Editorial, Opinion

EDIT: Massachusetts needs Brown

After much debate, the editorial board narrowly decided to endorse current U.S. Senator Scott Brown in the race for U.S. Senate. 

Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic candidate, is a strong candidate.

She is well educated on many of the issues voters face, one example being student loan debt, an issue close to college students’ hearts.

She has appealed to students in championing the belief that for them to lead successful, independent lives after college, they cannot go on being crippled by debt.

However, Scott Brown has represented Massachusetts well, making him the right choice for the state moving forward.

What Massachusetts needs is a senator who is willing to step across the aisle, which Brown has done on a number of issues.

It is good to see a candidate who does not toe the party line.

In fact, the only ones who have ever really accused Brown of being too partisan are Warren and her closest supporters.

While she puts up a strong fight against her Republican opponent, the fight against Brown is not the right one. When it comes to Brown’s history of reaching across the aisle, there is no bone to pick.

Unlike Brown, Warren has proven herself to be very aggressive on controversial issues such as birth control.

If elected, she might intimidate conservatives. We need a candidate that is willing to work with the other side, not isolate himself or herself.

Warren is also disconnected from Western Massachusetts. She comes across as highly educated and somewhat elitist, and people outside of the Boston area find it hard to relate to her.

On the other hand, Brown’s character is more relatable and champions issues important to residents of those areas.

Brown is also very dedicated to his constituents, such as local fishermen.

For instance, he has made it his priority to travel to Gloucester to talk to fishermen and educate himself about their struggles.

In times like these, compromise and loyalty to constituents trump politics. For those reasons, Massachusetts needs Brown.

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This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.

46 Comments

  1. Way to get involved in the conversation the day before the election. That takes some cojones.

  2. If Brown is so dedicated to his constituents, why hasn’t he held a single town hall meeting since he was elected two years ago? And why did he refuse to debate Elizabeth Warren in Western MA? Brown is NOT the right choice for MA, and he’s proven that during his time in the Senate.

  3. GO SCOTT GO!

  4. Setting all political views aside, this is a poorly written and defended endorsement. Since when was birth control a controversial issue? At what point did talking to local fisherman demonstrate true loyalty as opposed to games played for political gain? As the “voice” of BU, in what ways (if any) has the Freep taken into account the candidates policy views and how they would impact BU students?

    Disappointing not because of the candidate endorsed, but the simplistic and often irrelevant arguments used to support the endorsement.

  5. did he pay you to write this? are you kidding me?

  6. “Brown is also very dedicated to his constituents, such as local fishermen.”

    Really in-depth thinking there, Freepers.

  7. Just so you know the Berkshire Eagle, the main newspaper for Western Ma. has endorsed Elizabeth Warren and she is up 65 pts to 28 pts in the polls in western Ma. so I’m not sure how “disconnected” she really is from the western half of the state. Its really disappointing to see such poor fact checking and so little analysis for such an important election.

  8. Yeah, this piece looks like it was written by a high school student. This should be a big story for the Freep. Write it well or not at all.

  9. Ever think that Scott Brown was “allowed” to vote across the aisle in preparation for this election? Republican’s want to remain in control of the Senate and his election was coming up… we don’t want Republican control when it comes to voting for the next supreme court justices… unless you are against Roe vs. Wade… then definitely vote Brown. If you care about women’s rights, vote Warren.

  10. As a former editor at this paper, I am disappointed and frankly embarrassed by this endorsement of Scott Brown. Had you provided legitimate reasoning for your choice, I would not have had a problem with the backing of a candidate that may not have been in line with the views I hold and the views that I know the paper held in my days working there. However, all of the reasonings listed above hold no substantiative evidence as to why you chose this candidate. Not once is there a mention about policy or an in depth look at the differences between the candidates stances. All of your reasonings are subjective and frankly show a lack of research and little understanding of what each of these candidates stands for in the first place. You are supposed to be informing a student population about why you believe a candidate is better that the other based on facts, not your own uninformed opinions. You have done a disservice to your readers by providing them with such a poorly put together endorsement.

    Just for comparison, this is how you write a friggin endorsement: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21565623-america-could-do-better-barack-obama-sadly-mitt-romney-does-not-fit-bill-which-one

  11. “Editors”, you’re not fooling anyone, FISHERMEN. In all sincerity, this article is garbage. “Elitist” and “Educated” are not valid reasons to dismiss a candidate… you sound like Glenn Beck. Do you see the irony in your comments on student loan debt and birth control? These are two issues that directly effect the institution of which you represent. One would have to be masochistic to vote against such measures, or just plain ignorant. I mean, you MUST realize you are representing an entire collegiate community, right?

