As noted on this blog on January 15th, the last person to turn Massachusetts this red was Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Of course, Obamacare is not the only reason Massachusetts independents swung to Scott Brown. The other major reason is national security and defense.

A majority of Bay State voters clearly reject the idea of civilian trials for war combatants.

As Brown said last night in his victory speech, “Our tax dollars should be spent on weapons to stop them, not lawyers to defend them.”

If that’s the consensus among Massachusetts Independents, you better believe that will resonate with voters across the country.

According to a new poll conducted by Suffolk University and Channel 7 of Boston, Scott Brown is now leading Martha Coakley by four points. Brown 50% to Coakley 46%.

This is great news for Scott Brown. The Boston Herald reports:

Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate all the way to the White House, a new poll shows.

Although Brown’s 4-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley is within the Suffolk University/7News survey’s margin of error, the underdog’s position at the top of the results stunned even pollster David Paleologos.

“It’s a Brown-out,” said Paleologos, director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center. “It’s a massive change in the political landscape.”

Change in the political landscape. Hmm.. I seem to remember another writer using those exact words.

For an excellent analysis of this poll, be sure to read this post from Allahpundit at Hot Air.

Jessica Taylor at The Politico has more:

Brown’s favorability ratings are also higher than Coakley’s, with 57 percent saying they have a favorable opinion of the state senator and just 19 percent having an unfavorable opinion. Forty-nine percent say they have a favorable opinion of Coakley, while 41 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the attorney general.

Against the backdrop of an election that could possibly play a decisive role in the health care debate—a point both parties have begun to press on their supporters—51 percent said they did not support the health care bill, with 36 percent supported it. Sixty-one percent said they didn’t believe the government could afford such a plan.

A plurality of respondents also believe Brown fared better during the televised debates between the candidates, with 41 percent saying they believed Brown won, compared to just 25 percent for Coakley.

FOOTNOTE: Here’s why Obama isn’t coming to Massachusetts…

With Mrs. Coakley flagging in the polls and Republican Scott Brown closing fast — one recent polls puts him 2 points ahead — Mr. Obama has decided to keep his fingerprints off a race that would be an embarrassment for Democrats should they lose, given that Mr. Obama won the state in 2008 by a 27 point margin.

Scott Brown can win this election and if he does, get ready to hear the loudest gnashing of teeth from the Democrat political establishment since Reagan turned Massachusetts red in 1980.

UPDATE: Scott Brown has raised a million dollars a day, every day this week.

UPDATE II: Martha Coakley says Catholics shouldn’t work in Emergency Rooms.

And I say that as a proud member of Generation X.

Generation X, those of us born somewhere between the Vietnam War and the Iran Hostage Crisis, have spoken truth to power pretty consistently. When Gen X was young and angry, we distrusted the Reagan Administration. Between trips to the video arcade to play Space Invaders or hours long MTV watching marathons, back when MTV played music videos, we grumbled amongst ourselves about the old man running the country who seemed out of touch with us and our interests. It’s only in recent years that many of us have come to realize how well Ronald Reagan was actually looking out for us, our freedom and our safety.

Generation X was suspicious of the George Herbert Walker Bush Administration. Many of us had fathers, uncles, cousins and brothers who were Vietnam Veterans and when George Bush announced Operation Desert Storm, there were those of us who feared a repeat of Vietnam.

Then to DC, came Bubba and his frau. Clinton made an effort to connect to young people, appearing on MTV, wearing sunglasses and playing the saxophone. Lots of Gen Xers bought it but plenty of us didn’t.

Gen X was never a friend to W.

Now we have Obama and I find more and more people of Gen X disillusioned if they voted for him and ever more suspicious if they didn’t.

The point is, with Gen X our suspicion has never been tersely left or right as much as it was a general distrust of government. A natural predisposition to Libertarianism which is itself a member of Gen X, since the Libertarian Party was born in 1971.

Generation Y is doomed.

Generation Y is marching in lockstep with Obama. They voted for him, they like him, they want what he wants and they’re working to help him pass his agenda. They are naive and if they don’t figure out how grandly they’re shooting themselves in the foot and placing the handcuffs on themselves they will live to regret it.

For Gen X, rock and roll is about being anti-establishment. For Gen Y, rock and roll is about being part of the herd, celebrating the head of our government on the cover of Rolling Stone and clinging to Bush hatred even though Bush has not uttered a single word since Obama took office.

