The Warren/Brown debate almost didn't happen last night after Brown seemed to get cold feet at the last minute. Brown had informed debate officials that he might not make it back in time due to Senate voting he had to attend. Harry Reid nipped that in the bud by shutting down all voting for the day. I don't like Harry Reid much but kudos on that play, sir.
So the debate started with Jon Keller who asked the most painfully, obvious questions. It was like Larry King was the moderator. Helpful hint, Keller, next time, ask more pertinent questions. Not one question to Scott Brown about Mitt Romney's 47% comment, no questions to either about what they think they senate should do in cases of foreign policy like the Muslim uprisings or China's new war-like stance with Japan. Nothing about health care, the failed drug war. As a matter of fact, most of the questions were borderline stupid, with the opening volley about "character" all but guaranteeing a slam on Warren's questionable Indian hertitage, which means nothing in the long run. Let me moderate the next debate and you'll see how to ask questions that matter, Jon.
For the most part, I'd call the debate a tie, with a slight edge to Warren. Here's how most of the debate went all night:
Brown: Warren is obviously not Native American, a liberal liar determined to raise your taxes, and, gasp, a PROFESSOR.
Warren: Brown is a bought and paid for Republican who only cares about rich people. He says one thing and votes another.
That was the whole debate. Brown came across as fidgety and kind of a dick with his relentless attacks on her heritage. Later, when they showed the ad for Scott Brown that accuses Warren of overdoing her attack ad against him, it almost seemed like an SNL parody. You can't come across as the kind father type in your ads and then turn into a drunken uncle during the debate. He did now win over any new converts with his angry performance last night.
Warren in turn, needs to do a better job with predictable attacks. Brown was going to mention things like how he is considered to be the 2nd best Republican in the Senate, which is kind of like having the 2nd worst hangover of your life. True it's not as bad as your last one, but it still sucks. Warren needs to think in soundbites that will play the next day and she scored zero on that scale. Christ, Brown couldn't have given her more softball pitches to smack back at him and she mostly whiffed all night.
Warren also failed to address various bullshit points that Brown brought up. When Brown slammed Obama's job's bill as being a failure, he mentioned the US Chamber of Commerce and the NFIB, both of which are nothing more than GOP and corporate organizations that routinely spin data. Moody's and Zagnat's however, both independent and very non-partisan, say the bill would have created between one and two million new jobs. The fact that Warren mentioned neither makes me cringe a little as she should have been aware of both before this debate as the topic was certain to come up.
Warren did best when slamming Brown on his supposed support for women's rights and climate change. Brown supported the Blunt Amendment that would have allowed ANY business to not give any money for all sorts of women's health issues including mammograms and various gynecological procedures on the grounds of "religious freedom." Something tells me a lot of people would have found "God" to drop some coverage for the average individual. When it came to Climate Change, Brown floundered hard. His responses channeled Sarah Palin for cohesion as he said he believed in global warming and his solution was to drill for more oil. WTF? Those two are NOT compatible. Let's look at what he actually said, shall we.
"That being said, one of the biggest things we can do is get an energy policy. Right now we don't have one.... A true all of the above approach, as I have, as opposed to a none-of-the-above strategy which is what Professor Warren has. She's in favor of wind and solar. She's against the Keystone pipeline, which will help create union — all you union guys listening out there — denying union and non-union jobs, making sure we can get more of our energy sources to the world market, so we can lower the cost you're paying at the pump, and when was the last time we opened a nuclear facility, to make sure we can have that clean energy? I could go on and on but, right now, the role is actually a balancing role, to find that balance, John, because you can't just have one, or this or that. She's in favor of putting wind turbines in the middle of our greatest treasure down on Nantucket Sound. I, like Senator Kennedy before me, believes that's not right."
In one sentence he gives a shout out to unions, which the GOP just LOVES in their haste to wipe them from the earth, pisses on renewable energy which we should be investing in more than anything else, and says oil drilling is the way to fix climate change. Anyone believing this is REALLY gullible. Warren should have piled on here, but once again let the matter slide. In the next debate she needs to slam him with absolute facts that Brown won't be able to hide from by snidely reminding people she has the audacity to get a good salary and work at Harvard, that liberal battalion of evil.
Brown counted with an attack on Warren working for Travelers on an asbestos case that wasn't anything like he was making it out to be. Warren was fighting for the little guy, as she always has. This is from the Boston Globe:
It was also notable because Warren, who has gained fame for defending consumers against big business, was in this case working on behalf of a big business. For her contribution, Warren was paid $212,000 over three years by Travelers, the nation’s largest insurer.
Travelers was fighting to gain permanent immunity from asbestos-related lawsuits by establishing a $500 million trust. The trust would have been divided among current and future victims of asbestos poisoning who had claims against the nation’s largest asbestos manufacturer, Johns-Manville, which had been insured by Travelers before it went bankrupt.
Travelers won most of what it wanted from the Supreme Court, and in doing so Warren helped preserve an element of bankruptcy law that ensured that victims of large-scale corporate malfeasance would have a better chance of getting compensated, even when the responsible companies go bankrupt.
Brown made it sound like she was dumping nuclear waste into babies mouths and not that she was protecting people from corporate bullshit. She did not do a good job explaining that during the debate for unknown reasons and may have been one of the more damaging attacks from her opponent.
After the debate, Brown headed for the hills as his spokesperson tied Warren to OWS about a zillion times in four minutes. Warren smartly stayed after to talk with reporters that helped solidify her approachability, while Brown dodged the news media like a guy going to jail. It was not a helpful image for his campaign.
The pundits have mostly given the slight edge to Warren if for no other reason that Brown came across much more assholish than his down home, charmy ads suggest. That is going to be hard to swallow after seeing him take one mean swipe after another on Warren. Both need work for their next debate.
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