  12. This is really sad. As a BU alumn, this is just embarrasing. On votes dealing with the environment and women (which includes 60% of BU students), he has failed time and time again. When you really look at the votes that matter, there is nothing bipartisan about him.

    Next time look at the facts, do your research, and write a well thought out article or don’t bother to endorse a candidate at all. So wrong

  13. Did the BU Hockey team write this article?

  14. Just for kicks, this is what the DFP wrote in 2008 when endorsing Obama: https://dailyfreepress.com/2008/10/29/staff-edit-obama-for-president/

    Such a marked difference.

  15. This article just affirms my belief that the Freep is not worth reading. I gained exactly as much information from this “endorsement” as I have from every friggen commercial from Warren, Brown, or one of the PACs supporting a candidate. Is this where your information came from? If you are going to make statements about a candidate’s voting record or areas of support, do some fact checking first. Scott Brown is only known as bipartisan in aforementioned commercials run by his campaign. As an alumn, I’m very disappointed and somewhat ashamed that this is the best our student newspaper could produce.

  16. “If elected, she might intimidate conservatives” –that must be the dumbest reason to vote against a Democrat I’ve ever heard. Aren’t the Republicans supposed to be the alpha-male tough guys, the ones spreading freedom and reviving the economy with just stern looks and Reaganesque-haircuts? This is just an inarticulate way of saying Elizabeth Warren might be too smart and too passionate for the office.

  17. So what you are basically saying is that someone willing to defend their beliefs is too “aggressive” and should compromise their values away. Awesome!

  18. Remeber, folks, being “educated” is ‘eliist”! Who needs education to solve the most complex issues when going out for a beer ona truck, or to a ball game will suffice to solve those challanges!

  19. No mention about Scott being an independent voice in the Senate. Never mind that he’s also been called the “least partisan” and “most bipartisan” Senator. These are the reasons why I support Scott Brown. If you made a more progressive voice, then Warren is your candidate, but be warned that voting for Warren is also voting for more partisan gridlock in Congress.

    Scott has represented MA well, and will continue to do so over the next 6 years.

  20. hasn’t he voted with his party 90% of the time? just because he drives a pick-up truck and has a Boston accent doesn’t make him a good senator.

    to all you Obama/Brown voters, do some soul-searching, and reading, tonight!

  21. Rarely do I read such nonsense masquerading as an argument. You’ve essentially argued that Elizabeth Warren is too smart and too scary to be a US senator.

  22. Embarrassed to have taught writing at BU today! It’s not the choice of candidate, but the half-assed argumentation and the complete disregard for your audience that really troubled me. What is Brown going to do for college students? Why should Boston U support this candidate?

  23. This is an incredibly embarrassing and poorly written article.

  24. “controversial issues such as birth control”

    You guys. YOU GUYS.

    • You could even say Scot Brown supports planned parenthood. The women’s issue at hand is equal pay and, you guys, EQUAL PAY IS NOT CONTROVERSIAL EITHER!!!

  25. Unbelievable! This endorsement is an insult to the intelligence of the Daily Free Press and its readers. It boils down to “Vote for Scott. He’s a regular guy”. The editors deny support to Elizabeth Warren because she is intelligent and aggressive??? This endorsement is an embarrassment.

  26. The Daily Free Press is an embarrassment to Boston University, and is in no way symbolic of the student body. I have always found the grammatical/syntactic error laden articles to be laughable, and this one is no exception. Elizabeth Warren is “disconnected” from the voters in Western Mass because she “comes across as highly educated”? That is blatantly disrespectful to people who live in Western MA (an area where she is leading in the poll, by the way.) I wish there was a way to hold the Free Press accountable for the filth they publish.

  27. If even one of these points were elaborated on and supported by evidence I might have a bit more respect for this editorial. This does not even resemble an legitimate endorsement in the slightest. You guys can do better.

  28. a*. Sorry, that’ll bother me.

  29. Surely this is an outline of a more eloquent editorial that is yet to come. Come on, editors, don’t half ass his one.

  30. This endorsement is embarrassingly vacuous. Since when was birth control “controversial”? And really, the editorial board supports the claim that Scott Brown has more loyalty to his constituents than Elizabeth Warren because of a 30 second political ad in which he talks to fishermen? Given the rest of this article I’m frankly surprised that his pickup truck wasn’t cited as evidence for Scott Brown’s connection to the common man. Once again, this paper has proven it’s a complete joke.

