Matthews gets tingle up his leg over Brown win
posted at 1:36 pm on January 18, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
Its a mighty subdued Chris Matthews who acknowledges that the “bellwethers” in polling for the Massachusetts special election are going one direction — Scott Brown’s. Matthews also admits that the vote is a protest against ObamaCare, although with Obama himself campaigning for Martha Coakley and failing to move the needle, it’s hard to swallow Matthews’ contention that this isn’t a vote against Obama as well. Who’s the one pushing the policy against which Massachusetts is revolting?
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For those tempted to see this as a conspiratorial attempt to make Brown backers overconfident, think again. Brown’s voters can’t wait for the chance to cast a historic vote ending the Democratic monopoly on their state’s Senate seats. If anything, this kills momentum for Coakley’s GOTV efforts — which already looks rather bad, as Watchdog.org and Yid with Lid report:
Meanwhile, across the street at the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the holiday and a bitter winter storm have kept the crowds away from a phone bank for Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. As of 10:20 this morning, not a single volunteer had yet arrived for the 10am phone bank. MTA Webmaster Meg Secatore tells Watchdog.org that the severe snow and ice that have covered Massachusetts highways are keeping people from the phones.
Matthews’ last question about Coakley is the one Democrats will be asking themselves for the next several months: How do bad candidates get this far?
Blowback
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What part of winning elections and defeating these dangerous ideas don’t you get? These ideas are destroying the country. I want to stop them.
If you want do the same thing they do, go ahead.
The question isn’t whether we should do the same thing they did. The question is how do we defeat them?
When the left did 1000 times more worse things to Bush than we have done, did it work?
No. Bush won two elections.
If you want to “get back at Obama”, go for it.
I want to defeat Obama AND his leftwing agenda.
SteveMG on January 18, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Exactly! And if the weather is so bad, there will be more people staying at home to accept those calls.
I don’t think that the Brown campaign is experiencing the same lack of fire.
BTW What is this ObamaNation that Matthews is shilling for? How much of Matthews’s work on behalf of ObaMao a campaign contribution?
onlineanalyst on January 18, 2010 at 2:38 PM
The tingle up the leg is now a trickle down the leg.
RobCon on January 18, 2010 at 2:42 PM
This hearkens back to Dan Rather in 1994. I’ll never forget the clear dismay on his mug as he had to report loss after loss of Dem Congressional seats. He was almost terrified, it seemed at the time, to report Teddy was in a tight race.
Fun, fun, fun, on the Autobahn!
Liam on January 18, 2010 at 2:42 PM
Here’s a link to a thread about this containing posts from people claiming to work at Brown phone banks, saying there are waiting lines to get to use the phones.
http://www.redmassgroup.com/diary/6778/marthas-noshow-phone-bank
dogsoldier on January 18, 2010 at 2:42 PM
I have yet to see the MSM Headline asking the question.
“Is the end of the Kenedy Legacy?”
AnthonyK on January 18, 2010 at 2:43 PM
Matthews gets tingle up his leg over Brown win
Wtf, maybe Chrissy boy is a gay misogynist.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
TheSitRep on January 18, 2010 at 2:49 PM
Tip O’Neal would tell him to pull up his pants and straighten up. Enough is enough already.
bluegrass on January 18, 2010 at 2:49 PM
I have yet to see the MSM Headline asking the question.
“Is the the end of the Kenedy Legacy?”
AnthonyK on January 18, 2010 at 2:49 PM
I read in one article that this makes perfect sense for a state that already sees itself as having a 98% or so coverage for the citizens. Having a national universal health care would thus affect that state not at all. It would however increase the costs with no apparent benefit. So it’s not so much a rejection of universal health care as a principle but the recognition that it wouldn’t benefit the state.
Ash on January 18, 2010 at 2:50 PM
Meaning the Dems missed a golden opportunity to call snowbound residents who would have otherwise been at work.
You can’t blame a liberal for not trying, though. After all, liberals are used to having stuff handed to them.
hawksruleva on January 18, 2010 at 2:53 PM
In Fairness to The Machine they never expected an actual campaign to take place. Didn’t matter the quality of the candidate, he/she was guaranteed to win Teddy’s seat 80-20 against the TeaBagger right?
angryed on January 18, 2010 at 2:54 PM
And Brown seems like the sort of guy who would drive out and pick people up, in his much-maligned GMC truck.
hawksruleva on January 18, 2010 at 2:55 PM
But if Coakely gets 50.001% the MSM headlines will be
KENNEDY DREAM LIVES ON
angryed on January 18, 2010 at 2:56 PM
And she won her Atty General races handily, despite her record. If I was a Democrat, or an incumbent in general, this race would instill in me a desperate fear that voters may be starting to educate themselves before casting their votes.
hawksruleva on January 18, 2010 at 2:57 PM
You sell him short, Ed. If anyone ought to know about swallowing, it’s Sissie Matthews.
drjohn on January 18, 2010 at 2:59 PM
I SWEAR he’s choking back tears here…
Getting an ol’ Trickle Down the Cheek, Chrissy?
Phydeaux on January 18, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Fine. Let other states enact plans of their own if they want.
pedestrian on January 18, 2010 at 3:03 PM
that’s not a tingle running up his leg….
…it’s urine running down his leg!
olesparkie on January 18, 2010 at 3:07 PM
dang….didn’t read the earlier post
great minds think alike
olesparkie on January 18, 2010 at 3:08 PM
This is the big thing to pay attention to. It takes a lot to get rid of an incumbent in MA. Half the hacks in this state run unopposed because everyone knows the voters will just pull the lever for the D.
