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United States News Title: Scott Brown Under Fire for Going Rogue on Jobs Bill (Feb. 23) -- It didn't take long for the newest member of the Senate to anger some of the people who cheered his election victory just last month. Scott Brown's vote Monday afternoon helped kill the GOP filibuster against Majority Leader Harry Reid's $15 billion job creation bill. Brown wasn't the only Republican to break party ranks on the key procedural vote. Maine moderates Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe also voted to advance the bill. So did George Voinovich of Ohio and Kit Bond of Missouri -- both of whom are retiring. Nebraska's Ben Nelson was the only Democrat who voted against Reid's bill. But it was Brown -- whose upset win in the race to fill the late Ted Kennedy's seat threw health care reform into limbo and gave Republicans the 41st vote needed to break the Democrats' filibuster-proof supermajority -- who got all the attention in the jobs bill showdown. "I came to Washington to be an independent voice, to put politics aside and to do everything in my power to help create jobs for Massachusetts families," Brown explained in a statement. "This Senate jobs bill is not perfect. I wish the tax cuts were deeper and broader, but I am voting for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work. A lot of Brown's online followers weren't buying it. RINO (Republican in Name Only) was one of the mildest epithets hurled at him on his Facebook page. A few samples: Scott Brown is a traitor You voted for it because you are a coward. RINO. Just another politician. So disappointing. You, sir, have made me regret my first political contribution EVER. You let me down like Tiger Woods, Scott. On Twitter, critics summed up their disappointment in 140 characters or less: Nice sell out! You realize this is just a useless pork program. U turned on the people that put u in. We will remember!! Senator Brown: You Weren't Elected for Bipartisanship The reaction from blogger Don Surber was equally brief and bitter: "I feel like a sucker right about now. We've been teabagged. Brown/Biden 2012." Daily Kos found similar comments on FoxNews.com and FreeRepublic, and noted that the Drudge Report "even went so far as to Photoshop Brown to make him look like Satan" for its top story Tuesday morning. (Click for screen shot.) "Tea Party folks, pay attention and get on the phones," Michelle Malkin exhorted her readers. The conservative pundit said, "Those of us who knew all along what we were getting -- a game-changer who vowed to torpedo Demcare, but who was not an ideological conservative -- are not surprised." "How long before the teabaggers are drawing Hitler mustaches on Brown, who they revered not long ago?" wondered True/Slant's Sahil Kapur. "It'll be telling what happens if/when Brown ends up voting with progressives on other issues beyond economic policy (like abortion, gay marriage, etc.)." Kapur predicted that Brown would not win re-election "because there's no conceivable way he'll be able to balance the desires of Massachusetts constituents with the radical elements of today's conservative movement." Brown's decision to side with Democrats drew an "oh my" from Hot Air's Allahpundit, who saw the vote as part of a political calculation. "Obviously he needs to signal the left-leaning indies back home who voted for him that he'll break their way sometimes. Even armed with a huge war chest for 2012, he ain't getting re-elected as a party-line Republican," the blogger said. Because Reid's bill is relatively modest and "essentially symbolic," said The New Republic's Jonathan Chait, Brown and the others who crossed the aisle took this opportunity to "burnish their moderate credentials rather than spend political capital to advance their party's agenda." Still, that explanation doesn't sit well with a lot of bloggers on the right. "It's all about protecting his seat, and I get it. But that doesn't make it right," complained Lonely Conservative. Reid expressed hope that picking up five GOP votes for the bill to give small businesses tax breaks for hiring unemployed Americans signaled "the beginning of a new day" in the Senate. But Newsweek's Katie Connolly thought it was "a little disheartening" that it took so long for a glimmer of bipartisanship to emerge -- and only then over a fairly benign measure. The fact that so many other Republicans opposed the bill or didn't vote at all "just shows how divided the Senate remains," she said on The Gaggle blog. "I have no doubt that in a saner time, a majority of Republicans would have happily voted for this bill. In the new, idiot era of politics, the content has ceased to matter, and all that counts is rooting for your team to block the other team from scoring," Daily Kos blogger "ukit" lamented. Filed under: Nation, Politics, Top Stories, The Point
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#1. To: Badeye (#0)
(laughing)
How was said challenge proposed to the rat?
What? Say again in English.
ALmost a Crown Royal moment, eh? Go check out Badeye's Crown gem - about his wife...
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