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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (236297)	1/20/2010 9:29:42 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

What a dope!!! Coakley drowns in safe harbor By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist \| January 20, 2010 AT A neighborhood New Year’s Eve party, everyone was talking about Republican Scott Brown’s new television ad. It began with black and white footage of Democratic President John F. Kennedy asking Congress to enact an investment tax credit to stimulate the economy. “The billions of dollars this bill will place in the hands of the consumer and our businessmen will have both immediate and permanent benefits to our economy,’’ Kennedy says. JFK then morphs into Brown, who continues the 1962 speech: “Every dollar released from taxation that is spent or invested will help create a new job and a new salary. And these new jobs and new salaries can create other jobs and other salaries and more growth for an expanding American economy.’’ The neighborhood consensus: clever and attention-grabbing. Martha Coakley laughed it off. It was a serious mistake; many others followed. They included a barrage of terrible ads and Coakley’s incredible question about what people expected her to do: stand outside in the cold, shake hands and ask for their vote? As legions of politicians from Tip O’Neill to Ted Kennedy could tell her: yes. “It would be shameful . . . if you let the politicians travel the safe middle ground to victory,’’ said Kennedy in 1972. “For if they are to govern well, they need to be forced out of their safe harbors, and into storms that challenge the ship of state. Rarely can we stand at a point in history and say, before the fact, This is a turning point. We are at one of those points . . .’’ The JFK ad was a turning point. President Obama would be wise to grasp the larger lesson Brown’s epic victory sends. Get out of the safe harbor and into the storm, or you will drown. Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com.