  31. Does the FreeP no longer have an editor in chief?

  32. beside the date at the top of the article it says: By scottbrown. If you click the link it takes you to Brown’s website. Who ever put this together has just take excerpts from the website, put them together and called it an article. It’s total bull!

  33. I’m wondering who had to sleep with the editors of the freep to get this endorsement. Total garbage.

  34. As a former managing editor of The Daily Free Press (spring semester of 2008) I’m embarrassed and saddened by this editorial. I don’t care about the politics (though, as others have observed, rather than expound on Sen. Scott Brown’s dedication to local fishermen, perhaps a few sentences should have been devoted to the candidates’ positions on student loans, higher education and economic issues that would affect the Boston university community and students). That said, this is one of the most poorly reasoned, grammatically faulty and blithely written editorials I have ever read, at a student newspaper or otherwise.

    Let’s deconstruct this.

    “However, Scott Brown has represented Massachusetts well, making him the right choice for the state moving forward.”
    –In what ways has Scott Brown represented Massachusetts well in Senate? Enumerate, explain.

    “What Massachusetts needs is a senator who is willing to step across the aisle, which Brown has done on a number of issues.”
    –Which issues? Why were they important?

    –While you’re researching that, note that Brown has signed the Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge. which states, “ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.” That’s the model of bipartisanship and willingness to compromise right there. Brown also opposes Obamacare.

    “In fact, the only ones who have ever really accused Brown of being too partisan are Warren and her closest supporters.”
    –is there evidence for this claim? Also, this is what happens in an election.

    “Unlike Brown, Warren has proven herself to be very aggressive on controversial issues such as birth control. If elected, she might intimidate conservatives. We need a candidate that is willing to work with the other side, not isolate himself or herself.”
    –What do you by “controversial issues such as birth control?” As an informed citizen, I get what you’re talking about here, but it helps when you explain things. Also, your argument is that Elizabeth Warren, by her mere presence, will cause conservatives in the Senate to cower? They seemed fairly confrontational without much prodding from liberals int he Senate like Sens. Dick Durbin, Barbara Boxer, Ron Wyden, etc.

    “Brown is also very dedicated to his constituents, such as local fishermen. For instance, he has made it his priority to travel to Gloucester to talk to fishermen and educate himself about their struggles.”
    –How is this in any way relevant to the differences between the two candidates?

    In summary, poorly reasoned, poorly worded. I am baffled how this editorial was printed as is.

  35. This is what happens when you go to COM for some ersatz vocational major. Seriously an 11-year-old could’ve written this.

  36. I think this article is just a testament to the idiocy of COM students.

  37. This is why the free-press is a joke

  38. Why does the BU daily newspaper need to endorse anyone? Please just deliver the news instead of your opinions to the school’s community. The concept of this article should be to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates in order to give students a neutral vibe for THEM to make the final decision.

  39. Regardless of how this article was written Scott Brown is the right choice for MA because of his bi-partisanship. I am an independent and what I want to see from my congress is that they are simply working together. It should not be 2 teams butting heads. Scott Brown is the first step toward crossing that aisle.

  40. I’ve talked to a few former Freepers about the editorial and its particularly shoddy quality. It’s not the writing or the unconventional endorsement of a Republican that I quarrel with — I tend to admire when the paper takes an against-the-grain position, so long as it’s forceful and backed up with solid argument — but the complete abandonment of the FreeP readership. I’ve looked back at some pretty poorly worded, and sometimes poorly argued, editorials from my semester as editor (spring ’06) and others in the recent past. We were no brilliant persuaders ourselves. But there was one key difference: we always took the side of the students (our readers) and their interests. That Elizabeth Warren may or may not be comfortable outside of Boston (a debatable contention), and Scott Brown’s work on behalf of fishermen is utterly irrelevant to the BU campus, and even to the vast majority of the electorate. Where was the discussion of Warren’s work as a consumer advocate or Brown’s push to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite provisions permitting young adults to stay on their parents’ health plans. That’s the part of this race that actually impacts students. Even the more trivial debates about Warren’s Native American heritage and Brown’s use of “professor” as a dirty word are worth more than the arguments here, if only because they’re connected to academia and the college experience. In short, it was a disappointingly vapid editorial that’s insultingly detached from the BU community.