[See also: The Coming Defeat Of Deval Patrick And The End Of Massachusetts` Minority Rule Experiment, by Matthew Richer]
On January
19th, Massachusetts will elect a new U.S. senator to fill the
seat held for nearly half a century by patriotic immigration
reform`s
long time,
recently deceased adversary,
Teddy Kennedy.
[Dodd
and Dorgan Aside, Senate Election Focus Should Be on
Massachusetts,
by Chuck Raasch, USA Today,
January 6, 2010]
After
Kennedy`s death,
Governor Deval Patrick
appointed
Paul. G. Kirk,
Jr. as an interim so the Democrats could cast a
"yea" vote for
the Senate health care bill.
Regarding
Kennedy`s
remarkably long term of service,
I can only say that time doesn`t fly when you`re not having fun.
Patriotic immigration reformers were most definitely not having
fun during
his ceaseless subversion of
America.
The Senate contest
that will pit
Republican State Senator Scott
Brown versus
Democratic Attorney General
Martha Coakley
kicks off with an interesting coincidence: In 1962, Kennedy also
was elected via a special election after his brother John
vacated the seat on being elected president.
Before
analyzing Brown`s chances, remember that he`s a Republican
running
in Massachusetts,
where his party`s registration is a microscopic 11 percent.
But,
despite obviously long odds against him becoming the first
Republican Massachusetts senator since
Edward W. Brooke
32 years ago, Brown has a chance—if he plays it right.
Brown`s
task is to appeal to the anti-Establishment mood that helped
Republicans defeat Democrats
in the November gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.
Brown,
according to Philip W. Johnson, a former Massachusetts
Democratic Party Chairman, is
"...an
attractive, articulate, moderate Republican who could tap into
some of the unrest among voters. It would be a terrible mistake
for Democrats to assume that this election is in the bag on
January 19. These are not normal times. There are treacherous
winds blowing and Democratic candidates have to be aware of
that." [Scott
Brown Wins GOP Primary, Readies for Race vs. Coakley,
Michael Levenson, Boston
Globe, December 8, 2009]
Translations:
Of most
importance to
VDARE.COM
is how the two candidates stack up on immigration. While
Massachusetts isn`t a border state, its foreign-born population
is
more than 14 percent.
That total
brings with it enough
immigration-related problems
like crime
to make it an issue in Brown`s campaign.
The same
FAIR report referenced above confirmed that Brown`s stance to
keep illegal aliens from discounted college tuition would save
Massachusetts between $7.7 and $10 million.
With
Massachusetts facing a $1 billion budget deficit, any fiscal
conservative worth his salt would draw the cost correlation
between educating illegal aliens and the revenue shortfall. [State
Deficit May Hit $1 Billion Again,
by Frank Phillips, Boston
Globe, March 12, 2009]
As
pointed out
by our
Matthew Richer,
Brown (unlike Coakley) has posted his immigration positions on
his website. Included are his opposition to
amnesty, driver`s licenses and
instate tuition
for aliens and their children.
Brown`s
stances on driver`s licenses and tuition have special
significance because Patrick has wavered on both.
Publicly,
the governor has indicated support for the
"New Americans Agenda,"
Massachusetts` so called
"comprehensive blueprint for integrating immigrants," but
also stalled it fearing voter retribution by referring it to his
Cabinet for an "action
plan" [Tuition,
Driver`s Licenses Urged for Illegal Aliens,
by Maria Sacchetti, Boston Globe, November 17, 2009]
Democrat Senate hopeful Coakley, in contrast to Brown, supports
a "path to citizenship"
via "comprehensive
immigration reform" a.k.a.
amnesty.
