Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy

The Wall Street Journal ^ | October 16, 2009 | Naftali Bendavid

[sbpublicaffairs]

Mr. Hoffman has siphoned so much support from Ms. Scozzafava that their Democratic rival has vaulted into the lead, according to a poll released Thursday. The election is Nov. 3. "I am not your run-of-the-mill politician, and maybe that's why the Republican bosses didn't like me," Mr. Hoffman told a recent health-care forum sponsored by the Upstate New York Tea Party. In an interview, Ms. Scozzafava acknowledged her discomfort at the event. "I knew it wasn't going to be an easy audience for me," she said. 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.

[DangerZone]

That message was sent in 2006 and 2008. Obviously sending messages doesn't work. If conservatives want a conservative candidate, they will have to support one in the Republican primary. Better yet, actually take over control of the GOP leadership so the RINOs currently in charge so they can't give RNC money to RINO candidates.

Who knows? Maybe a third party run might actually work in this instance, but it's a big risk.

[Antoninus]

Honestly, we should have been doing this kind of thing YEARS ago. Better late than never, though.

There is absolutely no point in having a Kos-backed hard-leftist like Scozzafava in office as a Republican. It's completely counter productive.

Better a known enemy than a false friend.

[I am Richard Brandon]

"Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy"

This headline has a fallacy at its center. If (BIG IF) there is a comeback strategy at all, it seems to be a combination of:-

"If I roll over, will you tickle my tummy?
What's our biggest asset - we need to destroy it
I will go on TV and talk absolute rubbish in a measured voice that sounds important

The GOP leadership needs to listen to some 'beyond the Beltway' voices and act on what they are saying.

[FreeReign]

That message was sent in 2006 and 2008. Obviously sending messages doesn't work. If conservatives want a conservative candidate, they will have to support one in the Republican primary. Better yet, actually take over control of the GOP leadership so the RINOs currently in charge so they can't give RNC money to RINO candidates. Who knows? Maybe a third party run might actually work in this instance, but it's a big risk.

Third party runs don't usually work and I'm normally against them.

That said, this case is different. Two things;

Hoffman did try to seek the Republican nomination.

It wasn't the rank and file Republican voters who voted against Hoffman it was instead a small number of county party chairman who made the selection.

[DangerZone]

Do you think they haven't heard our voices? All the phone calls to our representatives, rants on message boards, withholding of donations, etc? They've heard them. They just don't care, and that is exactly why the corrupt GOP leadership needs to be replaced. That's why we should be doing everything we can to elect conservatives instead of settling for RINOs.

[DangerZone]

Indeed. This may be a special case. Is the Republican actually worse than the Democrat in this election?

[Kudsman]

From the article:

When Democrats were in the minority, they turned more pragmatic in their choice of candidates starting in 2006, and were rewarded with two election victories.

IOW they stopped veering so left and turned more RIGHT to win the middle. True.

next sentence from the article:

In preparation for 2010, many of the picks of Republican leaders in key races have records designed to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters, which also make the party faithful cringe.

False. If Republican "leader" picks were designed to appeal to the middle they would also have to turn RIGHT, as they have been heading off the cliff on the left for decades. That would make the party faithful happy. What makes the party faithful cringe is that Republican leaders continue to want to veer left by picking candidates like; Ms. Scozzafava, he noted, was pro-choice, backed gay marriage, supported Mr. Obama's stimulus plan and favored making it easier for unions to organize; simply because the liberal media who write the stories the elites believe couch the arguments in wordspeak such as the conservative values of the far right. Conservative values are common sense middle of the road. Liberal values are the ones of the far extreme , but you'll never see that in driveby prose.

[italianquaker]

Nah the rat will win this

[tioga]

We are coming for the RINOs.

[Captain Kirk]

The Democrats won in 2006 primarily because of their opposition to the war. Those Democrats who were most successful often combined antiwar stands with conservative rhetoric on domestic issues. IMHO, that is a winning prescription for the GOP in 2010.

[Thebaddog]

Here we have your basic democrat reporter throwing the anchor to the Republican party with his advice.

[I am Richard Brandon]

"Do you think they haven't heard our voices?"

No, I don't think they have heard our voices:

They don't answer the phone - an assistant does (or doesn't)
They don't read message boards
Reduced donations are obviously an economy fallout thingy!

They have NOT heard them but if they did, they wouldn't care.
The GOP leadership IS corrupt, but they DO sound important on TV! They need the King Edward II treatment (look it up - it's not fun)

[FreeReign]

Indeed. This may be a special case. Is the Republican actually worse than the Democrat in this election?

To the best of my knowledge, I would rate the Republican nominee as about a 4 out of 10 conservative. The SEIU endorsed stealth Democrat who will probably win, will probably turn out to be a 0 or a 1.

What a mess.

[HighlyOpinionated]

If the Republicans want to save themselves, then the GOP has got to announce its AGENDA. Where’s the Republican Agenda Mikey?

No one knows what Republicans stand for . . . Mikey and the GOP won’t put anything in writing.

Mikey Steele is destroying the GOP with his apathetic lack of leadership.

[STARWISE]

And Gingrich is endorsing that ???

What the ....

[STARWISE]

~~PING!

[pissant]

bump

[thouworm]

THE REAL PROBLEM: “hand-picked by GOP leaders”

THE SOLUTION: take your hands off & let the energized, ground-swelling, ideologically pure future of your base pick the candidates.

“The tea-party movement, in my judgment, has proven to be very real, but it’s precisely the fact that it’s real that makes it [i.e., them tea-party go-ers] difficult to take advantage of.”

[Bellflower]

let the energized, ground-swelling, ideologically pure future of your base pick the candidates.

let???? I say we pick them and let them know who they will be.

[Lancey Howard]

It's a classic dilemma faced by parties in the minority -- tension between those who want a return to the party's ideological roots and those who want candidates most likely to win in their districts.

Now there's a line that had to have been written by a real genius.
/sarc