Brown, baby, Brown

Published Feb. 25, 2010 at 5:23 p.m.
The Senator masters the art of playing it safe. Plus, Deval vs. the Legislature...
Senator Scott Brown is getting a lot of praise from the left and abuse from the right for crossing party lines to help pass a jobs bill earlier this week.

Senator Scott Brown is getting a lot of praise from the left and abuse from the right for crossing party lines to help pass a jobs bill earlier this week. The conservatives' acrimony is as predictable as it is irrational, and Brown deserves to suffer their wrath. He climbed into bed with these nut jobs and gladly took their money — now he's stuck with them.

As for the grateful Democrats: they shouldn't get suckered into making too much of Brown's bold "independent" vote.

Yes, Brown deserves credit for doing the right thing on this relatively meager legislation. But his vote looks like a savvy piece of political calculation, both by Brown and his new overlord, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

To put it simply, it is in Brown's interest to vote with Democrats whenever his vote doesn't matter.

That will give him the appearance of independence from national Republicans, who are as popular in these parts as toxic red tide. Those votes will help offset the times when Brown really will be needed to fulfill what his conservative donors thought they were paying for: the 41st vote to deny cloture and prevent Democratic bills from coming to a vote.

The jobs bill was a perfect opportunity for Brown to be "independent." In all, five Republican senators voted for the bill. McConnell couldn't stop it from passing — and probably didn't want to. As much as the GOP's election strategy depends on frustrating Democrats' legislative attempts at every turn, they would prefer not to be blamed for killing a jobs bill.

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