Sen. Scott Brown, proving how fake his independence is.
Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown voted with almost every other Republican in the Senate on Thursday for the Blunt Amendment, giving all employers the right to deny their employees birth control and other health services. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer makes the obvious point: "Scott Brown’s trying to portray himself as a moderate? Well, this vote shows he’s not very moderate."
Indeed, this is one weird-ass vote for someone trying to claim to be a moderate. Schumer alluded to one of the plausible theories of why Brown would do this, saying:
"I don’t envy the rank-and-file Republicans who walked the plank on this vote," Schumer said at a press conference. "I think it’s going to be awfully hard to defend it back home, especially in places like New England."
Maybe Scott Brown's masters in the Republican leadership just wouldn't give him permission to vote his political interests on this bill, as they so clearly have on several of the "independent" votes he's taken. Whatever the case, it's great for Democrats, particularly with Brown making weaksauce defenses like this:
Some Catholic Democrats in Massachusetts might support Brown on the issue, and his campaign pointed to a letter of support from Ray Flynn, a former Democratic mayor of Boston, to illustrate the point.
“I intend to tell anyone who will listen how you stood tall in protecting the human and civil rights of everyone,” Flynn wrote.
Um, yeah. That's the
Ray Flynn who was last in office in 1993, has run unsuccessfully for the House since but otherwise been a professional Catholic activist with a special focus on opposing abortion, and endorsed George W. Bush in 2000 and Scott Brown in 2010. What a bombshell that that guy would support a Republican he already endorsed in voting for a bill to deny women birth control.
Please, contribute $6 to Elizabeth Warren on Orange to Blue.