the election returns from Massachusetts cities and towns were transmitted this morning to the State Secretary’s Office and by the State Secretary to the Governor’s Office. While Senator-elect Brown had tentatively planned to be sworn into office February 11, he has been advised that there are a number of votes scheduled prior to that date, For that reason, he wants certification to occur immediately. As he is the duly elected United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he is entitled to be seated now.

“Accordingly, on behalf of Senator-elect Brown, we request that the results of the special election January 19, 2010, be certified without delay and that a duplicate be provided me in hand no later than 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 4, 2010, so we may deliver the original by hand to the Secretary of the United States Senate in time to allow Senator-elect Brown to be administered the oath of office by the Vice President tomorrow afternoon,” wrote lawyer Daniel B. Winslow.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seemed amenable to the demand. “Once we get his certificate we expect to swear him in tomorrow afternoon as early as five o’clock, which is earlier than he suggested,” Jim Manley, Mr. Reid’s spokesman, told The Hill on Wednesday.

As it’s been pointed out before, I’ll point it out again for those who haven’t heard a million times: Niki Tsongas was elected via special election on October 17, 2008, and the very next day, she cast her first vote.

Enough said. Seat Senator-elect Scott Brown immediately.

So What If She Called Him?

So apparently there is some big hoopla regarding a simple phone call between Sarah Palin and Senator-elect Scott Brown…

Sen.-elect Scott Brown is acknowledging receiving a phone call from Sarah Palin on election night less than a week after he denied any contact with the former GOP vice presidential contender.

In a Jan. 28 interview with the Associated Press, Brown said he didn’t know Palin, had never spoken with her and that she never reached out to him.

Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton told the news Web site Politico that Palin did speak with Brown on election night and congratulated him “on his most historic victory for not only Massachusetts but the nation.”

A Brown aide said the call from the former Republican presidential candidate “had completely slipped his mind,” and added that it was very nice of her to make the call.

So what if she called him? So what if he forgot she called? So what??? Are the Democrats so desperate to paint Scott Brown with the Sarah Palin brush that whether or not she called him–to congratulate him on his victory–is a big deal?
Chris Good at The Atlantic commented on this story.

A minor discrepancy, and the Associated Press lists Brown’s quote by itself, so it’s hard to tell how the conversation went up until that point; but, given Palin’s national prominence, and the fact that Democrats had sought to tie Brown to Palin during the election–national Democrats sent out press releases highlighting Brown’s praise for Palin and Palin’s praise for Brown, seeking to paint Brown as a Palin-style conservative, and Sen. John Kerry compared Brown’s more riled-up supporters to attendees of Palin’s rallies on the presidential campaign trail in ‘08–it’s also an interesting one.

Interesting, indeed. It seems clear the Democrats are hung up on trying to paint Scott Brown as a Sarah Palin conservative in order to cast an ugly shadow on Scott Brown. If they want so badly to connect the dots between Scott Brown and Sarah Palin, why is White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggesting that Scott Brown’s election was an expression of support for Obama?

Let’s look at this logically:
IF Sarah Palin = Scott Brown (as the Democrats have been to trying portray);
AND Scott Brown = Barack Obama (according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs);
THEN Barack Obama = Sarah Palin

That’s transitive properties people.