Scott Brown: He's No Tea Partier
EXCLUSIVE: An interview with Scott Brown conducted by FrumForum before his surprising swing in voter support paints a picture of a hardworking candidate; a moderate, New England Republican; and, if elected, a senator that will be sorely disappointing to the tea partiers currently backing him.
An exclusive interview with Scott Brown conducted by FrumForum before his surprising swing in voter support paints a picture of a hardworking candidate; a moderate, New England Republican; and, if he is elected, a senator that will be sorely disappointing to the tea partiers currently backing him.
If he gets elected, look for Brown’s political philosophy to put him on the centrist side of the Republican caucus. He stressed to FrumForum that he has no qualms with working through legislation with Democrats. “I’ve always been an independent voter, and when I have to cross party lines, I do. I don’t usually care what my party says,” he said.
While the Tea Partiers have gleefully lined themselves up behind Scott Brown, it seems as though Brown is not particularly behind the tea partiers. In fact, it has even been recently alleged that Brown denied being familiar with the tea party movement at all.
We know that Brown has heard of the movement, because FrumForum was the first political news outlet to ask him whether he considered himself a tea partier. He replied, “Look, I’ve always tried to model my political beliefs after my (own) political beliefs, and let others say, ‘gee, I’d like to be like Scott Brown’. I’m not beholden to anybody.”
He further distanced himself from the Tea Party movement by suggesting an adherence to New England Republican political tradition: “I’m a Massachusetts Republican... I look at the issues and make a determination based on the facts.” He also told FrumForum: “I’m the closest thing [Bay Staters] will get to a Reagan Democrat.”
Looking back at the Republican disaster in the special election held in New York’s 23rd congressional district, Brown faults those who divided the conservative movement into two camps. “If we start drawing lines in the sand, we’re all going to be losers, collectively,” he remarked. “I think there is room for everybody, there has to be, in this tent that we have.”
If Brown pulls off the stunning upset required to beat Democrat Martha Coakley, the nation will be looking to him to provide the crucial 41st vote against the Democrats’ healthcare reform legislation.
Obamacare, he said, is completely different from the healthcare reform he voted for under Governor Mitt Romney, pointing to the process of consultation as a key distinction. “You can’t compare it. It’s apples and oranges. [Obamacare] is put together entirely by politicians, [and] that scares me. That’s unlike what we did here [under Romney], where we had input ad naseum from the medical community.”
In a sign of how he’s managed to swing momentum his way, Brown continued to construct lawn signs when FrumForum reached him on his cell phone in November, when he was over thirty points back of Martha Coakley. “Just putting up a couple of signs, then heading out to Worchester to speak with an editorial board this afternoon,” he remarked.
A Lt. Colonel in the Judicial Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. armed forces, Scott Brown has been working on his campaign at a furious pace, sleeping just four hours a night and door-knocking deep into Democratic territory.
At this point, it’s looking like his assiduous efforts are paying off. Next Tuesday, Scott Brown might be able to pull off a miracle in Massachusetts – and send a thoughtful, moderate Republican to Washington, D.C.