SittingDeadRed on January 18, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Matthews gets
tingle uptinkle down his leg over Brown winReality Check on January 18, 2010 at 3:16 PM
I liked the very audible sighs and groans in the background from the two in-studio hosts every time Matthews says it looks like Brown. Professional unbiased journalism at its best.
Zoltan on January 18, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Matthews may have just just provided the most impartial and accurate assessment of this election I have seen yet. (I can’t believe I just wrote that!)
He even expressed his astonishment at the Schilling comment, which will undoubtedly go down in history as Coakley’s defining moment.
Mike Barnicle’s unrestrained chuckling throughout says everything. As a highly respected columnist and Mass lifer he definitely knows a lot about Mass voters.
As a lifetime MA resident the past couple of weeks of national attention and prejudgment have been really eye-opening for me and, in many cases, pretty insulting.
I guess you have to be one of us to understand how politics works here. The voting patterns of the Boston Metro area are NOT representative of the rest of the state.
We are proud to be independent thinkers.
As far as the worries about major delays in seating Scott Brown after his is elected, Barney Frank was not lying when he said there isn’t the slightest possibility of it happening. He may have a bad rep on the national stage, but he would never screw over his constituents.
racecar05 on January 18, 2010 at 3:18 PM
Poor Chris looks like he’s going to cry.
Disturb the Universe on January 18, 2010 at 3:20 PM
How do bad candidates get this far?
She won with more than 70% in her last election – how bad can she be? Sorry boys, it’s not just the chick – It’s The Policies Stupid!
humdinger on January 18, 2010 at 3:21 PM
Chris: “Why don’t you want to be a Democrat?”
Hehe, these people are clueless….
jeffn21 on January 18, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Liberals didn’t expect a fight. Their 2008 victory was a mile wide but an inch deep. They don’t realize that now that the big spending Republicans have been thrown out, voters will focus their rage on the Democrats who clearly lied about being fiscal conservatives.
pedestrian on January 18, 2010 at 3:27 PM
Oh, forgot to mention that I also drive a GMC Canyon which my late father drove all over the state in over the years as a construction worker and project manager.
Like Scott Brown, he was also on our local Board of Selectmen. I’m eight minutes down 495 from Wrentham and my dad always thought Scott a great guy.
racecar05 on January 18, 2010 at 3:31 PM
They are “anointed” by their “intellectual elite” party bosses.
Hey Chrissy! How do the ashes taste?
CAN YOU HEAR US YET?
GarandFan on January 18, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Mika looks like someone ran over her dog.
Travis Bickle on January 18, 2010 at 3:42 PM
MA citizens, don’t get complacent and stay home tomorrow because of these polls! Go out and ….VOTE VOTE VOTE!
JeffVader on January 18, 2010 at 3:46 PM
What article? Where? Sounds like nicely self-serving logic. I could just as easily say that it’s proof that Massachusetts recognizes a bad idea from first-hand experience.
rrpjr on January 18, 2010 at 3:48 PM
That’s the million dollar question. I’ve never been able to figure it out. There are so many examples of bad candidates/crooks and liars turned “leaders” it borders on insane.
scalleywag on January 18, 2010 at 3:56 PM
Voting against the Health Care Bill. SHOCK!!!!
Coakley is a bad Campaigner. It’s not Obama’s fault!!! I think many on this site are clairvoyant.
PappaMac on January 18, 2010 at 4:02 PM
Thats a major league comment right there. Should be a reward somewhere.
obleo on January 18, 2010 at 4:04 PM
97% of MA residents are insured already and paying for it thanks to Romneycare.
Why the hell would we want to pay for the rest of the country, too?
racecar05 on January 18, 2010 at 4:11 PM
Matthews fancies himself to be an “intellectual” and he may be right but he is a prime example of what you get when you allow intellectuals to have any sway in things. Precisely what qualifies them as experts in anything but wrong thinking? What is their real value? Thinking something and knowing it are different conditions. Ground level experiences and hands-on experiences are of much greater value to the average person than some egg-headed horses**t from some wimp like Matthews the great speech writer. Obama, the quasi professor hasn’t learned the lesson and probably isn’t capable of learning it nor are people like Coakley or Kennedy. Brown knows.
LarryG on January 18, 2010 at 4:15 PM
Before everyone gets too excited remember this is Mass. A Brown victory might save the country but I won’t believe it until it happens. Even if it happens, I won’t believe it until the dems don’t succeed in stealing it. Remember what happened in MN when the republican clearly won.
duff65 on January 18, 2010 at 4:38 PM
Matthews should look in the freaking mirror if he wants an answer to that one!
4shoes on January 18, 2010 at 5:48 PM
Looks like Tingles hasn’t been sleeping very well lately.
Huh.
Dr. ZhivBlago on January 18, 2010 at 6:22 PM
Win or lose, Mitt’s getting some credit for Brown’s big MO: http://mittromneycentral.com/2010/01/17/win-or-lose-mitts-getting-some-credit-for-browns-big-mo/
dnlchisholm on January 18, 2010 at 7:41 PM
Well, the liberal ones are padded and protected by the very liberal MSM. Just ask Al Franken. (By the way, my unit had to haul his sorry ass around last week. He’s a freaking jerk)
hawkdriver on January 18, 2010 at 7:54 PM
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