Easily my favorite line in Scott Brown’s victory speech was this:

“I’m Scott Brown, I'm from Wrentham, I drive a truck, and I am nobody’s senator but yours.”

It would be easy to dismiss this as hollow rhetoric, but if I’m an average voter (and I am), then a simple statement like this holds a lot of meaning.  

"I'm Scott Brown" - Translation:  I won't forget who I am when I go to Washington.

“I’m from Wrentham” – Translation:  I remember and respect my roots and the traditions of my community. 

“I drive a truck” – Translation:  I’d rather be hauling dirt than styling my hair.  I have a rural ethic that respects hard work and values the common man.  If I’m projecting an image, it is this: get out of my way.

“I am nobody’s senator but yours.” – Translation:  Barack Obama and the Democrats in Boston didn’t push me around—neither can the Republicans.  I won’t forget I work for the people. 

Maybe I’m reading too much into this and buying into all the hype. Maybe Brown will turn out to be just another demagogue made crazy by the Washington establishment..  Maybe.  But for now I’d say chalk one up for those who want principled common sense back in Washington.  

- John Prothro

3 thoughts:

1.This was a victory for those opposed to Obama’s agenda, but not necessarily a victory for Republicans. Sure, Scott Brown won in a state with slightly fewer underground mole residents than registered Republicans. However, in his victory speech, Brown did not say the word “Republican.” He said things “independent” instead. So let’s not kid ourselves—this is a great win, but not definitive proof the GOP has its act together.

2. Once again we find out that there is nothing new under the sun. Just because the Democrats had sweeping wins in ’06 and ’08, it does not spell doom for the GOP or the death of conservatism as some have suggested, just as the Democrats’ ’02 and ’04 losses didn’t spell doom for them. In the year since Obama’s supposedly transformational election, we’ve seen some surprising election results. A socially conservative, educated-at-Pat-Robertson’s-university candidate broke the Democrats’ stranglehold on the Virginia governorship in a state Obama carried comfortably. A Republican won the governorship of deeply blue New Jersey despite being outspent by the kajillionaire incumbent. And of course, Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat campaigning against healthcare. There was a notable Democrat victory when the first openly gay mayor was elected to a major U.S. city.  San Francisco? New York? Seattle? Nope, how about Houston, Texas. 

3. Let’s not get too giddy. Republicans still need to be able to coherently lay out was they are for in time for the midterm. Oh, and some serious candidates for 2012 would be nice, too. 

- Kevin Goll