Posted on 10/17/2009 8:29:30 PM PDT by ellery
A three-way special election in upstate New York is fast becoming ground zero for the intra-Republican war over the party's future. Dede Scozzafava, the official Republican nominee, has come under fire from movement conservatives and so-called "tea bag protesters" for her moderate stances. (Liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas endorsed as "actually the most liberal candidate in the race.") They have rallied behind third-party nominee Doug Hoffman of the Conservative Party, who is rapidly gaining on Scozzafava in polls. The district, in Republican hands since 1871, is unlikely to go Democratic. But which conservative comes out on top in this increasingly national fight could be am internal referendum on the GOP's future.
Rumors that Scozzafava could switch parties are circulating and may well turn out to be false -- her office has denied twice -- but conservatives rejoicing over her possible defection are telling. Ideological purity, it seems, could be more important to movement conservatives than the number of seats in Congress. Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee and such party leaders as Newt Gingrich have endorsed her with the apparent belief that a moderate Republican is better than no Republican. The two camps now have direct proxies in the New York race, with tea party conservatives supporting the Conservative Party nominee and Congressional Republicans supporting Scozzafava. As grassroots conservatives and the Republican establishment battle it out, who wins in New York may well determine who wins in the GOP's broader search for an identity.
* 'Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy' So reports the Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid. "The rise of conservative 'tea party' activists around the country has created a dilemma for Republicans. They are breathing life into the party's quest to regain power. But they're also waging war on some candidates hand-picked by GOP leaders as the most likely to win," Bendavid writes of the New York race.
* GOP In Way of Real Conservatives William Kristol says of the Wall Street Journal headline, "The truth is the opposite: The GOP establishment complicates the Republican and conservative comeback strategy." He pushes Republicans to give up on Scozzafava. "It's probably too late for the national and state Republicans to reverse their foolish initial blessing of Scozzafava—but surely they could at least stop attacking Hoffman, spend what money they’re going to spend attacking Owens, give up on pressuring high profile Republicans not to go in to help Hoffman, and therefore give Hoffman a decent chance to win."
* Republicans Are 'The Stupid Party' Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin called Scozzafava "an abomination" and "extremist fringe," labeled Republicans "The Stupid Party," and urged her readers to "Fight the GOP Beltway establishment." Malkin wrote, "Way to go, Beltway GOP establishment. Grass-roots fiscal conservatives are fired up over ACORN, the SEIU, tax-and-spend radicals. Grass-roots social conservatives are battling radical abortion and gay marriage policies. You have been asking movement conservatives to give you money to fight the ACORN-friendly, union-pandering, tax-and-spend, radical Democrats. Then you use their money to try and elect Dede Scozzafava, an ACORN-friendly, union-pandering, tax-and-spend radical Republican." Michelle Malkin tweeted, "Maybe it's time for a tea party at the offices of NRCC and Newt Gingrich."
* NY23 Is Conservatives' 'Hill to Die On' Conservative Redstate blogger Erick Erickson calls the New York race "a Hill to Die On" for fellow teabag conservatives, who he says believe "the GOP is just as bad as the Democrats." He compares Scozzafava and her GOP backers to Judas Goats. "The Judas Goat is a trained animal that is trained to lead other animals to pens or slaughter while sparing itself. I do not go forth lightly to discipline, condemn, cajole, or badger people on our side who have decided to compromise an issue for some higher goal. [...] many of the un-elected or previously elected leaders are more dangerous and more likely to be Judas Goats than the elected," he writes. "If we do not hold these people accountable in moments like this, why ever hold anyone accountable? And how ever can we win?"
* Backlash Against Newt Gingrich Newt isn't the only Republican to endorse Scozzafava, but he is the highest profile. Erick Erickson slams, "Gingrich no longer wants to nor can he be seen as a conservative," declaring, "Today Newt Gingrich Takes Himself Out of the 2012 Running." Michelle Malkin urges, "If you have given to the NRCC, RNC, or Newt Gingrich under the impression that they are using the money to support conservatism, you might want to ask for your money back."
* Why Did Gingrich Endorse, Anyway? David Weigel, no conservative, explains that Gingrich could fear a loss more than a too-moderate Republican. "If Republicans hold the 23rd district they won’t actually gain anything, but Gingrich realizes that a Democratic gain, even if it came narrowly as a GOP and Conservative Party candidate split the majority vote, would cut hard against the positive GOP narrative of the past few months."
Markos Moulitsas, founder of The Daily Kos has endorsed Scozzafava. Dede Scozzafava has also been endorsed by NYSUT, the largest labor union in New York, and an affiliate of the National Education Association.
Scozzafava also holds these positions:
Scozzafava has also run in past elections on the Working Families Party (a progressive party associated with ACORN) line on the ballot.
This lady isn’t a RINO, she is a big “R” democRat.
There are also 17 RINOs in the house who have donated funds to this Liberal democRat's campaign. They include Boehner and Cantor. I don’t have a full list, but I will be looking for it. These RINOs should be targeted for elimination in the primaries next year.
| From the desk of cc2k: |
With R's like we have, what's the difference?
