Is Scott Brown a Conservative? Well, No.

Is Scott Brown a conservative? No, not really. I suppose if you compared him to the left of center senators like Reid or Franken, then yes he is. But, if you compare him to say, Palin or Gingrich, no he is not. But, the important thing to me is, he is certainly more conservative than Kennedy, and more so than Coakley; in other words, he is an improvement. He really is the best we could hope for out of such a democratic state. One has to speculate that he might uphold this "independent" image as a way to survive in Mass. Mass. is a very democratic state, and they would be unlikely to elect a Republican that was too "in your face" conservative.

So, even though he seems to be on the right side of the major issues, it is important to stress that he isn't the model senator the Tea Partiers have been looking for.

From Fox:

He voted for universal healthcare in Massachusetts but pledges to be the 41st vote against the health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill. ... Brown believes the best solutions can be found at the state level, not with a "one-size-fits-all" national plan.

Brown is a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard. He believes waterboarding is a legitimate enhanced interrogation technique, not a form of torture, and is vehemently opposed to trying 'enemy combatants' in civilian courts.

On fiscal matters, Brown is conservative, criticizing the stimulus and opposing the President's proposed fee on banks, calling it a tax that will trickle down to the people, making it tougher to get loans and pushing banks to raise checking and ATM fees.

He says Roe v. Wade is settled law, but supports strong parental notification measures and a partial birth abortion ban.

On defense, he backs the President's plan to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

Boston.com:

By describing himself as a fiscal conservative and an independent, did Brown mean to suggest he’s a social liberal?

“No,’’ Brown chuckled in the radio interview. “I’m not known as a social liberal, that’s for sure.’’

Last week he embraced waterboarding. Last month he expressed skepticism that climate change is being caused by humans. He has even denounced two national proposals that he supported in Massachusetts as a lawmaker - mandatory health care coverage and a cap-and-trade system to cut global warming gases.

To be sure, the 30-year National Guardsman from Wrentham would never have been called a social liberal. Long a foe of gay marriage and a “tax-and-spend mentality,’’ Brown calls himself a social moderate, and his work in the Legislature has focused on issues such as tightening restrictions on sex offenders.

I am going to take a wait and see approach. Based on his record, he looks pretty moderate. Let's see how this plays out on the national stage. One thing that does worry me?

Brown said his model for governing would be McCain, who would also be the first appointment in a packed schedule of meetings that morning. "I have great respect for Senator McCain," he said of the Arizona senator, who was one of the first establishment players to support his seemingly quixotic bid against Attorney General Martha Coakley. "I've known him for a while, long before this, and you know he is a war hero and kind of a maverick independent thinker. While I want to be a Scott Brown Republican, I want to rely on everybody on both sides of the aisle," he added, "I've told my leadership already that I'm not a rubber stamp for anybody."

Yikes.