JEANINE PIRRO Conservatives eye rival.
Posted on 11/07/2005 5:10:04 AM PST by Liz
JEANINE PIRRO Conservatives eye rival.
Jeanine Pirro's little-known opponent for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate is close to winning crucial backing from the small but influential Conservative Party, insiders say.
Such a success by former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer would deny Pirro a vital endorsement in what would already be — if she is the GOP nominee — an uphill battle against incumbent Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And it would be the latest blow for Pirro, the outgoing Westchester County district attorney whose campaign has been marred by stumbles and fund-raising shortfalls.
Tactically, Spencer, a tough-talking ex-Marine who is far more conservative than Pirro on a range of issues, plans to use Conservative Party backing as leverage to convince many still-uncommitted GOP leaders to back him as the only candidate with a chance to defeat Clinton.
"Spencer clearly has the edge on Jeanine," Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long told The Post. "If our party's convention was held next week, I think Spencer would be the choice." Spencer said, "I feel, at this point, the Conservative endorsement is in the bag."
No Republican since 1974 has won statewide election without Conservative Party support.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
That is certainly true, and is the reason I feel more tolerant of people like Chafee and Snowe (where the only alternatives are probably Democrats) than many on this board. However, in this case, I think Pirro is not only more liberal than Spencer, but also a horrible candidate and no more likely to win.
Incidentally, on the topic of liberal New England Republicans, did you see that William Weld is considered one of the leading candidates for governor here in NY?
This amazes me. Of course, he was the first Republican (of sorts) who started the current Massachusetts string of Republican Governors. This may come to an end as Romney still waffles about running for President (which he proabably shouldn't bother).
Yep. I grew up in Orange County. Gilman was my representative.
I grew up in Erie County. Jack Kemp was our Congressional rep. I spent most of my childhood watching old Jack with his butt up against the goal posts... and I guess I don't have to mentiion OJ.
My brother lives in Henrietta outside Rochester. Politically, he is on the dark side. He has lived too long in NY. Also, he is a retired teacher as is his wife. They are beyond redemption, but it does make for some lively discussions when we get together.
I'm assuming they are public school teachers. If so, there's the issue... Never left the academic calendar, don't know what's it's like to only have 2-3 vacation weeks a year, dependent on tax dollars, strong belief in the concept of "wise elders" therefore defends judicial activism, etc. Viva socialism!
Javits was a bonafide Socialist, and had the most leftist voting record in the Senate during most of his 24 years in office. The NY GOP once had a candidate for office who also ran on the Communist party line and successfully won a seat in Congress, Vito Marcantonio. The GOP needs to get far, far away from these radicals. Pirro is a disaster.
Weld also nailed the coffin lid shut on the viability of the Republican party in MA below the Gov's office, too. He was worse than a case of AIDS to the Republicans. He wants to do the same to the NY GOP.
Well I don't know about the details about that. I do know that the legislature has been totally controlled by the Democrats for decades in Mass. I believe Weld was elected during the days when Billy Bulger ran the legislature from a much bigger and more "sumptuous" office than the Governor's. It couldn't have been much fun being Governor then. Forget about any agenda, forget about even having a veto.
I've written ad infinitum about Weld on FR and elsewhere regarding his record. Weld swept into office with the largest GOP numbers seen since the 1950s (the last time the GOP controlled the legislature) due to the backlash against Dukakis. Rather than building on those gains (the GOP managed to come 4 seats short of equality with the 'Rats in the Bulger-run Senate), Weld turned out to be like the pulled-plug in the GOP tub. By the end of his reign, the Republicans were completely eliminated at the federal level (since the founding of the GOP in 1854, there was not a single election in which they didn't possess at least ONE federal seat), they dropped from 16 to 6 seats in the Senate and lost an additional 30% of their already-small legislative seats.
Even as Weld won a massive landslide against his wife's cousin in '94, he helped to sandbag Mitt Romney's Senate campaign against Kennedy and the two remaining fed Congressman barely fended off 'Rat challengers (they promptly lost as Weld ran for the Senate two years later). He told Conservatives they were NOT welcome in the party, leaving only the decrepit leftist RINOs as officeholders (often to the LEFT of the MA Democrats), which die off by the day. Romney's election to succeed the RINO troika of Weld-Cellucci-Swift was of little consequence, as he has literally no power as Governor (with almost no legislative Republicans to uphold vetoes and any other basic legislative tactics). The job of destroying the GOP as a viable force in MA is now complete (not even Romney can turn it around, and he doesn't even want to be Governor anymore - its like being a Republican Governor of a Southern state in the 1930s). I like to think MA is a prime example of what happens if the rotted liberal Rockefellerites were in control of the party elsewhere - the party would cease to exist.
Who were the conservative candidates who didn't get Weld's support?
