The Martha's Vineyard Times

Senator Brown, the Artful Dodger

October 10, 2012

To the Editor:

I am beginning to call Senator Scott Brown the Artful Dodger. I was very frustrated about his second debate with Elizabeth Warren. After the first debate, when he kept avoiding her questions, I was hoping that finally I would hear what his views are. But instead he kept dodging her questions and the moderator's questions, using the event as an opportunity to beat the Indian drum and make up facts about Warren.

The only time his game of dodgeball didn't work was when the moderator asked them both to name their favorite Supreme Court justice. Senator Brown seemed taken aback by the question — apparently his handlers hadn't trained him on this question. He blinked, hesitated, and said, "Uh, that's an interesting question."

When the moderator pressed him, he named the far right Justice Antonin Scalia. He got booed by the audience. So then he said Justice Kennedy, a kind of moderate, and for good measure, he added Justice Sotomayer, a liberal. The Artful Dodger trying to avoid the question.

I think it's time for Senator Brown to talk about his policies and argue with Elizabeth Warren about their different ideas about what should be done about jobs, the middle class, and other subjects. Is he afraid of her? Of us the voters?

Come on, Scott, stand up like a man.

Zee Gamson

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