Memo to GOP: Massachusetts voters are okay with educated candidates. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
The 2012 Senate race in Massachusetts isn't just fun because we have the chance to replace a teabagger with one of the nation's foremost champions of economic justice in Ted Kennedy's old seat, but it's fun because it's clear Republicans have no idea how to run a race in an indigo blue state.
Witness their response to a massive League of Conservation Voters ad campaign on his environmental record:
“Just in time for Halloween, the League of Conservation Voters group is spending nearly $2 million on negative attack ads trying to scare voters and playing tricks with Scott Brown’s pro-jobs voting record. This dirty political ad is clearly intended to benefit Professor Elizabeth Warren, and it’s shameful that this campaign has so quickly gone into the gutter. Professor Warren needs to strongly denounce the negative politics behind this ad and call on the League of Conservation Voters to immediately take it down.”
I'd be embarrassed if my 8-year-old came up with that hokey Halloween stuff. But let's ignore that for now. Rather, look at the use of "professor" as an invective, as if Massachusetts is allergic to higher education. They're not. In fact, the state has 121 institutions of higher education, including some of the best in the world. Warren isn't running in Alabama or Mississippi, where being a professor (among other things) might be disqualifying to Republican voters.
Then there's this:
Warren was asked by the Daily Beast for a comment on the protests. She said: “I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do. I support what they do.”
Now the NRSC has opened fire on Warren for the comments, blasting out an email containing links to stories about protesters in Massachusetts battling with cops. Said NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh: “Warren’s decision to not only embrace, but take credit for this movement is notable considering the Boston Police Department was recently forced to arrest at least 141 of her Occupy acolytes in Boston the other day after they threatened to tie up traffic downtown and refused to abide by their protest permit limits.”
Again, this might work in Georgia, or Tennessee, or Arkansas. But egads, people were arrested for refusing to abide by their protest permit limits? What is the world coming to? Pass the smelling salts!
Republicans want to line up behind the one percent. Scott Brown has clearly done so himself. And there are plenty of places where the electorate might buy a GOP campaign against the dirty fucking hippies who want to destroy America by fighting for economic justice. But again, this is Massachusetts. Yet Republicans can't seem to make the distinction, calling plays from the same playbook they're using in Nebraska and Texas.