Posted on 10/19/2009 10:26:44 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Here’s the dirty little secret about political candidates and officeholders labeled by the mainstream media as “moderate Republicans”: There’s usually nothing moderate about them. Consider the case of “moderate Republican” Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in the New York 23rd Congressional District’s special election.
Handpicked by local party pooh-bahs and supported by Beltway GOP leaders, Scozzafava is vying to replace former GOP Rep. John McHugh, who abandoned his seat to accept President Barack Obama’s nomination as Army secretary. There’s certainly no urgency to tack left. The upstate New York district is as safe a Republican district as they come. The GOP has triumphed in every election there since 1871. Obama eked out a victory in the district last fall, but the Democrats have no real traction on the ground.
And the mood of the electorate near and far is far from electric blue. It’s not just Tea Party activists and health-care town hall protesters displaying discontent with Big Government in Washington. A recent Gallup Poll reported that self-identified conservatives now outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states — and that more Americans nationwide now say they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.
Scozzafava is an abortion rights advocate who favors gay marriage. It would be one thing if Scozzafava balanced that social liberalism with fiscal conservatism. But as a state assemblywoman, she voted for massive tax increases, Democratic budgets and a $180 million state bank bailout. She also supported the trillion-dollar federal stimulus package — which every House Republican voted against.
More troubling, Scozzafava in past elections has embraced the ballot line of the Working Families Party — a socialist outfit whose political DNA is intertwined with scandal-ridden ACORN. ACORN and the WFP have shared office space in New York City, Arkansas and Illinois. ACORN head Bertha Lewis, a close Scozzafava friend and political supporter, wears a second hat as vice chairman of the WFP.
Then, there’s the issue of Big Labor.
Refresher: The Service Employees International Union is co-located with several key ACORN offices across the country. ACORN founder Wade Rathke founded influential SEIU Local 100. As John Wilson reported in the New York Post this spring, the WFP’s largest donors are the SEIU, which pitched in more than $300,000, and the teachers union, which donated $200,000. These organizations have worked together to increase left-wing political clout, undermine capitalism and ensure “social justice” on the public’s dime.
Scozzafava’s husband is a leading upstate New York union organizer. She supports the federal “card-check” legislation that would massively boost union rolls — and Democratic voting rolls — at the expense of rank-and-file workers’ free choice. And for that matter, at the expense of GOP electoral prospects. Card check is the key to a Democratic majority in perpetuity. Big Labor bosses have said as much.
Movement conservatives and limited government activists are battling the establishment GOP over its endorsement of Scozzafava’s candidacy. The Club for Growth, former GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson and others have lined up behind a truly mainstream and viable candidate — Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.
Meanwhile, “moderate Repub-lican” Scozzafava has earned the endorsement of far-left blog entrepreneur and political strategist Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, who runs the Daily Kos site. He says that Scozzafava has “been willing to raise taxes when budgets require it, and is to the left of most Democrats on social issues.”
That’s not moderation. That’s extremist fringe. This race isn’t a fight over the heart and soul of the Republican Party. It’s a battle over its brain.
Michelle Malkin is a columnist for Creators Syndicate. Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.
The simple truth.
Dede makes John McCain look rightist.
I knew that card check is expected to inflate union ranks, but by what means does this mean a guaranteed boost in the Democrat vote? I could easily see a backlash effect from card check, not that I would want card check in the first place.
Don’t forget Newt too.
Scuzzifavabeans MUST be defeated. She is far worse than even the Democrat.
“I knew that card check is expected to inflate union ranks, but by what means does this mean a guaranteed boost in the Democrat vote?”
In a word, DOLLARS. Millions and millions more of them. From all the union dues collected from newly unionized workers to be lavishly spent on Democrat political organizing and campaigns.
In some sense, an electorate which thinks it can be bought into voting for Democrats deserves the deal. It is a pity that the rest of us have to put up with the consequences.
Republicans in that district need to rebel against their Party officials, and throw THOSE bums out, as well!
Newt needs to go pick up golf or something and GTFO of the political ring.
Outstanding article by Michelle. I don’t really see how Scozzafava qualifies as a moderate. She apparently does have a good record on the Second Amendment (gets an “A” from the NY chapter of the NRA), and Scozzafava does take a fairly tough stance on drug and sex crimes (though she also opposes the death penalty and does not support trying violent juvenile offenders as adults). On everything else, though, she’s very liberal. I no more see her as a moderate than I would Dianne Feinstein just because she supports the death penalty.
The headline is wrong, even if the article is right. This is a fight the GOP very much does need to have, and it needs to have it right now. Fred Thompson has taken a principled, courageous, and correct stand in refusing to endorse the GOP candidate and by endorsing the Convservative Party candidate instead. Will the two Madame Morons from Maine ever be persuaded there are actual consequences to behaving like Democrats in Notheastern politics if we cannot even shoehorn a conservative Republican into a safe, open district in upstate New York?
Send money to the conservative candidate, and a message to the NY GOP. I'm not a third-party guy -- I argue with FReepers about that all the time, but...
Enough is enough.
Can we run a strong conservative against her on the Dem ticket?
There already is a strong conservative running against her from the NY Conservative Party. Unlike a lot of third parties, the NYCP is no joke.
You’ve gotta love Michelle Malkin.
She knows how to research it, and how to present it.
Good to hear.
The GOP high poobahs are on the way to learning a very painful lesson.
Throw the bums out!
What the hell is going on out there? The GOP could picked ANYONE they wanted for this seat and will win easy, and this is the best they have???
That bit about Obama is sometimes used as justification for Scozzafava. It makes it sound like the district leans center to left these days. It doesn’t.
The upstate New York district is as safe a Republican district as they come. The GOP has triumphed in every election there since 1871. Obama eked out a victory in the district last fall, but the Democrats have no real traction on the ground.
The whole story in 2008 was this. They re-elected John McHugh with 65% of the vote. McHugh was a relatively conservative Republican who held positions on the issues pretty close to Dough Hoffman in this year’s race. McHugh had a 71.55% lifetime rating from the National Conservative Union.
On the same ballot, the district rejected a RINO, John McCain. This district doesn’t vote for libeRals and compromisers on the Republican side.
Please, send Hoffman a donation (or use PayPal). I wish we would get behind him as strongly as we got behind Joe Wilson last month.
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” libeRal 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: |
Please support Doug Hoffman for Congress (or Donate to Doug Hoffman for Congress through PayPal). Please, spread the word about this important race in New York’s 23rd congressional district. |
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