SO MUCH FOR THE MYTH OF "REPUBLICAN MODERATE" SCOTT BROWN

After Scott Brown was elected, we were told that he was going to have to deviate from far-right orthodoxy (i.e., the GOP party line) every so often if he hoped to stay in the good graces of the Massachusetts electorate -- a particular problem for him, since he's going to have to face Bay State voters again in two years, when his partial term ends.

Now, however, we see that he's stamped his foot and insisted on being seated a week earlier than the date he'd previously agreed on, February 11 -- and the specific reason is that he wants to help block the appointment of a pro-union nominee to the National Labor Relations Board.

If certain Massachusetts residents who fed Brown their votes felt a stab of pain in their hands, that's because, yes, Brown was biting those hands:

Republican Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate race was lifted by strong support from union households....

A poll conducted on behalf of the AFL-CIO found that 49% of Massachusetts union households supported Mr. Brown in Tuesday's voting, while 46% supported Democrat Martha Coakley....

That's not a tiny chunk of the Massachusetts electorate, either: 16.6% of Massachusetts workers are union members; that's the 12th-highest percentage among the 50 states.

Brown doesn't care. He's in now. He knows precisely which people he's answerable to.