Update: GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has now said that a supporter’s remarks about shoving, “a curling iron up (Martha Coakley’s) butt,” were inappropriate.
“If I had heard it I would have said something,” said Brown, according to the Boston Herald.
The remark, lobbed at a Worcester rally in refrence to a sex abuse case Attorney General Coakley worked on, sparked growing outrage. Dem operative have heavily circulated a video of Brown smiling after someone yelled the remark and saying, “we can do it!”
Brown’s comment was towards the excited crowd, and he didn’t hear the racy remark, said spokeswoman Tarah Donoghue.
If you needed evidence that the Senate race in Massachusetts has turned ugly then look no further than a rally held by the Republican candidate Sunday. A supporter of Scott Brown referenced a case where Martha Coakley was slow to press charges against a rapist who violated a toddler with a curling iron.
But in the aftermath of the crime, a Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Martha Coakley, then the district attorney, investigated without taking action.It was only after the toddler’s mother filed applications for criminal complaints that Coakley won grand jury indictments charging rape and assault and battery.
Even then, nearly 10 months after the crime, Coakley’s office recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when Coakley’s successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms.
The Brown supporter suggested that Coakley should be a victim of the same crime. "Shove a curling iron up her butt," the supporter shouted at the rally in West Springfield.
Appearing to smile and nod at the suggestion, Brown replied, "We can do this."
Hotline on call first noticed the comments.
Ben Smith at Politico raised figurative eyebrows.
Democrats made hay earlier today of the report of an ugly comment at a Scott Brown event: "Shove a curling iron up her butt" a crowd member shouted of Coakley in West Springfield.
The video above appears to show Brown smiling at the line and nodding, before returning to his message: "We can do this."
The jibe isn't out of the blue: It's a reference to the charge, explored at length recently by the Boston Globe, that Coakley failed to aggressively prosecute a sexual abuse case involving a curling iron.
The video is not unlike the one Democrats pushed earlier in which he snickered at a question about President Obama's birth; more experienced public figures know they can be judged not just by what they say, but by how they respond.
President Barack Obama stumped Sunday for the Democratic candidate, saying that his legislative agenda depended on her winning.
The seat, which was occupied by Edward Kennedy for almost five decades before his death in August, was considered a Democratic stronghold. But candidate Martha Coakley finds herself struggling ahead of Tuesday's vote against Republican opponent Scott Brown.
A win by Brown would strip the Democrats of their 60th Senate seat, meaning their majority was no longer big enough to easily override Republican opposition to Obama's bitterly fought health care reforms and other major projects.
This video is from Youtube, broadcast Jan. 17, 2010.