Said
Coakley, sounding frighteningly like Teddy:
"We
need a policy that makes sense for 12 million people who are
stuck in a purgatorial status quo. It doesn`t do us any good to
do nothing." [Coakley
Says She Would Support Immigration Reform,
by Julia Spitz, MetroWest
Daily News, November 25, 2009]
Brown has
linked himself with President John F. Kennedy by calling for tax
cuts to stimulate the economy. A more important Kennedy
comparison for Brown: that he is not and never will be the
Senator that he`s seeking to replace—the legislator whose votes
increased levels of legal and illegal immigration while
destroying the America that we all grew up in and love.
With
Massachusetts unemployment at
nearly 9 percent,
Brown has nothing to lose by pointing out that Kennedy`s
pro-immigration votes
put
hundreds of thousands of Americans out of their middle class
jobs as their occupations vanished either because of illegal
alien labor, foreign workers flooding American markets or job
outsourcing.
Kennedy
voted for increases
in every Congressional bill that would create or increase more
non-immigrant H-1B visas.
In addition
to immigration, Brown`s biggest selling point, even in
predominantly Democratic Massachusetts, is the Senate math: 58
Democrats, 40 Republicans and two Independents. Since the
Independents, Bernie Saunders and Joe Lieberman, caucus with the
Democrats, the tally is effectively 60-40.
Brown`s
election would make it 57-41-2 or adjusting for the
Independents, 59-41
A Rasmussen poll
conducted last week firm placed Coakley ahead of Brown by 50
percent to 41 percent—not bad for Brown in the state Obama
carried by 26 points.
More interesting
is that 21 percent of those likely to vote in the special
election have a very favorable opinion of Coakley while 22
percent have a very unfavorable view.
Brown`s
numbers are strikingly better: 25 percent very favorable and 5
percent very unfavorable.
A certain
momentum is building in Brown`s favor. Curt Schilling, Boston
Red Sox
pitching hero,
recently endorsed him as did former Massachusetts governor
Mitt Romney
and
John McCain.
[Curt
Schilling Endorses Brown in Mass. Senate Race,
by Andy Barr, Politico.com, January 4, 2010]
This has
drawn predictable scorn from the Coakley camp, who dismiss
Schilling
as a superficial jock and Romney and McCain has political hacks.
But as far
as athletes and politics go, it`s worth noting that Kentucky
U.S. Senator Jim Bunning (Immigration
Grade A-) didn`t
suffer from his Hall of Fame career. And former New Jersey
Senator Bill Bradley almost rode his basketball prowess
to the White House.
Bay State
residents do love their
Red Sox,
so Coakley should be concerned about Brown`s publicity—and even
more worried about Barack Obama`s conspicuous absence from her
campaign.
Although
Massachusetts has elected wild-eyed liberals like Kennedy (Teddy
and
Patrick),
John Kerry, Barney
Frank, to Congress,
since 1990
it has also elected Republican Governors William Weld and Paul
Cellucci as well as Mitt Romney.
Brown`s
gender may work in favor of Brown, too.
Only four women
have held statewide offices in Massachusetts, none of them
governor or senator.
A cold
post-New Jersey and Virginia wind continues to blow over the
Democrats. This week, Connecticut and North Dakota Senators
Christopher Dodd, Byron Dorgan and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter
announced their retirements.
Actually,
that`s not quite right: they`re leaving voluntarily before being
voted out, possibly in primary challenges. [Abrupt Democratic Retirements Show
Tough Landscape,
by Liz Sidoti, Associated Press, January 6, 2009]
The Senate
doesn`t reconvene
until January 19th, the day of the special election. And then
its only official business will be a pro forma session.
If Brown can pull off a long shot win, he`ll give Republicans
the one crucial vote they need to kill the Democrats` agenda
that includes Obamacare—and possibly despite
the mid-year election threats
it poses, "comprehensive immigration reform".
Joe Guzzardi [email him] is a California native who recently fled the state because of over-immigration, over-population and a rapidly deteriorating quality of life. He has moved to Pittsburgh, PA where the air is clean and the growth rate stable. A long-time instructor in English at the Lodi Adult School, Guzzardi has been writing a weekly column since 1988. It currently appears in the Lodi News-Sentinel.