At times, I kind of wish that politics was always this theatrical, even in Canada
By “theatrical,” I am of course referring to the theatrics that the boys at HillBuzz are suggesting that Republican Senate hopeful Scott Brown engage him if, when elected, the Democrat party refuses him his seat in the Senate (which they may just do, given that the seat in question was most recently filled by Ted Kennedy, who apparently — if I understand this correctly — named Martha Coakley as his successor*).
Background:
Democrats in Massachusetts, with Martha Coakley’s blessing, have announced they will refuse to seat Senator Scott Brown should he win the January 19th special election to fill deceased murderer and womanizer Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. ”Elections don’t matter in Massachusetts,” is apparently what Coakley herself believes. ”I’ve already won and it doesn’t matter what voters say. Scott Brown won’t be acknowledged as Senator. This is the Kennedy Seat and now it’s mine”.
This brings to mind what Harry Reid did to Senator Roland Burris a year ago, when he refused to seat him in the Senate as well. That time, it was because the current president didn’t get his way and then-Governor Rod Blagojevich replaced Dr. Utopia in the Senate not with Valerie Jarrett, Utopia’s crony, but with longtime public servant Burris. Reid howled, and Senate Democrats swore not to acknowledge Burris and bar him from the Senate.
And here’s just a taste of what they’re proposing Brown do in case this all comes to pass:
If Harry Reid claims he won’t acknowledge a Senator such as Brown, then Brown needs to rent a U-Haul truck and office furniture and head to the US Capitol. The day after he’s elected, he needs to come to the Capitol with FOX News crews in tow and demand to be allowed into his new office. If Reid refuses, then Brown needs to setup an office for himself on the steps of the United States Capitol. An area rug draped on one of the ornate landings, a wooden desk, book shelves, chairs for him to receive his constituents, potted plants, a copy of the United States Constitution on an easel, a bowl of red, white, and blue M&Ms, etc. Brown needs to then sit at his desk, with nameplate sparkling in the sun reading SENATOR SCOTT BROWN, MASSACHUSETTS on it, taking photographs with all the tourists who come by. We think there’d be lines for hours and hours to see him.
As noted, there are times I wish all politics could be this theatrical. Especially in Canada; this is the sort of thing that, I think, would really help in the Senate reform debate.
* I don’t know American electoral law well enough to know whether a sitting senator CAN name his successor; protocol (as far as I understand it) is that a by-election must be held to fill a seat vacated due to the death of its occupant.
But then, the Kennedy’s always did act like America’s royalty, and the Dems certainly have been trying to treat the Kennedy Senate seat as a dynastic bequeathment rather than a public office. So I suppose this sort of move would be par for the course for them.
