This floors me. What parent does not have the right to know that their child is undergoing a medical procedure? Until the point that a parent cannot be held responsible for that child, and be brought up on charges of neglect for dereliction of parental duties … they should have the right to be informed. This is only common sense.

Brown is undoubtedly more moderate socially than many other prominent Republicans these days. But to say his election signals the potential strength of New England’s “socially liberal” Republicans still seems like a stretch.

Although he’s given up on changing the law in Massachusetts, he voted over two dozen times against same sex marriage, and he opposes repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He’s in favor of the death penalty. He tried to amend a bill, written to require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims, with an exemption in case doing so “conflicts with a sincerely held religious belief.” (Okay, he did ultimately vote for that bill after his amendment failed.) He’s in favor of strict parental notification requirements for minors seeking abortions. He thinks that suspected terrorists should be tried in military tribunals, and thinks waterboarding them is fine. He takes an aggressive stand against illegal immigration, preferring increased border patrols to any kind of amnesty programs.

I’m not saying I disagree with every one of these views. A lot of them are complex issues. I’m just saying that these are all primarily “social” rather than primarily “fiscal” issues, and I can’t seem to find a single issue on which Brown comes out clearly socially liberal. If you know of any, I’d be really curious to hear about it.