Specter, Snowe, Collins, Juan "I shredded the 1st 1st" Mc Cain?
Whose hands again?
I am convinced that if a person has an (R) after their name, the media would classify them as moderate if they sold the United States out lock stock and barrel to the Chinese.
There’s nothing moderate about Scozzafava. Good grief, Daily KOS supports her. Daily KOS can barely support Obama he’s so middle of the road.
Gag me...
Letting the Dem win in NY-23 would be a major embarassment. But I think its needed in the long run. A NY-23 Dem win would allow Obama to be cocky, which would create an opportunity for him stumble. Also a loss for the GOP just might make the GOP establishment to listen to grass root conservatives. Rather than win the US House back, I think it is more important for the GOP to find its soul.
What is a “tea-bag protester”?
I have heard of TEA (Taxed Enough Already) protesters.
The war has begun. Up till now there have been a few skirmishes, but now it’s on.
As an activist in the GOP I feel the pain of the conservatives. I also know all is moot if you don’t control a majority in the legislatures.
A cleaning of the house must be done, but how you go about it is the question. If we don’t do it right the Democrats will remain in control.
I assume it’s a perjorative—I’m guessing the author of this article is probably a leftist (as is generally the case with the Atlantic).
You know what it is? He doesn’t know what the TEA stands for because he got his info from MSNBC, thats what. He is so ill-informed he doesn’t even know what the other side is, just that its people he heard bad things about.
The number of seats in Congress is fixed. What is necessary is a sufficient number of seats occupied by folks who are going to be voting to uphold the Constitution. Just putting warm bodies with an R next to their name in those seats is not going to help.
It's high time to tell the "GOP leaders" and other moderate/liberal losers, to take a hike, we're either taking the reins or we're no longer following their lead!
They feel that we have "no other place to go" and one would have thought by now (Bob Dole, John McCain, and many other losses just might have shown them that while "we have no other place to go" but we can always "go fishing, go shopping, go to a kid's soccer game, or even just stay home.
The mere fact that while Arlen Specter won, he took Rick Santorum down for supporting him on stage with Rove and Bush (probably are some other reasons, but we WILL NOT get the troops into the voting booths and pull the levers for them any more.
It was Sarah Palin who kept John McCain from a total embarrassment, not only to himself (which we should have let happen) but the country deserves a better choice between a liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay rights Republican or a liberal DemocRAT.
If I had my way, somehow we'd totally rid ourselves of the "top GOP leaders."
Only called that pejorative by scumbag liberals.
But which conservative comes out on top in this increasingly national fight could be am internal referendum on the GOP's future.
It appears as though there is only one conservative in this race.
Ideological purity, it seems, could be more important to movement conservatives than the number of seats in Congress.
This idiot just doesn't get it. Ideological purity will lead to MORE seats in Congress because conservatism wins elections. Liberals like Dede whats-her-name accomplish nothing except speed the Republican Party into irrelevance.
"A three-way special election in upstate New York is fast becoming ground zero for the intra-Republican war over the party's future. Dede Scozzafava, the official Republican nominee, has come under fire from movement conservatives and so-called "tea bag protesters" for her moderate stances. (Liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas endorsed as "actually the most liberal candidate in the race.") They have rallied behind third-party nominee Doug Hoffman of the Conservative Party, who is rapidly gaining on Scozzafava in polls. The district, in Republican hands since 1871, is unlikely to go Democratic. But which conservative comes out on top in this increasingly national fight could be am internal referendum on the GOP's future."
So, we have Dede Scozzafava as the official Republican nominee with "moderate stances" vs "movement conservatives" and "tea bag protestors". Then with have the Leftist Kos describe Scozzafava as the most liberal candidate in the race. Then we are asked to contemplate "which conservative" is going to win the race.
So, we have Scozzafava described within a couple of sentences as a "moderate", a "liberal" and a "conservative". How can someone be so confused and walk the streets?
I grew up down in Florida and though we were very in-land, there was a common saying.
You can either float on the incoming tide, or drown in it.
GOP ... are you listening?
LOL!
Well he works for the State Run Media. You need a degree in idiocy to land one of those jobs.
This is why I don’t send in any more money to the National Republican Committee - they support the UNSupportable candidate! I’m tired of the RINOs - look at the founding fathers and what is at stake here - DID YOU KNOW that the most read book in the 1700s in America was THE BIBLE?
Do you know why we were blessed as a nation? It’s because we DID NOT take God out of the EQUATION as a nation....We are SO FAR away from what was born 200 years ago and now we have an ungrateful, proud, arrogant nation of sinners who refuse to see the error of allowing foreign Gods and beliefs to creep in INCLUDING MOSLEMS!
Did you know Hillary ran during the Presidential campaign on the Working Party’s family as their candidate as well as trying to capture the Democratic nomination? Covering all her basis wasn’t she?
At least this "no party aligned" voter would like to see it happen all over the country!
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