It's time for Jeannine Pirro to get out of this race

various news outlets | November 30, 2005 | self

[EagleUSA]

“Forty-five percent (45%) now see [Senator Hillary] Clinton as politically liberal.”
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Are the other fifty-five percent blind and deaf??? -- or just ultra-low I.Q. ??

[ConservativeDude]

Can someone familiar with the CP in NY tell me why this model wouldn't work well in other states (separate party, but collaborating - often decisively - with the GOP when the GOP candidate is also a conservative)?

[txhurl]

The more I hear op/ed people calling for her to leave, the more I'm sure Hillary is directing this.

[Owen]

The poster has it entirely wrong. It is Spencer who should endorse Pirro.

The only thing to cause Hillary problems in 2006 would be the insistence she swear to serve out a Senate term if she wins. While Spencer can insist on that too, she need not listen or respond to him because NY is a liberal state. Against Spencer she can cross her arms and say that she is moderate and Spencer is a radical right winger and that's all the voters in NY need to know. The NYers will agree and vote for her as a moderate, not insist on a pledge to serve out a Senate term and leave her unfettered to run for President in 2008.

In contrast, Pirro can also claim to be a moderate. Hillary can't run only on her political positions versus Pirro because Pirro doesn't look like an extreme right wing conservative to the public. NY is a liberal state and that matters.

Only Pirro can 1) force Hillary to address the pledge requirement to serve out a Senate term and 2) force Hillary to look for contrasting positions and move farther to the left. Moving Hillary farther to the left is important for the GOP to win in 2008.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Pirro presents NO ideological alternative to Hillary. If we're going to run someone, let them offer the voters an actual choice, not an echo. I'm supporting former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer.

[fieldmarshaldj]

We keep treating any given state as "liberal" and running liberal ultraRINOs expecting that they'll turn things around solely because they have an "R" after their name and after time, we act all "surprised" when nothing ever changes, and the situation in said given state worsens. We have to offer bonafide ALTERNATIVES to rotten liberal corruption, statism, and do-nothingism. Believe it or not, Pataki ran and won as a CONSERVATIVE. Sadly, he stayed too long and became captured by the RINO statism and destruction. Pirro is nothing but a candidate of this same corrupt status-quo quagmire.

[peacebaby]

Hillary instigating this call for Pirro to leave?

very interesting. highly possible.

[conservative in nyc]

Well, the Conservative Party may be on the way out in New York. The Republicans keep on nominating RINOs. Eventually, the Conservatives will have to not endorse a candidate for governor. You need to get over 50,000 votes for your party's candidate in the Gubernatorial election to retain party status. That might not happen this time if the Republicans nominate Weld and the Conservatives don't cross-endorse him. (On the other hand, Golisano would probably get over 50,000 votes on the Conservative Party line were they to nominate him, as Weld and Golisano split the Republican vote, allowing Democrat Spitzer to cruise to victory (ugh!))

Some would argue that it's more important for a Republican to get the Independence Party line than the Conservative Party line. Because of demographic shifts in the NYC suburbs, it's no longer enough for Republicans to win the less partisan offices (like judges) by just being cross-endorsed by the Conservative Party. The Democrat usually wins, even with the cross-endorsement.

I think New York's unique election laws allow us to have these third parties than other states. Once a party's gubernatorial candidate garners more than 50,000 votes, the party is pretty much guaranteed a spot on the ballot for the next four years (as long as they can get enough signatures for their candidates). The number of required signatures is usually lower than the Republicans, so sometimes the only candidate run against the ultra-liberal NYC Democrats are third party candidates (including Conservatives). They never win.

As for John Spencer, he's more conservative than Janine Pirro, but has virtually no name recognition outside of Yonkers. I doubt that he's even well known in northern Westchester County, let alone Upstate New York or Long Island. Hillary! would clean his clock. There's also some lawyer from Sullivan County running who has even less name recognition and less of a chance of winning.

I don't like the Republicans' chances in New York in 2006. The party is in real trouble.

