Did Massachusetts Democrats Embrace The Patriot Act?
It seems difficult at first to argue that yesterday’s Democratic primary for the special election to succeed Senator Edward Kennedy was close. The winner, Martha Coakley, got 47 percent of the vote, and the next nearest candidate Mike Capuano, got just 28 percent.
However, the Not Coakley vote got the majority of votes. There were four candidates competing in the primary, after all. If the contest had been just between Coakley and Capuano, could Capuano have won? It’s possible, though perhaps not likely.
The Coakley victory is disturbing to supporters of the Constitution, because Coakley has repeatedly spoken in defense of the massive government spying against Americans that’s taking place under the Patriot Act, even though the great majority of that spying has nothing to do with protecting us from terrorism.
During a debate last week, Coakley was the only one of the four Democratic candidates who refused to commit to working to repeal the Patriot Act. Most Democratic voters in Massachusetts cast a ballot for one of the candidates who did stand against the Patriot Act, but still, it’s Coakley who won. It’s difficult this morning to say that the Massachusetts Democrats are willing to take a strong stand for our constitutional rights, against the Patriot Act.
[...] If I hear the phrase Massachusetts liberal this morning, I’m going to crack. In yesterday’s Democratic primary for the special election for Edward Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate, Martha Coakley won by a margin of almost 20 percent. [...]
[...] friends, a testimony to the power of public embarrassment. We only wish it would work as well on policy issues like the Patriot Act or credit card reform as it seems to work on matters as superficial as the spelling of [...]