Gen Y somehow thinks they are anti-establishment. They actually believe they are anti-establishment as they nod their heads, donate money and work for Obama – The establishment!  No one has clued them in that W. is no longer “the man” who is taking away their liberties and crushing their idealistic dreams.

Gen Y is gullible and way too trusting of the new “man” in DC. It’s embarrassing to watch. In cases like the video below where MTV hipster types “pledge” to Obama, I become sick to my stomach. In fact, I couldn’t even make it through this entire video.

I look forward to the day when Gen Y figures out what they so eagerly signed up for. Many of them will be living in their first home, working in their first good-salary job, maybe raising their first kid. Suddenly, they’ll start noticing what a nuisance it is when the government can tell them what to do and how much of their money they can keep.

It’ll be like a bunch of kids who sat down for a large meal at a fancy restaurant and then go into an angry panic when the bill comes and they realize they should have just gone to Wendy’s.

I suspect there will be hell to pay. Unfortunately for them, their name will be the only one on the tab.

“Anderson resident Brock Glaze clutched two copies of Palin’s book, hoping to get one signed for himself, and one for a co-worker. Although he considers himself a Libertarian, Glaze said Palin is an exemplary Republican. “I think she’s absolutely brilliant. She’s the only one with the guts to say what needs to be said. Her gender has absolutely nothing to do with it. She has more guts than most of the men in her party. I think she’s not afraid to stand up for her conservatism, her Christianity, for pretty much everything that’s necessary for a free nation.”

What a stark contrast between that quote and the words of Steve Chapman, who one might presume to be a libertarian since he writes for Reason.com. Chapman isn’t buying Palin’s libertarian appeal one bit. In fact, he thinks it’s a great big sham. In an article titled “Sarah Palin and the Decline of Conservatism” he asks “What happened to the party of Goldwater and Reagan?”

“Who needs policy? In her world—and the world of legions of conservatives who revere her—the persona is the policy. Palin is beloved because she’s (supposedly) just like ordinary people, which (supposedly) gives her a profound understanding of their needs.”

“That attitude used to be associated with the left, which claimed to speak for the ordinary folks who get shafted by the system. Logic and evidence about policy, to many liberals, were less important than empathy and good intentions. Now it’s conservatives who think we should be guided by our guts, not our brains.”

Chapman then does his best to disassociate Sarah Palin from the memory of Ronald Reagan.

“When Oprah asked if she had felt any doubts about her readiness to be vice president—which requires the readiness to be president—Palin replied breezily, “No, no—I didn’t blink. … I felt quite confident in my abilities and my executive experience and I knew that this is an executive administrative job.” (The audience tittered.)”

“Contrast that with Reagan, who after learning of his victory on Election Night 1980 told his supporters, “There’s never been a more humbling moment in my life.” Palin doesn’t do humble.”

Funny. Ronald Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan, had a completely different take on Sarah Palin in September of 2008 when he wrote a piece about her called “Welcome Back, Dad.”

“I’ve been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we’d never see his like again because he was one of a kind.”

“I was wrong!”

“Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he’s a she.”

“And what a she!”

“Like Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin is one of us. She knows how most of us live because that’s the way she lives. She shares our homespun values and our beliefs, and she glories in her status as a small-town woman who put her shoulder to the wheel and made life better for her neighbors.”

“Welcome back, Dad, even if you’re wearing a dress and bearing children this time around.”

I was truly puzzled as to why Steve-Chapman-the-libertarian has such a problem with Sarah Palin but then I checked his bio at Reason.com and suddenly it all made sense.

“Steve Chapman is a columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune.”

Figures.

The following clip is an interview of syndicated columnist, Dr. Charles Krauthammer by Frank Gaffney of Secure Freedom Radio.

Krauthammer speaks at length about Reagan, the Cold War, President Obama’s absence from the celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall and much more.

At 7:20, Frank Gaffney announces his summary of the “Obama Doctrine.”

“Undermine our allies, embolden our enemies and diminish our country.”

No comment is necessary.

More at Memeorandum.

This is actually an audio recording Reagan made in 1961. In it, he talks about the nightmare that is government run healthcare. More importantly, he points out that this has nothing to do with humanitarian ideals or the provision of better care.

It is about politics, power and the loss of liberty, plain and simple. What a genius Reagan was. This recording is as important today as it was almost 50 years ago.

1987: A Republican president nominates someone to the Supreme Court who has not made any questionable statements on race. How do the Democrats attack? By labeling the nominee as a racist.

2009: A Democrat president nominates someone to the Supreme Court who regularly uses language that is construed by many as racism. How do the Democrats attack? By labeling any opposition as racists.