Associated Press
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has had better weeks. With the polls increasingly showing him trailing Elizabeth Warren (D), the Republican created some new trouble for himself when he falsely accused victims of asbestos-related illnesses of being paid actors.
But this piece, published by the conservative Boston Herald, is arguably the most damaging of all.
A group with the startling moniker "Obama Supporters for Brown" showed up in Dudley Square yesterday -- and were hit with an apparent racist slur from a group of Warren backers -- while organizers acknowledged they were paying modest "per diems" to homeless people and others to wear the T-shirts in an area where civic leaders have come out strong for Elizabeth Warren.
It stands to reason that Brown would want to tell voters that some President Obama supporters back him, too. After all, he's in Massachusetts, where the president is quite popular, and Mitt Romney is not. It also stands to reason that Brown would like people to believe his supporters are racially and ethnically diverse.
But the Republican senator's campaign is supposed to earn support based on merit. Instead, homeless people are, according to the article, receiving a per diem, "meant to cover transportation, child care and other costs, [that] 'works out to' roughly $8 an hour."
In fairness, I should note that some of the so-called "Obama Supporters for Brown" activists are not homeless, but all of them are receiving compensation in exchange for "volunteering."
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As usual, Steve, your pathetic liberal bias is evident.
Scott Brown, by this very action, shows us that he is a Job Creator!
(Before replying, check the batteries in your SnarkOmeter.)
the irony here is that that statement is "Technically" true
I think that is one of the requirements for good satire and no one sets up the GOP for it better than themselves
It's not a job if they're not filing W4s. It's just vote buying. Isn't your conservative bias showing? BTW, demand creates jobs. You can't fake demand by handing out t-shirts to people who can't afford to buy those shirts.
I wouldn't say paying someone $8 an hour for seasonal, part time work is a job creator. I would say he's using people in a compromising position to deceive the public.
@1.2
You must be new here?
Edit: Duplicate post.
He's even created a new job classification: paid volunteer professionals, which could offer year round employment with a little imagination. And possibly room for promotion.
PolitiFact: Half-True.
Do you actually think a homeless person is going to vote? Hahahaha!
day; u must be brain dead use the homeless way to go idiot
This is why the GOTP doesn't want you to believe the jobs numbers; they're pretty sure that all those new jobs are their 'paid volunteers'.
PS to James Vick: per both classical and supplyside economics free Tee shirts satisfy a demand that already exists. I would pay two cents for a good polish rag, that the market clearing price is free is just a bonus to me. Think of all the quality jobs in China, making those shirts for politics to ruin !
job creator? nice, let's get those unemployment numbers lower. I just hope his friends in Congress are creating some "Real Jobs" to help us all out. Next jobs report in 2 weeks. It will look better than last month's. Oh yeah, too bad he does not support The President Or Mitt Romney. Why would people re-hire him?
There will be political shannigans at the polling places, it will need to be caught on camera.
I doubt that Roxbury voters will buy into this cheap trick.
"...but all of them are receiving compensation in exchange for "volunteering.""
I'm not entirely sure but I think the cutoff point for this to still be considered actual "Volunteering" is Donuts and maybe coffee if your lucky
$8.00 an hour in Massachusetts IS donuts and maybe coffee if you're lucky.
Funny. you did make me chuckle. But paying people to support ya is, well, sad.
It is, but my kids'll still get their allowance anyway.
tkx, I did not quite undesrtand the "new work clasification" paid-volunteer? what I undesrtand is: I work=Iget paid, I volunteer I get coffe, dougnuts, drinking water etc.
Rachael, Thank heavens you still have the old format. Many of Ed's viewers are coming here because we don't like the new format!
As the election race moves forward, I am getting more sick and tired of the Republican Party. I grew up in Nebraska (a haven for Republicans) and moved to Maryland where I learned there is another world out there. Some of it I don't like while some of it I enjoy. Things like this Scott Brown issue really make me want to be more active and discuss issues with my Republican family. I won't do that but I will talk to my neighbor at the desk next to mine and convince her that she should vote Democrat.
Yes, please do be careful, Old Md Dem. The election will be over November 6th, but political disharmony in a family can last forever...
This is another in a very very disturbing trend of paying for (in this case) or threatening (in the case of employers -> employees) to get votes. One has to wonder if the money-as-free-speech legacy of CU will ultimately destroy our democracy.
Yes Solomon and if Romney win's, our democracy loose's when he appoint's one or possibly two ultra consertive's to the Supreme court.The citizen's united decision is peanut's compared to the ruling's that would come.
That is exactly why Justice Ginsburg's decision not to retire during this administration is so frustrating, especially considering her health and age. If Mitt gets elected, she'll be endangering not just a balanced Supreme Court, but many rulings affecting America for years and years.
Oh, this guy Brown is too slick...Dudley Square!? And desperate ... He's just about screaming from the roof-tops that he's not a Republican when everyone knows he voted with his party line every chance he could for the last couple of years.
His wife, Gail Huff is on a new TV ad defending Scott Brown against Elizabeth Warren and Warren supporters. She is setting the record straight she says, her hubby is "all for women, on womens' issues" since he comes from a household full of women....binders full of women...lol.
I wish someone would drag out that old video of Huff and Brown running naked on a beach. Letterman ran it A LOT last time Scott Brown ran for senate.
ps....I know I know my old neighborhood, Dudley Square and the thing Snotty Scotty doesn't get is, they'll smile and shake little Snotty Scotty hand, take his $8.00 an hr. and VOTE FOR ELIZABETH WARREN!
