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Taking it too far

The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) tried to take a dig at Republican Scott Brown’s truck but only churned up bad memories of the Democrat Mr. Brown ran to replace.

Mr. Brown, the GOP candidate in the Massachusetts special election to fill the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat, has been pilloried by Democrats ranging from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to President Obama for boasting about the General Motors truck he’s driven around the state while campaigning.

DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen tried to get in on the fun as well. The Maryland congressman made the mistake, however, of likening Mr. Brown to someone who wrecked his car and left the scene of the crime — like Mr. Kennedy did as a young man when he crashed his car carrying Mary Jo Kopechne into a river where she drowned.

“Why would you hand the keys to the car back to the same guys whose policies drove the economy into the ditch and then walked away from the scene of the accident?” Mr. Van Hollen said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Al Hunt that will air this weekend.

• Amanda Carpenter can be reached at acarpenter@washingtontimes.com