The Democrats’ Biggest Mistake

When Bill O’Reilly asked Sally Quinn how much President Obama would be hurt if Scott Brown wins the Senate election in Massachusetts, the Washington Post reporter had a ready answer.

“I don’t think he will be that hurt,” Quinn said on Fox News. “But I think that there are a number of factors here. It’s not as black and white as it seems. First of all, Scott Brown is a hunk. And I think that the fact that he posed semi-nude in a magazine gave him a huge advantage in terms of public recognition.”

In other words, in the view of Quinn, residents of a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to-1 handed Brown a stunning victory not because they like his conservative views or are disgusted with Obama’s policies but because Brown is good looking and has name recognition.

In fact, Brown posed for a Cosmopolitan centerfold almost 30 years ago when he was a 22-year-old college student. While he is a state senator, most people in Massachusetts had never heard of him until he started his campaign for the U.S. Senate in September.

Only one reporter showed up to cover his announcement.
Early on, Brown was 30 percentage points behind Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in the polls.

What Quinn — a former colleague of mine from the Washington Post — does not get, and what the White House and congressional Democrats don’t get, is that Americans are dismayed by the way Obama and the Democrats are spending the country into bankruptcy, trying to impose the government on the healthcare system, and giving terrorists rights and privileges as if they were American citizens. Brown made it clear that his vote in the Senate would vanquish the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority and torpedo the healthcare bill.

Even before votes were counted, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, was telling congressional leaders that Coakley was to blame for her failure to win the seat Ted Kennedy occupied for more than 40 years, as if the election had nothing to do with Obama’s policies.

The White House began putting out the word that even if Brown wins the election, Obama is determined to push through the healthcare bill.

David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, said the lesson of the election is that the White House needs to explain the healthcare bill better so everyone can understand how beneficial it will be.

Yet the more the White House explains it, the more Americans detest it.
On the day of the election, Steve Forbes was speaking at Dezenhall Resources, a Washington crisis management firm, about his book, “How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets are the Best Answer in Today’s Economy.” I asked him about Quinn’s comment and the Democrats’ determination to push through their healthcare bill.

“Scott Brown could look like me and be competitive,” Forbes joked. “People don’t like being taken for granted, in blue states or red states, and they react.”

So, Forbes said, “People are pushing back. People are saying we don’t like what’s going on. You haven’t persuaded us. The more we learn [about the healthcare bill], the more questions we have. And don’t tell us we’re stupid or this, that, or the other thing. Actually, we hire you.”

Indeed, Sally Quinn’s dismissive comment about why Brown was ahead was emblematic of Democrats’ responses to Republican candidates from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush: If Republicans win, it’s because they are physically attractive, or because their opponent made mistakes, or because the voters don’t realize how stupid they really are.

That elitist attitude is the Democrats’ biggest mistake.

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail. Go here now.