All around now, laughs on Snotty Scotty.
Be real. Probably got Brown at least a few votes. He's not unattractive. Hope it doesn't resurface. (Or maybe I do.) (What a quandry!) :D
whatever rocks your boat... I think Brown is as ugly as sin, both inside and out, skeavy even!
be real?
you shouldn't be allowed to vote!!
Brown is behind by 9 in the latest polling. He's a Romney Jr. He has nothing he can really run on, so he is attempting to run down his opponent. Pretty sick.
"But the Republican senator's campaign is supposed to earn support based on merit."
Really Steve, what was in your morning coffee? The GOTP have shown over and over and over that words like: merit, honor, truth-telling, shame, heroism et.al - have NO place in their quest to hold onto power! These vipers have NO redeeming character, or even traces of humanity! I appreciate that you shake your head at every new low that comes out about these people; but I also question the sheeple that vote for these vipers judgement, mental acuity, reasoning and logic abilities.
This is a subject I could wear my fingers to nubs writing about.
In short, no matter how hairbraind a belief, once the belief is accepted as true it takes mental work to accept and overwrite the already held belief.
So it really has little to do with "mental acuity, reasoning and logic abilities", it has everything to do with being mentally lazy and an unwillingness to do the work.
OTOH, they consume Faux "News" which may have something to do with "mental acuity, reasoning and logic abilities" because Faux gives idiot simple answers to extremely complex issues, but that could circle back to mental lethargy.
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The irony is when Ms. Warren wins the Right Wing can then point to her victory as how Citizens United and their mass of money doesn't buy votes and elections.
What's the factor of Elizabeth being outspent?
The FACT that Brown is unpalatable as Senator in Massachusetts will never enter the Right Wings consciousness.
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Scott Brown should open up a soup kitchen with Ryan. They should both have plenty of free time. Probably would expand their horizons a little bit as well.
Could someone here photoshop sarah pallin's hair onto twitt,, I think it would make a great t-shirt.
Hope they do this in NC. I love donuts and could use the extra money and t-shirts.
(Hoping to make two straight Blue elections in NC!)
Brown accused Ms. Warren of hiring actors to claim they were asbestos workers who supported her. Of course, not only was that untrue, but here we see that he was, in fact, using exactly the same type of dishonesty he accused her of using. This is the Republican mindset. They are dishonest, and they can't imagine that their opponents aren't. We have another example of projection right here. folks.
I guess that's one way to get the story about you accuseing the family's of asbestos victim's of being actors off the front page! What's next, taking his cloths off again??
Good Morning My Girl Rachel, you were on fire last night I had to watch again this morning you were absolutely true on everything you said. The last segment was like a wow moment. Girlfirend the GOP are nothing but puppets as I have said so many times It's like Scott Brown and Mitt Romney have had there pull strings broken in the back and they just can't help the garbage that they spew on a daily basis. I cannot believe in this day and age that anyone could support this man for president. He has NOT got a clue about anything unless his inept handlers feed him his crap. And Ryan, well his pull string hasn't broken just yet but wait I know there's a kid out there somewhere that would love to pull the crap out of that string. Love you girlfriend my husband and I are big monster fans of your show and never miss.
This doesn't really have anything to do with the article, but yesterday Nikki Haley went to a middle school in Georgetown, SC, and made a speech about how bad it is to be a bully. Very ironic, when she is an avid supporter of one of the biggest bullies in politics, Mitt Romney.
I was in Boston last week. bostonians aren't that dumb. They will see the shirts and know these folks are plants. If Romney was so great at governing, how could Obama be kicking his ass in Romney's state?
I am speechless...... He really did this? Wow. I am against this kind of sleazy, cheating behavior no matter which party it is. This is a new low for Scott Brown.
The Repulsive party and it's candidates keep digging their own holes, deeper and deeper....The Democratic Party just has to sit back and watch them. They couldn't imagine doing what they have done to themselves! The CEO's can threaten people on how to Vote, but they can't go into the voting machines to see which lever they pull. If it was me, just the thought of being TOLD HOW TO VOTE would encourage me to VOTE THE OTHER WAY! The simple way to decide how you want to vote is:
Do you want a President who is a leader or a BOSS?
You know which one is which.......doesn't take a genius to figure out what kind Rmalarkey is.
And NOT A NICE BOSS!
You nailed it!
Gail Huff's commercial where she states that Scott Brown is for women is laughable and untrue. If he's so FOR women, why did he vote AGAINST the Lily Ledbetter Act? If he's so FOR women, why did he vote FOR the Blunt amendment? I am a resident of Massachusetts, and Scott Brown does not represent me!
At least he isn't paying them with cigarettes because we know how much republicans disapprove of that.
"In fairness, I should note that some of the so-called "Obama Supporters for Brown" activists are not homeless, but all of them are receiving compensation in exchange for "volunteering."
Betcha "$10,000" that they are all Brown "volunteers"?!
Unpatriotic slime-bag. They are probably Brown's staff acting like hopeless and not paying them other that their usual salary!! He might have smudged their faces like the coal miners in Ohio were required to do for the Romney photo op!!
Nice bit of satire. "job creation" wah wah.
That's the whole point of the Republican agenda. Work for me and be my slave. If you don't vote for me, you don't work for me. Pretty simple. It's very American I find. Cut your hair, I'll hire you so you can go buy McDonalds Burgers, get married in a church and pledge allegiance to the flag. In other words become THEM.