I don't mean to quibble with the notion that Scott Brown -- as a truck driver and former nude centrefold -- is well qualified to sit in the U.S. Senate. It's the notion that he's a populist that sticks in my craw.

But it's his alleged populism that led to his dramatic upset win last week in Ted Kennedy's old seat.

Right-wingers like Brown hide the elitism of their agenda by presenting themselves as ordinary working types, as truck-driving, gun-toting folk who may have just slaughtered something with their bare hands in the back shed.

Nothing could be less populist than the right's agenda -- which reached its zenith under George W. Bush -- with tax cuts for the rich, financial deregulation and whittling away labour and social protections.