Why Scott Brown Is A Contender: Anger

Anger is what’s driving the rise in the polls of Massachusetts senate hopeful Scott Brown. Anger at Barack Obama and at Democrats. Anger that the seat should somehow stay Democratic out of respect to Ted Kennedy. Anger that Washington spent money it didn’t have to save the economy.  And Brown isn’t going out of his way to identify as a Republican.  It’s enough for voters like Luis Rodriguez that Brown’s opponent, Martha Coakley, supports President Obama.

“We don’t buy what we can’t afford. We don’t spend what we don’t have,” said Rodriguez, echoing the anger expressed by other voters who say Democrats are too eager to bail out bankers and people who bought homes they couldn’t afford. “These people, what they’re doing now, they’re spending money they don’t have so they can get elected again.”

Coakley has run a lower-key campaign; Brown’s been more visible; and he’s avoided the GOP label.

Brown has been careful not to label himself too often a Republican in a state where more than half the voters are unconnected to a party. Capturing those independents will be key to winning the election – and harnessing their frustration appears to be working.

Democrats can’t discount the anger Americans, particularly independents, have about what they perceive as an out-of-control government. And perception is reality.  The left has to do a better job of reminding Americans about the horrible shape Republicans left us in that requires years to fix.  And don’t let them run away from who they are: the very same defenders of the party and the people that messed us up to begin with.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.