[MarcusTulliusCicero]

But, but, but....if we thought like that, Doug Forrester wouldn't have been elected Governor in New Jersey. After all, he was the only one who could beat Jon Corzine. Oh wait...nevermind.

[NYFriend]

Because New York is the only state which determines the winner of an election based on aggregate votes (all votes for a candidate regardless of which parties line those votes were cast). If you're not a member of a party, you can run on their line with their permission. In New York, Rob Republican might also be endorsed by the Conservative Party and Independence Party; while Don Democrat might be endorsed by the Working Families Party. In that case, the ballot looks like this (numbers to show hypothetical votes):

R Rob 10
D Don 20
I Rob 10
C Rob 10
WF Don 05

Rob wins with 30 to Dons 25.

[Gil4]

They're from New York - they are to the left of her, but think they are "moderates."

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Why on earth would Hillary orchestrate the trashing of an unelectable RINO who does nothing but reinforce HRC's own positions? Pirro is Hillary-lite. There's no good reason for New Yorkers to vote for her when the real thing is already on the ballot.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

We keep treating any given state as "liberal" and running liberal ultraRINOs expecting that they'll turn things around solely because they have an "R" after their name and after time, we act all "surprised" when nothing ever changes, and the situation in said given state worsens.

You mean the liberalization of the GOP isn't really all that pragmatic after all?

Bottom line is, don't trust ANYONE trying to sell you on "moderates". It's just code for libs in drag.

[fieldmarshaldj]

If we want to be truly honest, we'd better realize that no matter who we nominate (save perhaps Giuliani), the people of NY aren't going to vote Miss I Saw Everyone's FBI Files Clinton out. Saying that, we might as well go with the best candidate who can draw contrasts to Hillary.

We probably need to focus more on the Governorship. I can't even imagine the mentality of a state party that would take seriously a William Weld candidacy. Weld was to the state of Massachusetts Republican Party what the Enola Gay was to Hiroshima. Bill Clinton has more credibility to serve as a REPUBLICAN nominee than Weld does. As for Golisano, I think he's just another uberrich Perotista nut, who believes his wealth automatically entitles him to high office. I'm leaning towards Secretary of State Randy Daniels, whom I've heard some describe as Conservative. Nominating another African-American Republican for high office (along with Blackwell in OH, Swann in PA, Steele in MD) while watching out closely for the damage a coming Tom Suozzi-Eliot Spitzer fratricidal grudgematch might actually see us retain the Governorship, even if we don't really deserve to after Pataki's reign of error, and the gross mismanagement of the state party (which still seems stuck in the bossism of the 19th century). If Weld gets the nomination for the GOP, I'll campaign for Spitzer personally. At least as a radical liberal, Spitzer has the common-courtesy to be in the right party.

[Old Seadog]

Pirro

[fieldmarshaldj]

If anything, Forrester's campaign demonstrated that even the RINO establishment of NJ has become so powerless they can't deliver anywhere near majorities anymore (and witness the legislative erosion for the 7th consecutive statewide election since after 1991). This has held true for a long time now, and they refuse to admit it. The statist RINO establishment of NJ (and NY) needs to be slayed and buried before they end up like Massachusetts.

[wallcrawlr]

I'm pretty sure even the blind and deaf can see and hear those lies.

Its those willing idiots that enjoy her tripe.

[fieldmarshaldj]

It would be one thing to run "moderates" (if those are actually what they are and not cross-dressing Socialists) in areas where we are considered a lost cause FAR BELOW a statewide office (say, Mayor, State Legislator, etc.), but I don't care how 'Rat a state is, you never run these destructive liberal RINO types, period. Conservatives and those committed Republicans will SIT OUT the election if this is what is offered for opposition. Merely having an "R" after your name isn't enough to prove your worthiness. Being an "R" has to mean something.

[fieldmarshaldj]

That pic is incredibly airbrushed. What's shocking is Pirro's resemblence to Brooklyn-born Stalinist Barbara Boxer, they look like twins.