I have explained elsewhere that if I lived in Massachusetts, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to vote for Coakley. Does that mean I would vote for Brown despite his being a bigot and a shill for the insurance industry? I hope not, but...well, let's just say I'm very grateful I don't vote in the Bay State at this point.
That said, win or lose, I'm already sick and tired of the argument that health care reform depends on this particular seat. If Brown wins (or, more accurately speaking, if Coakley loses), then the Republicans will have picked up one seat, which will be the least senior seat in the upper chamber, and they will be highly unlikely to retain it in 2012, and they'll know it. The Dems will still have 59 seats, and Harry Reid will still be making Mister Rogers look like Malcolm X when it comes to strong leadership, and Obama will still be putting way, way, way too much emphasis on achieving bipartisan consensus with a party that has no real interest in such things. That will be the reason why health care reform fails again if it does, not because the Dems nominated the wrong person to hold the Massachusetts seat, still leaving them with the biggest majority either party has had since 1978.
My opinion hasn't changed a bit, except perhaps that Brown's extremely tasteless comment regarding what he'd like to do to Coakley with a curling iron would probably have guaranteed that I'd have voted for Snoopy if I lived in MA. I don't support him any more than I supported Coakley, and I sincerely hope he loses in 2012, but I'm not at all sorry we won't have to explain away having a senator on our side of the aisle who doesn't seem to have any qualms about destroying innocent people's lives for political gain.
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