Joanna, do the moderates in the democratic party speak up? if there are any left of course. Scott Brown has said all along he is pro-choice. I don't know what you liberals expect him to do, he's running in a very liberal state. Seems nothings ever good enough right Joanna. Unless we all vote for the very liberal Warren, you people at the Globe will never be happy. I hear Joan Vennochi has been suspended for plagiarism, good job.

Joanna's column this morning reads more like a wish rather than analysis of who Scott Brown really is. He is a Republican politician who shapes his ideology to the landscape. It is disguised by a folksy public persona that he is banking on to carry him over the finish line. His views on governing, taxes, foreign policy, women's survival needs, jobs, environmental issues are all lockstep with his overlord, Mitch McConnell. How do we know this? His campaign manager is Eric Fernstrom the same as Mitt Romney's. Mr. Fernstrom's nasty approach to campaigning has been demonstrated on several occasions. Use surrogates to falsely bad mouth your opponent and try to make the electorate think you have their best interests in mind. The only problem is we don't get to know what Scott Brown's whole train of logic is. He votes against the Women's Fair Pay Act by saying it will put too much of a burden on "small business" and then names a big donor who told him so. In other words to do the right thing is just too difficult for the employer and by his Blunt Amendment support favors an authority over employees that harks back more than a century ago. He stands with Mr. Scrooge as the model for what a boss should look like, hoping for some ex machina vision that will make things right. His last trick is his missing in action at his own Convention. His excuse is National Guard duty something he could have rearranged by his own words. It shows he must keep the veneer of being for a broader audience when he really has his flag planted in the conservative Republican camp. It has the smackings of a cowardly act.

Her column was about Scott Brown. That is her choice. If you want something similar to this subject for Prof Warren, submit your own. Your nasty accusation puts your credibility in the toilet. However thank you for making it clear what Scott Brown's supporters are like. It should add a few votes for Prof Warren.

An oft repeated theme among the left wing writers club is the lack of moderation in the GOP. But where is the question of moderation from the Democrats? This will be an important point should Mitt Romney be our next president. What Democrats will break free from the iron fisted hold of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, to support the agenda of a Republican president? President Bush was very successful in achieving bipartisan support for every major bill he signed. President Obama has decided to forgo GOP support, and has done nothing to moderate his own views. Mitt Romney played well with Democrats as governor, and will most certainly do so again as president. But the lack of moderation from the Democrats is a big story, which the Globe left wing writers choose to ignore. NEW PARAGRAPH: Scott Brown's moderation is borne of necessity. Just as Mitt Romney's when he was governor. Coming from a liberal bastion like Massachusetts, moderation is a requirement. It is the same for Democrats who come from red states. Moderation is not an ideological stance, it is a requirement for representing one's state, if that state is of a different ideological position.

OETKB ot is funny that you talk about a "nasty accusation" in your reply to might then turn around and use words like "overlord" and "cowardly" in making unsubstantiated and guilt-by-association accusations against Brown. The tone of your post is no better than that which you have attacked and only fuels the toxic partisanship on these pages.

Joanna you make a point that maybe electing Brown is a good idea because it offers at least one moderate voice in the Republican party. Allow me to bring that concept down to the state level. Electing Brown will ensure some diversity in the Massachusetts delegation and give conservatives representation in Washington.

Are you familiar at all with the number of Republican filibusters in the past 2 years? Where are the Republican job bills? There has been no Republican railing against Mr. Boehner and his oversized gavel to move some bills forward to help American citizens. Scott Brown's vote, when it really counts, falls in with the Republican agenda.

Well-written article. This has to be one of the most discouraging election years ever for moderate voters. I fully anticipate I will be standing at the ballot box staring at the form and not having a clue for whom I should vote. Both presidential candidates scare me with their extremes in ideology; both parties have forgotten the middle class (or perhaps completely misunderstand the enormity of the issues the middle class faces), regardless of the rhetoric they spew. I do believe Scott Brown still remembers his family's struggles while growing up, and has a grasp of middle class issues, and I will vote for him in the hope that he will continue to vote his conscience and not the party line should he be elected. But I am worn out by both sides slinging mud and saying "no" without offering alternative solutions or compromises, and I fear greatly for this nation regardless of who is elected President in November.

Scott asks permission first from McConnell before any bipartisan vote is cast.

The problem is that there are very few moderate Republican voters left. Most moderate republicans left the party sickened and disgusted as they left the polling station in 2000 after realizing that people like Bush, Brown, Romney, and Paul had hijacked the party. We are now independents.

The Massachusetts diversity argument really only carries water in the realm of state government. Given what we've seen from a GOP-led house the last two years, a GOP-led Senate is the last thing we need.

So, what are these immoderate views of the Democratic party?

As a moderate Republican, I can remember Democrats like Paul Tsongas who I agreed with on many issues and could vote for. Not today. They don't exist in Mass, and very rare nationwide. They have drifted too far left, and anchored down so no compromise and movement to the center is possible. The Democrats, and Republicans, should begin seeding their ranks with less politically monochrome candidates and bring them up quite literally front and 'center'. Reordering a few blocks of Yeats, "the worst are full of passionate intensity, the centre does not hold, things fall apart".

"Obama has decided to forgo Republican support." What a laugh Richmond.

Reading below I see some of the responses from the scott brown, boy senator crying towel klub....individuals who may not be from Massachusetts because they do not remember that one time we had republican representation from Massachusetts in the Senate. Ed Brooke, Saltonstall....republicans who represented their party but worked for our state and the country's interest. Our so called boy senator is not cut from that mold. He is a needy guy who understands that he somehow got to 3rd base driving around in a dumb truck, Carhart jacket, and kow towing to one of the worst senate majority leaders that I have ever seen up there. An anti-veteran, Vietnam draft dodger....as many of his contemporaries are...whose platform is to make President Obama a "one term president"....and the boy senator follows this man blindly. Why? Because he's playing the game to keep his seat in the Senate. The boy senator has done nothing for this state....much like the stiff from his party who did photo ops (and nothing else) in our states corner office...now running for president. Two dopes from the same small pea pod who want to go back in time to the bush era....tax cuts for the rich, no energy policy other than keep prices high. When is the last time you saw the boy senator doing or voicing concern about our winters back here and high oil prices? Probably never because he is in the pocket, having taking campaign contributions from the koch brothers....notorious rats who lobby to keep gas and oil prices high. PT Barnum has to be chuckling at those who would vote for the boy senator to keep his seat. However, his presence in that seat is not funny to we who would have to endure 6 more years of him following mitch mcconnel and his cabal. We need Elizabeth Warren in that seat because she will work for the middle class to insure that the likes of the current day tea (formerly republican) party do not ignore the middle class of our state and country.

If Scott Brown ever gives the impression that he's his own man, all the extreme right wing funders who are driving his campaign will find other candidates in other states to give to.

Besides lieberman, can u name a moderate dem?

Democrats need to fight. We have to stand up and fight. We need to shout out what we stand for. Reliable and modern public transportation, a clean environment, a living wage, union contracts, gay marriage, the right of women to make their own choices on family planning and abortion, sane tax rates, sane energy policies, sane banking regulations, PUBLIC HEALTH CARE, the list goes on. Vote for Scott Brown? Hell No. Hell no. Not in a million years no! C'mon Massachusetts!

Hi! Wha'sup?

Yeah, if you're an educated, reasonable person, Obama's one. Should a real liberal ever become potus you'll be shaking in your boots.