Vote, Damn It and for Coakley!

The Dem candidate in the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat deserves and needs your vote next Tuesday, January 19th. This surely will be a very lightly attended election. Your vote is crucial.

Smear the oval for Martha Coakley on Tuesday. Of the three on the ballot, she is the only worthy option.

The other ovals belong to the Libertarian Joe Kennedy and Republican Scott Brown. Despite the confusing and dis-familial name, the Kennedy has no chance and in the amusing fantasy of his victory, he would be so out of sync with the Senate that he'd be a one-person freak show. Brown though has a slim chance and deserves to lose...ideally soundly.

Brown likes to parse the terms finely, but he is no Weld Republican nor even a Romney style. This Wrentham-based state senator is a great example of why his party has foundered so badly here. He is terrifically out of step with the commonwealth. He is:

• pro-guns
• pro-war
• pro-torture
  
• anti-woman's choice
• anti-same sex marriage
• anti-health reform (would vote against it and try to repeal it if it passes)
• pro-tax cuts for the rich (is a trickle-down economics buffoon, despite history and reason)
• xenophobic (proclaiming that leading undocumented immigrants to citizenship only encourages more)

There's much more, but basically, he'd fit much better in Idaho than Massachusetts.

He is pretty, in kind of a Play-Doh figure sort of way. But we're not voting on the next top model. Rather, we are in the midst of key votes on health-care and more. We are looking at a job that normally is the Senator's as long as he or she wants it. This is not a decision to ignore or make on a whim.

Coakley is wholly adequate, if boring. She has lately taken to telling people she's fun and funny. You can be sure if you need to say that, you are neither. Both other candidates tell jokes far better than she does, but we're not electing the junior comedian from Massachusetts.

For all our sakes, get yourself to the polls on Tuesday. There's a great chance there'll be no waiting. It's minimal effort on your part. Plus, it's damned important.

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Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Coakley, special election, U.S. Senate