Former NH Senate Candidate Scott Brown to Endorse Trump Today

Huh. Would not have guessed that.

Former Massachusetts senator Scott P. Brown, a moderate Republican who two years ago ran for Senate in New Hampshire, will endorse Donald Trump at rally here Tuesday night, one week before the state’s presidential primary.

Brown’s decision has been closely guarded for days, but it was confirmed by two people familiar with the event, where Brown will appear onstage with the candidate.

Meanwhile, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott throws his support behind Rubio, claiming, as usual, that Rubio is the most electable.

I am really questioning this "electability" factor, because it always posits that we should guess that other people like this person more than we do ourselves. Shouldn't we take our own feelings as primary? Not out of pure egocentrism -- but out of recognition that we know our own feelings the best, whereas guessing at what other people might like is fraught with error.

That is, we're very good at knowing how we ourselves respond to something, and not very good at all predicting how completely different people will respond to something.

If Rubio isn't very appealing to us, maybe there's a reason for that, and maybe, rather than assuming "Other people will love him," we should assume something closer to "Other people will find the same defects in him that we do."

We've not had a great run of predicting the electability of candidates.

Plus, there's an inherent idea in the electability argument that, stealthily, goes like this: Your own thinking can't be trusted. You're ill-bred and not very bright. Try to conjure what a better-bred and smarter person might like, and then do what he does.

The reasons people don't like Rubio -- his shiftiness, for example -- aren't going to suddenly go over well with a different audience, either.

If there's a candidate one likes, one ought to support him. Electability begins with one's own vote.

posted by Ace at 01:59 PM

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