On Tuesday, Rachel asked two related questions: "What is going on with Scott Brown? What is wrong with Scott Brown?"
In context, Rachel was talking about the Republican senator's demand that Ted Kennedy's widow be politically muzzled in order for him to participate in a Kennedy Institute debate, but the questions have broader applicability.
In the interview [on WTKK-FM], Brown also fired back at suggestions that the campaign is lacking in substance.... He also said he is engaged in substantive issues on a daily basis, some that involve royalty."Each and every day that I've been a United States senator, I've been discussing issues, meeting on issues, in secret meetings with kings and queens and prime ministers and business leaders and military leaders, talking, voting, working on issues every single day," he said.
When the Boston Globe asked whether, and how often, Brown has actually met with royalty, his spokesperson would not say. The senator's office added this morning that Brown was "speaking generally about private meetings" he's had with various leaders.
I suppose it's possible Brown misspoke -- I've stumbled during radio interviews myself -- though "secret meetings with kings and queens" is certainly an odd thing for a senator to brag about publicly, especially when he's trying to prove how serious and substantive he is. (Update: here's the audio.)
Indeed, boasts about "secret meetings with kings and queens" reinforces fears that Brown isn't serious and substantive. It's also reminiscent of the incident last year when Brown, trying to show off about his access to secret information, bragged to reporters about having seen photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body at an official Senate briefing, when in fact, the senator had simply fallen for an internet hoax.
One of the knocks on Brown is that he's not quite up to the task of being a senator, and he finds himself in over his head. Crowing about "secret meetings with kings and queens" that never occurred really won't help dispel this impression.