By Stefanie Schappert
Special to the Clyde Fitch Report
What is a Lemon? A “vehicle” with a defect that substantially impairs its use, value, or safety. Massachusetts law states that if said “vehicle” has not been repaired after a reasonable number of attempts or within a certain period of time, the consumer is entitled to return it for a full refund.
So, last Tuesday, Jan. 19, the citizens of Massachusetts, a hardcore blue state, exercised their Lemon Law rights to a full refund by voting in Republican Scott Brown as their new U.S. Senator — essentially kicking Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general and supposed Democratic shoo-in, to the curb. It was the independents who had the final say in this nationally-recognized special election to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. In a shining example of democracy at its finest, the people spoke in the most powerful way they could have, voting against an administration that time and time again had proven to be out of touch with the regular folk. Will President Obama (or Speaker of the House Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Reid) get the message and stop trying to jam their far-left ideology down the throats of a country that is primarily center-right? Yes, lefties, only 20 percent of you make up our population. History shows it has always been that way.
Not only had Massachusetts not elected a Republican senator in 46 years, but the liberal lion Kennedy, only a week before his death last August, played politics with a Massachusetts law he himself pushed through five years earlier to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, from naming a fellow Republican to fill a vacant seat in the event that one should occur. Many were appalled, then and now, at the blatant manipulation the Democrats were willing to engage in to gain (then) or retain (now) a Senate majority in Washington.
The Democrats’ audacity was seen in full force at the final debate between Brown and Coakley in Boston. Mediator David Gergen cluelessly asked Brown how he felt about blocking the healthcare bill from “Ted Kennedy’s seat,” and, in a classic comeback, Brown replied, “It’s not Ted Kennedy’s seat, it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it’s the people’s seat.”
Boo-yah!
On a local level, reaction to Kennedy’s impudence was the drop in the bucket that seemed to pave the way for change in Massachusetts. In a state that is three-to-one Democrat, it’s practically a Republican coup that Coakley lost to Brown, 47 to 52 percent. Coakley’s camp was so sure she’d win that, weeks before the election, her campaign essentially went dark, choosing to take off for the holidays. By the time her team realized that Brown was gaining in the polls, it was too late for a politician so disconnected with her constituents. Nor could Coakley, once back on the chase, stop herself from committing one gaffe after another:
In no particular order: Coakley righteously claimed “there are no terrorists in Afghanistan“; one of her campaign ads actually spelled Massachusetts wrong; and, after denying any knowledge of her own security goons roughing up a reporter from the Weekly Standard, photographs of her watching the incident were posted on the Internet. Coakley curtly complained to reporters at the Boston Globe about how it was too cold to stand outside and shake hands with the locals; she used an image of the World Trade Center in a Brown attack ad to signify greed on Wall Street; and then, finally, the ultimate sin — she dismissed former Red Sox pitcher and Brown supporter Curt Shilling as a Yankee Fan on live radio.
It all culminated into one big pot of stew — but for one ingredient missing. That was the Democrats’ white knight, the President, sent to Massachusetts in a last-ditch effort to revive Coakley’s campaign. The problem is that no one read the latest memo: the public is sick of the elitist Obama Administration telling folks what’s good for them while trying to roll out their left-leaning agenda across the country. Obama is still oblivious to what folks really want, and dug himself an even bigger hole by dissing Brown’s latest campaign ad, not to mention all truck-driving Americans:
The President’s arrogance was wrong on so many levels. Anyone who watched this Brown ad could see that the point was to show how Brown connects with people by driving around local neighborhoods in his truck. It’s called good, old-fashioned campaigning, unlike the unwilling, uppity Coakley. Even after Obama admitted he didn’t know Brown or his voting record, notice how he smugly joked about how “anyone can buy a truck.” Not really: We’re in a recession with 10 percent unemployment, last time I checked. I won’t even get into the fact the truck in question is a GM. Obama should be happy someone still loves their GM truck, considering the government now owns most of the company.
Are you still surprised Coakley lost the special election? Any sane person would say no. But not our President. Last week, in an interview with ABC News Senior Political Correspondent George Stephanopoulos, Obama blamed Coakley loss on the public’s anger and frustration. Sounds logical, but the President explained that it’s not anger and frustration at his own unpopular policies — from healthcare to the lack of transparency to the sweetheart deals to the handling of the underwear bomber to the Gitmo terror trials in New York to the nearly trillion-dollar stimulus package to the TARP bailout to the auto bailout to cap and trade. No, it’s not the Democrats, he said. It’s anger and frustration as a legacy of the Bush Administration:
When Stephanopoulos questioned Obama’s logic, pointing out that more than 60 percent of Americans don’t want the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill, the President claimed the people haven’t been listening. This, from the most overexposed President in history — with more than 400 speeches in his first year in office, 52 on healthcare alone. Yeah, that’s it: the public just doesn’t listen. No, Mr. President. They just can’t seem to wrap their heads around your healthcare plan.
In fact, Mr. President, when you head to Nevada next month to help Reid try and hold on to his own slippery seat in the Senate, think about your failed stumping for recent candidates in Virginia, New Jersey and now in Massachusetts. And don’t be surprised when us dumb truck-driving Americans lose their patience and take advantage of our local Lemon laws and consumer rights this November. We’ve been looking to trade in our liberal-minded representatives for a more centrist government, and this is only the beginning. Even if it’s only because we just don’t get it.
Stefanie Schappert is a freelance journalist based in New York. Credits include NY1 News, Fox News Channel, and Vaccinated TV. She has worn many hats inside the newsroom: producing, writing and editing. She also has been out in the field covering stories behind the camera as well as producing and reporting. Schappert’s conservative viewpoint came into sharp focus following the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the resulting political climate. While working on the acclaimed NY1 documentary 9/11: A Day In Time, Schappert quickly embraced her role as the wife of a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier (Green Beret) deployed to the Middle East. This former NFL Cheerleader and classically trained dancer is known to hang out with quite a liberal crowd and has been the buzzkill during many a dinner party. Lipstick Conservative does not necessarily represent the views of The Clyde Fitch Report.
