Mass. Senate Race Heats Up

The U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts is one of the most closely watched in the country.

Republican incumbent Scott Brown is taking flak for having an adult daughter on his health care plan even though he opposed President Obama’s health care reform law, which allows young adults to stay on their parents insurance plans for longer. Meanwhile, his likely challenger Democrat Elizabeth Warren is being questioned over whether she used her distant Cherokee heritage to gain minority status.

Brown surprised the political establishment with his win in a special election in 2010, to fill the seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for so many decades. He’s running for his first full term and will probably face Warren, a Harvard professor and consumer advocate.

Guest:

Joan Vennochi, columnist for the Boston Globe

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We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

Edcrane

Sad to hear that Professor Warren’s campaign is slowed by some heritage sideshow kept alive by her opponent. And when has being a Harvard professor been a negative?

Brown running as an independent voice means he has no backbone and will get little accomplished, something akin to Tom Coburn and Ron Paul, both of whom like to think they are brighter than everyone else. They are gadflies and their GOP colleagues don’t trust them.

Brown winnng another six-year term means another GOP “do nothing” proxy we all have to live with.
James Welch

The Jim Crow rule was one drop of Negro blood and you are considered a Negro. Barack Obama is one half white, yet rarely do we hear him considered and referred to as anything but a black man. What is the rule for Hispanic, or Cherokee? It seems Elizabeth Warren is in a catch 22. If on some list, whether it be Census or employment background, she did not indicate her Cherokee background, would she later be accused of denying or falsifying her heritage? Isn’t it okay to be proud of a distant connection, no matter how dilute? When exactly does the one drop rule apply?

Seems in this segment there was too much an effort to be “fair and balanced,” when in fact it was much more weighted against Elizabeth Warren in an effort to not be too critical of Scott Brown. Tsk,tsk.

On an unrelated subject, when college students graduate with a large debt, how much of it impediment does that present for buying a house? Seems to me it puts a negative factor on the housing market, at the very least, much less delaying home acquisitions for college graduates.James WelchEagle River, Alaskajwelch666@cs.com
James Welch

The Jim Crow rule was one drop of Negro blood and you are considered a Negro. Barack Obama is one half white, yet rarely do we hear him considered and referred to as anything but a black man. What is the rule for Hispanic, or Cherokee? It seems Elizabeth Warren is in a catch 22. If on some list, whether it be Census or employment background, she did not indicate her Cherokee background, would she later be accused of denying or falsifying her heritage? Isn’t it okay to be proud of a distant connection, no matter how dilute? When exactly does the one drop rule apply?

Seems in this segment there was too much an effort to be “fair and balanced,” when in fact it was much more weighted against Elizabeth Warren in an effort to not be too critical of Scott Brown. Tsk,tsk.
Wmjenningsbryan

There is absolutely no proof that Ms. Warren has any Cherokee heritage, other than as an oppressor. Elizabeth Warren doesn’t know truth. Unfortunately, Here & Now stated as fact that Elizabeth Warren was in fact of some Cherokee heritage. Here & Now’s journalistic standards are biased and 3rd rate.
- James Welch
  
  Another birther?

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