You name 'em. He sandbagged Romney in '94 because he wanted NO other Republicans who might actually grab some of the spotlight from him. He did zilch for the grassroots to grow the party beyond the Beacon Hill country-club clique, he badmouthed and excluded Conservatives (I don't mean candidates, but even just people wanting to participate). The only "Republican" he helped was Cellucci (who proved to be just as bored with the job of Governor and couldn't get out of there fast enough). The line of succession Weld started was so dysfunctional that if Jane Swift had been elected to a full term and quit as all her predecessors had (an almost unheard-of practice in other states), the Governor now would have been a radical leftist gay Latino named Patrick Guerrero. To add insult to injury, the Court members that the Weld-Cellucci-Swift regime installed were almost radical to the last (and gave us those recent rulings that not only fly in the face of original intent, but spit in the face of 2000+ years of civilization). Besides all of that, Weld attempted to take his little dog and pony show out of state and openly wage war against the mainstream Republican movement (he and his wife actively tried to take down Sen. Jesse Helms, an act for which he should've been sanctioned) and Pres. Clinton seeing all the "good" Weld had done to advance the liberal cause and the Democrat party in Taxachusetts, unapologetically put forth Weld to be a prominent Ambassador (and Weld, in his stupidity and arrogance resigned before it was a done deal), and of course, we got the pleasure of seeing Helms smack him down (but, part of this was also strategy by the Clintonistas - an open "war" between Helms Conservatives and the Weld "Moderates" (sic) would make it look even better for them).
Weld himself vowed a fight for the "soul" of the national Republican party and to make it resemble his own state party, and his little hissy-fit lasted all of 30 seconds. People like Weld are the worst thing that can happen to the Republicans, enacting a leftist agenda, excluding center-right candidates and activists and those that refuse to kowtow to his ego, essentially doing everything the Democrat party does (and overseeing a seemless transition to a 'Rat government). All the 'Rats have to do is sit back and reep the benefits. There is literally no parallel to dangerous demogogues like Weld on the 'Rat side (how long would the 'Rats or the media tolerate one of theirs pushing a Conservative agenda, openly sabotaging other Democrats, and remaking the judiciary to reflect original intent ?).
The irony is that Weld could've been stopped in 1990 by one of two ways, either having nominated Steve Pierce, one of the last center-right members of the legislature, or having elected Weld's 'Rat opponent, John Silber (who actually WAS a Conservative !). Either way, both the state and the party would've been far better off.
I had high hopes for Jeanine Pirro, and she had great potential in liberal New York. And ideologically, it's better to have a little of something than a lot of nothing (why do so many conservatives not realize this?) This is New York, not Alabama. John Spencer is a good person, but certainly not a first-tier candidate for statewide office.
Problem is, Pirro's campaign has been so flat-footed, she's appearing to be out of her league. I'm starting to wonder if she's in the race to stay.
How's a guy in Tennessee know so much about Mass politics? How long since you made it over the wall?
Pirro is way out of her element. Not only does she have major baggage, she is almost uniformally wrong on issues of conscience, reflecting the very worst of what we know RINOs to be. Although I wouldn't be thrilled, I might've been persuaded to support her for Attorney-General, but the Senate seat is a non-starter.
As for former Mayor Spencer, I believe he has demonstrated he is clearly the best of the potential candidates. He not only served with distinction as Mayor, he also managed the very anti-RINOesque task of passing off his job to another Republican (and not through resignation). Even saying that, I think Hillary has a cloak of invincibility and short of putting Giuliani up against her, there may be no one that can take her down (and that speaks more to the utter stupidity of NY state voters than anything else, allowing a criminal demogogue to ascend to the highest levels of power). At best, we can only hope to inflict considerable damage to her (short of beating her), but we won't accomplish by running a pot-calling-the-kettle-black RINO.
I make it my business to learn as much about the politics in other states as much as possible. I was, however, up in MA during the '94 elections and saw up close what was happening. The state itself should serve as a warning to what happens when a highly dominant majority Republican party erodes to dust under the leadership of bigoted liberal out-of-touch elites (and technically, you could say the decline started after the 1860s when the nativist element (the old Know-Nothings) excluded the Irish and Catholics, forcing them into the Democrats - that spelled the end 100 years ahead of time). We either remain vigilant to halt the Weldites or we lose - for good.
A high-profile endorsement of the bulk of Hillary's ideology by her Republican opponent is an excellent way of burnishing Hillary's moderate credentials.
Bingo. BTW, JZ, speaking of lesbians, did you see that other thread on those naughty cheerleaders ?
I sho' nuff did DJ! The Topcats are classy ladies!
"and that speaks more to the utter stupidity of NY state voters than anything else"
The New York GOP has a lot to answer for, but no one would have defeated Hillary Clinton in 2000. Al Gore won the state by 1.7 million votes that year. In addition, demographics don't favor Republicans in NY. People drawn to life in NYC aren't known for their conservativism. It's not as if the GOP can force voters to support them against their will.
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