CRITERION FOR RIGHT-WING EXCELLENCE

Spotted over at The Corner last night:

These Are the Kinds of E-mails I Get About Our Newest Senator Brown [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Kathryn,

All politicians should be able to give the rapid, and to the point, answers that Scott Brown gave during his press conference this afternoon. Unfortunately, most politicians don't have a set of core beliefs that allow them to answer without thinking, or using a teleprompter. What a breath of fresh air.

Oh, that's just beautiful -- "without thinking." Not "without hemming and hawing" or "without stumbling over their words" Without thinking.

President Obama isn't particularly smooth when he answers questions off the cuff, and I wish he were smoother, but his answers reflect deep knowledge, well-formed ideas about how the world works -- in short, serious thought. It would be nice if he were as honey-tongued as he is reading a speech, but it's clear that his answers reflect a hell of a lot of thinking. I like that.

That's not what wingnuts want. The word choice betrays the belief system. To wingnuts, a talented politician is one who can eloquently recite Holy Right-Wing Writ and Frank Luntz talking points, presumably like a madrassah student reciting suras from a well-memorized Qur'an. Thought? Optional -- or I suppose it's actually seen as an impediment.

Brown is perfect for them -- did you know he's just a guy from Wrentham who drives a truck? Did he mention that? He is. He's just a guy from Wrentham who drives a truck. I think I just heard him say that again, without thinking.

****

UPDATE: Here's a report on the press conference that so impressed K-Lo's e-mail corresondents; the report is from Dana Milbank, who's hardly a shill for our side:

... Brown entered the jammed TV studio in a hail of camera flashes. Senator Centerfold laid out his positions. How might he work with Democrats? "I need to see what issues are coming up." His stance on gays in the military? "I want to speak to the generals in the field." A filibuster of the labor board nominee? "I'm going to look at everybody's qualifications." The jobs legislation? "I need to see what's in the bill."

The one declarative position Brown did take -- "The last stimulus bill didn't create one new job" -- was demonstrably untrue.

The self-styled "independent" senator spent the rest of the session repeating GOP talking points about tax cuts for all, going "back to the drawing board" on health-care reform, and being "the 41st vote" to sustain filibusters.

Talking points and strategic evasions -- these are Brown's "core beliefs," enunciated "without thinking."