Soccer Dad

Emulating kennedy?

Legal Insurrection has been following the efforts of Republican Scott Brown to get elected to the seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts. His latest post (via memeorandum) observes:

Despite, or maybe because of, Martha Coakley's high profile as Massachusetts Attorney General, there doesn't seem to be any grassroots enthusiasm for her campaign. Coakley has a sense of entitlement, but Brown is experiencing a groundswell of support.

Coakley's Twitter account (@MarthaCoakley) has 1915 followers compared to 2322 for @ScottBrownMA.

Brown's Facebook page has 8689 fans versus 6255 at Coakley's Facebook page. The BrownBrigade online network has 2517 members; I could find nothing similar for Coakley.

But he wonders:

Clearly, despite lower name recognition, less money, and without the powerful union and entrenched political interests behind him, Scott Brown is gaining momentum the new-fashioned way. Will there be enough time to translate this momentum into votes?

Coakley supporter, Martin Peretz wonders if he's seeing a sign of desperation from the Democrats:

Brown has already put himself out there as a tax cutter without really saying what spending cuts he would favor. This makes for a nonsense ledger. As it happens, I favor the Obama economic agenda, even something with a more egalitarian thrust. But I don't think Massachusetts does. The voters are scared.

Brown compares himself to John Kennedy in a just-released television spot. Well, the Dems have gone hysterical. This is a sign of their (incipient) panic. Maybe their panic is apt.

I'm not sure how much to read into Democratic objections to a Republican who cites John Kennedy's record as a tax cutter. They've complained about similar ads before. Charles Krauthammer wrote nearly 9 years ago.

Moreover, the ads showed Mr. Kennedy defending the principle of cutting even the highest marginal rates. The "current tax system," he says in the speech, "exerts too heavy a drag on growth" and "reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment and risk taking." Investment and risk taking are precisely the activities of the wealthy. Indeed, in one clip Mr. Kennedy says the poorer Americans will spend the tax refund, while the richer ones will invest it.

That is the heart of the tax argument today: lower tax rates for the wealthy. Citing Mr. Kennedy on that question is a perfectly legitimate recourse to history.

More from Jules Crittenden.