Cut Spending?

In all the clamor about our national deficit, I am reminded of the fact that very little spending can be cut without dramatic cultural and economic changes/pain. According to Bruce Bartlett, we can't cut spending.

Game Changer in Massachusetts

The Scott Brown win was pretty surprising given that it occurred in Massachusetts and as the replacement for Ted Kennedy. Brown's opponent ran a pretty bad campaign, so that didn't help. Who knows if Scott can win again in three years, but he's there now. There were two choices Brown made that were PR gold, in my opinion.

First, he defined his campaign by appealing to JFK, suggesting Brown wasn't that different from 1960s Kennedy: "In the first post primary campaign commercial, Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown creatively splices together images of himself with video of JFK calling for tax cuts in 1962."

However, Brown's best messaging came from the debate right before the election: "...a debate moderator asked him if he was prepared to vote to kill the health care reform bill if he won "Teddy Kennedy's seat." Brown responded, "With all due respect, it's not Kennedy's seat. It's not the Democrats' seat. It's the people's seat."

Very wise moves on Brown's part. Coakley underestimated her opponent, that's for sure.