By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, SEPT. 20, 2012) — Scott Brown vs. Elizabeth Warren: the race is one of the most closely watched in the nation outside of the battle for the presidency. You don’t think President Barack Obama and the Democratic brain trust had Warren delivering a prime time speech at the convention solely on her good looks, do you?

In fact, if this campaign is decided on the basis of telegenics, Brown wins in a landslide. He’s the cover of Esquire and GQ. She’s Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies, as Howie Carr of the Boston Herald had observed. Fortunately, we still have hope voters are not that shallow and can’t be dissuaded from issues by the pancake makeup and The Perfect Hair. We are perfectly willing to be counted among the naive in that.

Nationwide, tea-leafers watch the race for clues to how the Senate will shake out in November. We here in Massachusetts have as our chief interest hegemony vs. nominally “balanced” government. A Warren victory will give us, again, monolithic party representation in Washington — never a good thing. A Brown win sends the “opposition” to D.C. to a counterbalance that shall be for the overall benefit of  Bay Staters.

Lots of Good Issues, but ‘Independence’ Tops them All by Including them All

What are the key issues in this race? Depends on who you ask. The usual suspects — and ones good enough to place at the scene of the crime and convict in court of public opinion — include jobs, taxes, balanced budget, and national security. Lesser issues (though still on the radar) include immigration, women’s rights, and veteran affairs. All good ones, no doubt, but perhaps the most important is Independence. By that, we mean sending a representative who will advocate for people first, party second. Brown has a proven track record in that area. On the other hand, it’s hard to see Warren as anything but beholden to the Democratic Party, or rather, the interests that control the party such as teachers unions and the shadowy Big Money Men. Warren didn’t pull $24 million out of the thin air. As we know, Pretty Polly in this amount does not grow on trees for the plucking.

Going by his voting record, Brown has that rare ability of approaching issues on the basis of clarity that can only come from an open mind. He has shown the way in his ability to embrace an idea from across the aisle and compromise, which is the art of politics. He has demonstrated  a willingness to work with anyone who has a better idea. That’s refreshing and seen far too little on Capitol Hill. Indeed, Brown  has “crossed the aisle” more than any other member of the Senate.

Regulars on THE PLANET know what we think of endorsements. They are the bric-a-brac of campaigns, dust-collecting knick-knacks that may look good on a candidate’s resume but in fact have little weight. Nonetheless, little weight is better than none at all. In this vein, THE PLANET notes the endorsement of Brown by former Lowell mayor Rita Mercier, one of that city’s and region’s most prominent Democrats.

Who is the Most Credible? Who is the Most Credi-Bull?

Can Elizabeth Warren be believed? In asking, the question becomes, “Can she be trusted with representing the interests of all the citizens of Massachusetts without being compromised by the Big Money that has boosted her campaign?” To answer that question, we share a new msicrosite of the Brown campaign. We invite readers to explore the information in this site.

Available at www.TheRealWarren.com, the site is designed to inform Democratic delegates, members of the media, visitors to Charlotte and other interested parties about the less familiar side of the Harvard Professor. It includes comprehensive research about Professor Warren’s record, broken into the following sections:

• The Rant, which looks at Warren’s anti-free enterprise screed that went viral last summer and sparked a national discussion about who is responsible for the success of businesses.
• What She’s Hiding, which examines Warren’s pitiful record on transparency, including her tax returns, her outside legal work, her work on the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) and her university personnel files.
• Hypocrite, which explores her long record of saying one thing while doing another, ranging from lobbyists to tax returns to her work on behalf of corporate interests.
• Travelers Insurance, which features an in-depth look at Warren’s decision to put the financial interests of a Big Insurance company over those of asbestos victims.
• Tax & Spend Addict, which analyzes Warren’s insatiable appetite for more debt and higher taxes to the tune of $3.4 trillion.
• Fake Indian, which breaks down Warren’s false claims and changing stories about her supposed minority status.
• Occupy Founder, which recaps Warren’s now-infamous boast that she created the “intellectual foundation” for the radical Occupy protest movement.

“Elizabeth Warren is not who she says she is,” said Jim Barnett, campaign manager for Scott Brown. ”The Real Warren will be a helpful resource for those looking to cut through the rhetoric, and find the truth about Warren.”

The hot link, above, contains the details.

No Candidate Pitches a Perfect Game, but One is Always Better than the Other, and in this Case, it’s Brown

In response to Warren’s backers, who will no doubt claim we have some hidden reason for our support of Brown, please remember THE PLANET’s track record. We are an “equal opportunity basher.” Unbought and unbossed, we have taken Republicans and Democrats, alike, to the shed out back to administer our famous Wood Shampoos. The reality is this: In a campaign, candidates present voters with two sets of information. By definition and on the whole, one has to be more credible than the other. In this race, the more credible claims belong to Scott Brown.

THE PLANET doesn’t agree with him on every issue,  for example, his stance on national security, where he would basically continue to allow the Pentagon a blank check in the phony “war on terrorism.” On health care, he wants to repeal Obamacare. In wanting to get rid of certain components of health care reform, Brown is willing to support its repeal in Congress, the baby and the bath water doing a synchronized swan dive out the window. In total, however, we think Brown offers Massachusetts the best representation on the most issues with the least amount of party pandering.

As always, THE PLANET welcomes your views.

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LOOK: THE BOARD WITH FORKS AND SPOONS IS CROWNED. THE CHESTNUTS CRACKLE. THE MILL TURNS ROUND. O THOUGHTLESS MORTALS, EVER BLIND TO FATE. TOO SOON DEJECTED, TOO SOON TO ELATE.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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