Legendary Lowell Boxing Coach Art Ramalho Makes The Case For Elizabeth Warren

You've no doubt read how a gaggle of right-wing operatives-- Eric Cantor (VA), Kevin McCarthy (CA), Paul Ryan (WI), Pete Sessions (TX), Jeb Hensarling (TX), Pete Hoekstra (MI), Dan Lungren (CA), Jim DeMint (SC), Jon Kyl (AZ), Tom Coburn (OK), John Ensign (NV), Bob Corker (TN), Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz-- met during Obama's inauguration ceremonies and plotted how to further undermine the American economy in the hope of making the country ungovernable and turning people off to Obama. The first part of their plan worked-- capturing the House in 2010 and grabbing enough Senate seats to obstruct and block every substantive bill President Obama has proposed for solving the economic crisis created during 8 years of the Bush administration. Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has tried to distance himself from this crowd-- except when it's come to voting in the Senate. Through not as frequently as Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins of Maine, Brown has gotten permission from McConnell to cross the aisle now and then when it didn't really matter much. Overall, though, Brown has voted with the Republican obstructionists on 75.84% of the crucial, substantive rollcalls since being elected. To say he's part of the problem is an understatement and if Obama is to make any headway towards solving the country's problems in his second term, it is essential that whichever obstructionists we can replace in November, be replaced. What makes Brown's race unique, is that the replacement could well wind up being the most important senator elected in decades, Elizabeth Warren.

In the video above, Art Ramalho of Ramalho's West End Gym says we need a fighter like Elizabeth Warren in the Senate. He's correct. And he's correct is voicing skepticism about Brown. Brown, for all his protestations of being different from the Confederate bigots running his party, has a dismal 33.3% voting score on women's issues. Aviva Shen unmasked him last week at TPM. Brown's deceitful new ad claims he's pro-Choice and supports equal pay for women. But it's a straight up lie.

Though the ad claims “his record shows that he supports women,” Brown’s voting history actually reveals the opposite. The senator has co-sponsored several anti-choice bills, including the Woman’s Right To Know Act, which would force a woman to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion and review pictures and information about her fetus. He supported the notorious Blunt Amendment-- which would allow employers or insurers to deny women any health coverage they morally oppose-- and sought to prevent insurers from using any federal funds to cover abortions in the Affordable Care Act. Brown has also voted to defund Planned Parenthood and voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, in spite of his ad’s promise to “fight for” equal pay.

Brown has tried to distance himself from the Republican Party’s anti-woman platform and asked Reince Priebus to include a rape exception in the GOP’s anti-abortion plank. So far, he has not convinced Massachusetts of his secret pro-choice sympathies; the Massachusetts Right to Life recently announced their support for him as “a senator who votes pro-life.” Beloved Massachusetts boxer Mickey Ward also pulled his support from Brown after discovering his anti-LGBT and anti-union stances. Emily’s List denounced this new ad, accusing Brown of “straight-up lying” and demanding that he “take it down and apologize.”

Art Ramalho and Mickey Ward are beloved and trusted figures in Massachusetts. Had Ward gone through with his endorsement of Brown, it could have canceled out Ramalho's endorsement of Elizabeth Warren. No doubt that's with Brown was hoping. But it didn't work out that way. “I can’t support Scott Brown,” Ward said. “I just can’t do it... I found out Scott (Brown) is anti-union and I’m a Teamster guy. I found out he’s also against gay marriage and I say if you love someone you should have the same rights no matter who you are.” More than a few people in Massachusetts are discovering just what Mickey Ward found out about Scott Brown. Blue America has only endorsed 3 people running for the U.S. Senate this cycle. We have high standards. Elizabeth Warren is one of the three. If you can, please consider supporting her here on our Senate page.

Polling has been a see-saw affair in this tight race, although Elizabeth Warren's brilliant speech at the Democratic convention in Charlotte seems to have catapulted her over Brown again. The latest polling of Massachusetts voters shows most have decided it's time to ditch Scott Brown for Elizabeth Warren. PPP did a poll as well, in which Elizabeth has also pulled ahead and for exactly the reason all Massachusetts voters should be thinking about closely: