But They're Not Dead . . . Yet

I reproduce my (news)paper's lead editorial from March 4, 2010 in its entirety so you can fully appreciate the idiocy.

Brown’s committee posts tilt too far toward defense
March 4, 2010

Senator Scott Brown received his committee assignments from the Republican leadership on Tuesday, and it’s mixed news at best for Massachusetts. Brown is joining the Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs committees - a lineup that General Patton might appreciate but one that doesn’t touch on many of the most vital domestic issues facing the country.

This is good news, of course, for the state’s many defense contractors, and there’s no questioning the importance of these assignments. Brown, a former army JAG lawyer, will have a chance to build on his knowledge of defense-related issues and, over time, play a substantial role in foreign policy.

The problem is that his fellow Massachusetts senator, John Kerry, is already exerting maximum clout on foreign policy as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, meaning that the state’s Senate delegation is tilting too far overseas. Kerry’s specialty in foreign policy worked well when he was partnered with Edward Kennedy, who was the leading domestic-policy legislator of his time. From his perch on what is now called the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Kennedy influenced much of social policy for the last half-century. He also tended assiduously to Massachusetts’ giant health-care industry, directing billions of federal dollars a year to local hospitals and laboratories.

Kerry has a seat on the Senate Finance Committee, giving him some sway over health-insurance reform, and is also a member of the Senate’s small-business committee. But the lack of a Massachusetts senator on the HELP Committee will certainly be felt on Longwood Avenue.

Seats on committees are handed out by party leaders, and Brown, as the least-senior senator, has relatively little influence over the process. Kerry, one of the most senior Democrats, has more leverage within his party. Over time, both senators have to work together to make sure that all of Massachusetts’ interests are protected.

Committee assignments matter. For much of American history, Massachusetts’ senators have played significant roles in the most vital issues of their times, emblemized by Kennedy’s crusade for health reform and his decisive role in judicial-confirmation battles on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, Massachusetts’ power is directed at defense and foreign policy - an important contribution, but a much-reduced portion of the Senate landscape (End of asinine editorial).

I think the "good news" is that someone from Massachusetts will finally be looking out for our troops - the idiots who comprise the editorial board could not find even one sentence in this editorial to contemplate Sen. Brown's impact in that regard.

Readers would also appreciate knowing that two weeks ago, the idiots who comprise the editorial board of the Boston Globe typed an editorial that called on Sen. Brown to be the catalyst to break the gridlock in Washington, that he usher in a spirit of bipartisanship (the job too big for President Obama, apparently). Yet, here, the idiots suddenly realize (because today's purpose is to smear Sen. Brown) that, "Seats on committees are handed out by party leaders, and Brown, as the least-senior senator, has relatively little influence over the process."