The Foundation

“What a glorious morning this is!” –Samuel Adams

Editorial Exegesis

“It was – for the second time in Massachusetts history – the shot heard round the world, or at the very least from coast to coast and surely in the halls of Congress. Scott Brown won this one fair and square with his down-to-earth charm, his hard work and his forthright position on issues – and with the help of that much-disparaged by the opposition pick-up truck. But it is also true that Brown was the right candidate at the right time with the right message. And it’s that message that the White House and congressional Democrats can no longer ignore. After all, if the people of Massachusetts can send a Republican to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat Ted Kennedy had a lock on for 47 years, then the revolution has indeed begun. And like that battle in Concord more than two centuries ago, this is only the opening round. Her fellow Democrats will attempt to blame the loss entirely on Martha Coakley, her inability to connect with voters, her verbal blunders and on assuming her primary victory was all she needed. Much of that is true, but it is also true that Coakley promised to be simply more of the same. And voters here are tired of more of the same. They don’t see the point of an expensive new health care bill that threatens to damage the health care industry here, disrupt service to Medicare recipients and tax us all – especially when we already insure 97.4 percent of our people. They don’t see the point of paying higher and higher energy costs, when the world’s pollution is not our fault. They don’t see the point of growing the deficit so that our children and grandchildren will be paying for today’s policy mistakes – including a $787 stimulus bill that didn’t. Most of all they are simply tired of the kind of Washington arrogance that says ‘don’t worry, we know what’s best for you.’ Voters of Massachusetts wanted to take back the power that has been so sorely abused. Yesterday they did.” –Boston Herald

Upright

“It really is the people’s seat, and yesterday the people took it back.” –columnist Jeff Jacoby

“Voters in the often wayward Cradle of Liberty looked danger in the eye, stood up, and said, ‘Enough.’ Tuesday’s takeaway is this: if Obama & Co. can’t sell their agenda there, it’s an epic fail everywhere.” –columnist Tom Blumer

“[Scott Brown’s] message of lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal responsibility clearly resonated with independent-minded voters in Massachusetts who were looking for a solution to decades of failed Democrat leadership.” –RNC Chairman Michael Steele

“Democrats are settling on a new strategy to blame the defeat not only on Coakley’s inept campaign but also on her personality and strained relations with both the Kennedy family and President Obama.” –columnist Byron York

“[Nancy] Pelosi met with House Democrats yesterday to tell them how the negotiations on a compromise health care bill between the House and Senate were going. As she spoke, one Democratic member whispered to another, ‘It’s like talking about your date on Friday, but the date’s in the emergency room.’ ObamaCare went into the emergency room in Massachusetts and didn’t make it out alive.” –columnist Fred Barnes

“[T]the American people are losing confidence in Team Obama because quite simply they are tiring of being lied to, and treated like children in need of Ivy-League Platonic guardians.” –columnist Victor Davis Hanson

“Obama was supposed to be a great persuader. It turns out that’s only half true. He did persuade most of us that he should be president. But in Year One, he has failed to persuade most of us to support his major proposals. He’s even moved us in the other direction.” –political analyst Michael Barone

“Increasing numbers of Americans are saying that they are having trouble recognizing the country in which they were born and grew up. They will have even more trouble recognizing America if the Washington juggernaut does not lose a substantial part of its power in this year’s elections.” –economist Thomas Sowell

The Demo-gogues

The Wise Sayings of Master Barack: “We can’t win them all.” –Barack Obama (Memo to Obama: Please keep campaigning for other Democrats.)

No change here: “Regardless of the size of their minority caucus, Senate Republicans have always had an obligation to join us in governing our nation through these difficult times. [Tuesday’s] election doesn’t change that. In fact it is now more important than before for Republicans to work with us rather than against us if we are to find common ground that improves Americans’ lives.” –Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), himself in election trouble, on how Republicans should now shut up and help pass health care “reform”

What states’ rights? “Massachusetts has health care and so the rest of the country would like to have that too. So we don’t [think] a state that already has health care should determine whether the rest of the country should.” –House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), telling voters what’s good for them

Pot and kettle: “You know how politics is. At times like this, there are always some who are eager to exploit that pain and anger to score a few political points. There are always folks who think that the best way to solve these problems are to demonize others. And, unfortunately, we’re seeing some of that politics in Massachusetts today.” –Barack Obama, who specializes in demonizing George W. Bush at every opportunity

Speaking of blaming Bush: “One thing the Democrats have done wrong? We haven’t kept the focus on this disaster on the Republicans who brought it upon us. We’ve tried too hard to do that right thing, and that’s to fix it, as opposed to spend more of our time and energy pointing the finger at who got us [here] in the first place.” –Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), campaigning for who he kept calling “Marcia” Coakley and doing just what Obama said we shouldn’t do

Tough luck: “Health care was the cause of my friend Ted Kennedy’s life. So it sickens me that the Republican running to take Ted’s place is vowing to be the 41st vote to kill health care reform.” –Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

From the crystal ball: “Let’s remove all doubt: We will [take over] health care one way or another.” –Nancy Pelosi

World’s smallest violin: “You know, folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm. I have a confession to make. There are times when I’m not so calm. … There are times when progress seems too slow. There are times when the words that are spoken about me hurt. There are times when the barbs sting. There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught. Change is so painfully slow in coming. And I have to confront my own doubts.” –Barack Obama

Ditto: “We’re all pretty unpopular. Why? Because people don’t feel good, and we’re the leaders and we’re in office, and they expect us to do something about it.” –House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Dezinformatsia

Unhinged: “It’s that rare election where voters know exactly what they’re voting on. If they’re with Democrat Martha Coakley they get health care reform. If they go for Republican Scott Brown it’s deliberate, premeditated murder for health care!” –MSNBC’s Chris Matthews

Despicable: “I wanted to apologize for calling Senator-elect Scott Brown an ‘irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, tea bagging, supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees.’ I’m sorry, I left out the word ‘sexist.’” –MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann

Predictions: “[I]‘s just going to get a lot uglier in Washington.” –CBS News political analyst John Dickerson

Blame game: “[W]hile Coakley is a solid Democrat, she had never really worked directly with Kennedy on anything, according to a former Kennedy aide, so she didn’t have the appellation of 'a Kennedy person,’ which would have opened the door to a lot more resources earlier in the race.” –Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift with a strange explanation on Tuesday’s election

Cheat to win: “I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I’d try to vote 10 times. I don’t know if they’d let me or not, but I’d try to. Yeah, that’s right, I’d cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. ‘Cause that’s exactly what they are.” –MSNBC’s radio talk-show host Ed Schultz

Time to worry: “You have top Democrats like Barney Frank of Massachusetts who said flatly if Martha Coakley, the Democrat, loses, health care is dead. So what kind of planning is the White House doing right now for backup? What’s their Plan B?” –ABC’s George Stephanopoulos

Nothing tragic about that: “[It would be] a tragedy of Greek proportions if Ted Kennedy’s successor … is the one who was responsible for the death of health care.” –PBS’s Judy Woodruff

Blame Bush more: “The stimulus was too small; policy toward the banks wasn’t tough enough; and Mr. Obama didn’t do what Ronald Reagan, who also faced a poor economy early in his administration, did – namely, shelter himself from criticism with a narrative that placed the blame on previous administrations.” –New York Times columnist Paul Krugman

Newspulper Headlines:

We Blame George W. Bush: “Blame Beacon Hill” –Joan Vennochi column, Boston Globe ++ “Blame Obama” –Jeff Jacoby column, Boston Globe

And You Thought We Were Kidding!: “After Obama Rally, Dems Pin Blame on Bush” –Hotline on Call, NationalJournal.com

Is That the Left Arm or the Far Left Arm?: “President Obama’s Political Arm Under Fire” –Politico.com

'Maybe a Little Blow When You Could Afford It’: “White House Offers Drug Deal” –NationalJournal.com

We Blame Global Warming: “UK Universities Warn That They Face ‘Meltdown’” –Associated Press

Questions Nobody Is Asking: “The Big Question: Will a New Bank Fee Help?” –Hill Web site

News of the Tautological: “Democrats Trying to Mollify Unions” –Roll Call

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Body Art and Deviant Behavior: Study Finds Link Between Multiple Tattoos, Piercings and Trouble” –Chicago Tribune

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Sometimes Hollywood gets it right: “This isn’t the Democratic party of our fathers and grandfathers. This is the party of Woodstock hippies. I was at Woodstock – I built the stage. And when everything fell apart, and people were fighting for peanut-butter sandwiches, it was the National Guard who came in and saved the same people who were protesting them. So when Hillary Clinton a few years ago wanted to build a Woodstock memorial, I said it should be a statue of a National Guardsman feeding a crying hippie.” –actor John Ratzenberger

Most of the time, though, they don’t: “I went to the White House and was star-struck by our president and first lady. … I think it is thrilling to have someone who is thoughtful and can articulate with a certain amount of passion and dispassion, the necessary choices that we have in the world.” –actress Meryl Streep, admiring the actor in the White House

From the global village: “What is happening in Haiti seriously concerns me as U.S. troops have already taken control of the airport.” –Nicaragua’s Commie-Red “President” Daniel Ortega

“I read that 3,000 soldiers are arriving, Marines armed as if they were going to war. There is not a shortage of guns there, my God. Doctors, medicine, fuel, field hospitals, that’s what the United States should send. They are occupying Haiti undercover.” –Venezuela’s Commie-Red strongman Hugo Chavez

“This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti.” –French International Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet (Of course, the moment the French see foreign troops, they have to assume it’s an occupation.)

Short Cuts

“Televangelist Pat Robertson said the earthquake in Haiti happened because they were cursed. He says when they were a French colony, they made a pact with the devil to get rid of the French. Pat, please! You don’t need a pact with the devil to beat the French.” –comedian Jay Leno

“I’ve been out of the country for a couple of days, so let me see if I’ve got this right: America’s preparing to celebrate the first anniversary of Good King Barack the Hopeychanger’s reign by electing a Republican? In Massachusetts? In what the tin-eared plonkers of the Democrat machine still insist on calling ‘Ted Kennedy’s seat’?” –columnist Mark Steyn

“The Cambridge Chronicle reports that the union representing policemen in the college town near Boston has endorsed Scott Brown for Senate. This is especially amusing because Martha Coakley has intimate ties to the Cambridge police: ‘Ms. Coakley along with some of her campaign workers have talked publicly about how her husband is a retired Cambridge Police Officer, giving appearances that she is being endorsed by the Cambridge Police,’ the endorsement reads in part. President Obama did not say whether he thinks the Cambridge police acted stupidly.” –Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto

“Democrats regularly say things that would end the career of any conservative who said them. And still, blacks give 90 percent of their votes to the Democrats. Reid apologized to President Obama, and Obama accepted the apology using his ‘white voice.’ So now all is forgiven. Clinton also called Obama to apologize, but ended up asking him to bring everybody some coffee. Now the only people waiting for an apology are the American people who want an apology from Nevada for giving us Harry Reid.” –columnist Ann Coulter