Politico: Brown says no snub intended; he will be at work Wednesday

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Staffers for Sen. Scott Brown have told Politico that the Massachusetts Republican never planned to attend Wednesday's tea party event in Boston featuring Sarah Palin and that his absence should not be interpreted as a snub:

Brown spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told POLITICO that coming off of a two week legislative recess, Brown had always planned to be in Washington this week.

Brown drew notice Monday after the Boston Herald reported that Brown was skipping the rally.

In a story headlined “Scott Brown snubs Sarah Palin, bags Tea Party rally,” Herald reporter Edward Mason wrote that “Brown’s decision to skip the first big rally in Boston by the group whose members are credited with helping him win election has some experts saying he’s tossed the Tea Party overboard, as he prepares for re-election in 2012.”

The story was fodder for bloggers eager to highlight any GOP slight directed at Palin or a rift between a GOP lawmaker and the tea party movement.

Among those bloggers who tried to make political hay out of the non-snub were not only the nutroots left, but also a few conservative bloggers, most notably Dan Riehl:

"Is Brown better than Kennedy? Yes. But if his post-election tendency to immediately go Hollywood, opting for matinee idol status over substantive individual who wanted the job so he could go to work wasn't enough, his slight of the very people who helped him win suggests he's the type of self-serving jerk we need fewer of in Washington and not some Mr. Smith."

We can understand why leftist bloggers would seize upon a less-than-accurate story just to slam Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement. But why did Riehl go after Brown? Although he's been critical of Gov. Palin at times, we doubt that smearing her was his intention. Rather, we suspect an itchy trigger finger. In fairness to Riehl, he's not the only one who was fooled by the state-run lamestream media's divide-and-conquer attack. Moonbattery, one of our favortie surfing sites, fell for it too.

Those of us on the right often criticize our opposition on the left for not doing their homework. They tend to take any story from the lamestream media at face value, especially when it suits their agenda, and casting dispersion on the Tea Party movement and any Republican, especially Gov. Palin, is a large part of their agenda. Scott Brown is also a favorite target of the left because his special election hit them hard right where they live -- in one of the bluest of the blue states.

But that's no excuse for conservative bloggers. A simple telephone call to Sen. Brown's office would have provided a plausible explanation for Brown's absence from Wednesday's Boston Tea Party, and Riehl should have made it before jumping the gun. Showing up for work is a pretty good excuse, especially at a workplace like the U.S. Senate, where many of the employees (former Sen. Barack Obama is a good example) all too often find things more important to them to do than their actual jobs. Brown sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and there's an important hearing scheduled for Wednesday. That's where we need him to be.

Speaking Monday afternoon with Boston-area talk radio host Howie Carr, Brown said that he is “not avoiding anybody.

“I’m doing my job…They elected me to do a job,” Brown said, pointing out that he missed some of his daughter’s basketball games for votes. “This is what I do.”

Conservatives have an unfortunate tendency to form into circular firing squads, even when we have the leftists on the run. Most of us have been guilty at one time or another of going after right of center politicians for whatever reasons, which only provides fodder for the Left to attack our side. We've got to stop eating our young if we hope to get back into the driver's seat some day. We've also got to stop letting the lamestream media manipulate us, as they seem to be able to do with ease at times.

h/t: Free Republic

- JP