Scott Brown’s rejoinder to David Gergen in his debate with Martha Coakley the other evening–“With all due respect, it’s not the Kennedy seat and it’s not the Democrats’ seat. It’s the people’s seat”–is a great line and a memorable line, and may well survive the special election next week and enter the political annals.
Here’s another great line, which is still quoted a half-century later: “If your name was Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke.”
That was spoken by Edward McCormack in his Democratic primary debate with Edward Kennedy in 1962. Unfortunately, we know the outcome of that race, as well as the result of the general election in November. A callow, inexperienced, and bumptious Teddy Kennedy defeated one of the most impressive young men of his generation in Massachusetts, George Lodge, who went on to become a distinguished and influential writer and professor at the Harvard Business School.
Moral: Wit, impressive credentials, and superior gifts don’t always resonate with the electorate.
