Obama Suffers Devastating Loss in Massachusetts Senate Upset

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Obama Suffers Devastating Loss in Massachusetts Senate Upset

By: David A. Patten

In one of the most shocking turnabouts in modern political history, GOP underdog Scott Brown single-handedly captured the so-called "Kennedy seat" in Massachusetts, wiped out the Democratic supermajority in Congress, and pushed the president's Obamacare agenda to the very brink of a stunning defeat.

Just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, The Associated Press declared Brown the winner, and Democrat Martha Coakley called him to concede. At the time Brown was declared the winner, returns showed him comfortably ahead by a margin of 52 percent to 47 percent.

Given Obama's personal investment in the race, the results represented a sharp rebuke of the president's healthcare reforms and big-government agenda.

Even before the polls closed, bitter accusations were hurled between Coakley and state Democratic officials over who was to blame for the debacle.

In an exclusive Newsmax interview, Fox News commentator and best-selling author Dick Morris discussed the astounding result: "It certainly is the revisiting of the shot heard 'round the world, which was originally made in Lexington and Concord, Mass. … that absolutely was what happened tonight.

"A shot was fired that will be heard around the world. The most liberal seat in the most liberal state went Republican. And it didn't go for a squishy Olympia Snowe Republican. It went for a real Republican."

Morris added: "It marks the last bill Obama is ever going to pass of any consequence, except for bipartisan stuff. This is the end of the Obama ascendancy, because he has so systematically alienated the 40 Republicans, that now that there are 41, none of them is going to give him the right time of day.

"And this really marks the end of Obama's attempts to reshape the United States," Morris said. "He'll try, but he won't succeed."

Despite polls showing Brown surging powerfully in the campaign's waning days, the Democratic machine's ability to turn out the vote and bad weather in Republican-leaning precincts left the election in doubt.

Throughout the day, reports of heavy turnout left observers perplexed over whether this favored Coakley, given Democrats 3-to-1 registration advantage, or Brown because of a strong protest vote marching to the polls.

As the early returns began to pour in, Brown quickly jumped out to a comfortable lead, an advantage he held consistently as the night progressed.

Speaking before the outcome was announced, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said a Brown win would be "the biggest upset I've ever seen in my lifetime."

As the outcome became apparent, analysts expressed shock. After all, Obama carried the state with 62 percent of the vote in November 2008. The stunning Democratic setback came hard on the heels of embarrassing defeats in the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.

Longtime GOP political strategist Roger Stone called the outcome "a victory beyond conventional wisdom or belief." In an exclusive Newsmax interview, he compared the result's impact with the post-Watergate shift to the Democrats in 1974, and the shift to the Republican sea change in 1994.

"Obama's victory in 2008 was clearly not a repudiation of conservatism or an endorsement of big government," Stone declared. Rather it was a referendum of George W. Bush. Sadly, Obama misread this.

"To elect a Republican to Ted Kennedy's seat, in the bluest of blues states, shows us how disgusted swing voters are with the administration. Obama put his full prestige on the line by visiting Sunday, and now he tells us if Brown gets less than 60 percent, it's a loss. Does the president really think Americans are that stupid?"

Yet Stone predicts that Tuesday's shocking result is just a harbinger of worse news to come for the administration.

"This is just the beginning of the tsunamis that will sweep 2010," Stone told Newsmax. "But they will not reach full strength until 2012."

Morris agreed, saying that the GOP has been suffering a candidate shortage, with vulnerable Democrats outnumbering the number of strong Republican candidates available to challenge them. Brown's remarkable victory will change all that, he said.

Morris provided Newsmax with an in-depth analysis of why Brown's victory will be the launching pad for a Republican landslide in the midterm elections.

"You're going to have Republicans all over the country jumping into political races for 2010," he said. "Right now we have a lot of Senate seats that we might be able to pick up, but the Republicans don't have viable candidates.

"I can think of five of them: Gillibrand in New York, Bayh in Indiana, Murray in Washington, Wyden in Oregon, Feingold in Wisconsin. All five of those folks could be defeated, but there aren't strong Republicans running. And there are dozens of House seats where that can be said. This incredible result is going to trigger a lot of new entrants into the field."

Morris predicted that more Democratic candidates will retire in the months ahead, rather than face the wrath of voters that was so glaring in Massachusetts.

"Already the Republicans have picked up in effect six seats from party switches or retirements," he told Newsmax. "So the Democratic margin [in the House] is really down to 34. So I think this is crucial in terms of the 2010 midterm result.

A former top adviser to President Bill Clinton, Morris was asked what the mood in the White House is now.

"Oh I think they're in shock," he said. But he doesn't think Obama will back down on his agenda.

"I don't think he's going to say he's going back to the drawing board," Morris said. "I'll think they'll say something stupid, which is to say: 'The only reason we've lost is our base wasn't enthusiastic, and we have to move even further to the left to energize our base to win this election.' You're talking about a committed ideologue here, and he's not going to move until he's absolutely forced to."

But he reiterated his view that Obama will never pass another significant piece of legislation.

Attention turned immediately to how the outcome would affect the president's healthcare reforms, which polls show are increasingly unpopular. Morris told Newsmax that the obvious play for Democrats is simply to strong-arm the House to pass the Senate bill unchanged, so it doesn't have to come up for another vote.

"People are thinking about it in terms of healthcare and I don't really see it. I think what they'll do is pass the Senate [healthcare] bill in the House, and be done with it, which will involve some of the radical liberals in the house sacrificing their agenda, but I think, they'll do it," he said.

"I think one of the things we have to remember is, one of the reasons Massachusetts voted the way they did, is that they have experienced the same sort of health legislation that Obama is pushing.

"Mitt Romney passed a bill when he was governor that is very similar to the Obama legislation, and Massachusetts is suffering under it. The average waiting time to see a doctor in Boston is now 63 days. In Miami it's six days, for example. So people are beginning to see the impact of these health changes, and that's redoubling their opposition to it."

http://newsmax.com/Headline/scottbrown-d...omo_code=95C1-1

[Woody]

Thank you for this post Richard.

What a Christmas present.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICA