Was the White House Watching American Idol?

Matt Smith, writing at Catholic Advocate, gives the most asute assessment of the Scott Brown victory I have seen. I especially like Smith’s comment on the reaction of White House aides like David Axelrod: 

They must have been watching the American Idol try-outs in Chicago instead of the returns. The vote in Massachusetts was about a strong candidate who listened to the electorate and the rejection of one party pushing the envelope too far with their radical agenda.

By Matt Smith

The shot heard ‘round the world’ has now come from Massachusetts twice. Two weeks ago very few people were talking about the special election in Massachusetts. Conventional wisdom had taken over that the Bay State would remain blue and a Democrat would occupy the Senate seat just like one has since the 1950s. The Washington Post print edition this morning reads “Republican wins Kennedy’s seat”. The headline alone confirms the media and liberal elite of Washington missed the point of last night’s Massachusetts Senate Election.

A key turning point in the campaign for Scott Brown was during the last debate on January 10, when in response to the opening question regarding “Ted Kennedy’s seat,” he responded, “This is not Ted Kennedy’s seat, this seat belongs to the people of the State of Massachusetts.” When you look at the statewide results there is no denying the people of the Commonwealth agreed with Scott Brown that the seat belonged to them.

Even though he was overcome at times by excitement, and broke his momentum by straying into awkward areas of his victory speech when discussing his daughters’ relationship status, and giving a shout out to Doug Flutie, Scott Brown listened effectively on the campaign trail and captured the sentiment of the voters when he said, “They thought you were on board with all of their ambitions. They thought they owned your vote. They thought they couldn’t lose. But tonight, you and you, and you have set them straight.”

Click here to read the rest.

 

Author

  • Deal W. Hudson

    Deal W. Hudson is ​publisher and editor of The Christian Review and the host of “Church and Culture,” a weekly two-hour radio show on the Ave Maria Radio Network.​ He is the former publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine.

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