Posted on 10/24/2009 4:19:43 AM PDT by Libloather
Top Republicans jump ship in NY-23
Andy Barr Fri Oct 23, 7:12 pm ET
Some of the most prominent names in national Republican Party politics are lining up against the GOP nominee in a key upstate New York House special election, the latest being former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who weighed in Friday.
In endorsing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the Nov. 3 contest, Santorum joined former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, all of whom announced their backing for the conservative third-party candidate this week.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty suggested Friday that he might be the next well-known Republican to break with the party establishment and support Hoffman. When asked about the race Friday during an interview with ABC, he expressed frustration with GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava and said he will probably endorse in the race.
Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and has a close relationship with leading labor officials in her region, has been the target of sustained criticism from conservatives who claim that she is so liberal that they cannot in good conscience support her candidacy. As evidence, they point to her unofficial endorsement from the leading liberal blog Daily Kos.
While Scozzafava can point to many other prominent conservatives who support her bidincluding former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican leaders on Capitol Hillthis weeks surge of leading conservatives to Hoffmans camp is a troubling sign for her campaign and the national GOP establishment since several of the recent Hoffman endorsers have significant followings and represent the most energetic part of the Republican base.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Maybe intentional but from what I’ve read of her, all her positions fit right in with the Daily Kos agenda.
Yesterday there was a thread where lots of Freepers were ponying up support for Hoffman. From the thread, looks like we gave a couple of thousand in a few hours.
Any news on how his fund raising is going?
Oh, maybe some Freepers on this thread could send a few bucks too.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
I love this.
The only way to build a new party, or “takeover” an old party, is from the ground up.
Third “party” candidates who appear at the presidential level cannot succeed in our winner-takes-all system. And even if they manage to get elected, they have no apparatus from which to “fund” their administration and exert power in Congress.
But, again, building from the ground up CAN work and doesn’t have the same risks of turning the country over at the highest levels of government.
Even if Hoffman loses, this will have a powerful and positive effect on the GOP or the party that will develop to replace to GOP.
We are all getting quite fed up with those who dither. Pawlenty would not be much of a change from Obama.
There is baggage associated with the current party names.
By starting a new party, with a new name; people can listen, and identify with the message and not with past programming.
Newt would do very well to come out and say simply “I was wrong.” There’s no shame in that at this point. Come out and say, “yeah, we’re starting to get it; we realized the GOP can get behind this guy and we can help him win.”
Well somebody’s gotta start upsetting the apple cart. I’m tired of walking on eggshells around the RINOs and hoping they return to conservative principles.
As y'all know, there's a knock-down, drag-out fight in New York's 23rd Congressional District. Fred Thompson and Dick Armey are duking it out with Pete Sessions and Newt Gingrich.
BBBWWWAAAHAHAHAH!
Oh, and here's a link for supporting Doug Hoffman:
Good points.
I would add: “Even if GW occurs, it is a natural phenomenon that cannot be caused or stopped by humans.
I do think there is a time and place for giving weight to that “R” behind the name.
This isn’t it.
Newt would do well to come out and just say, “I had a brain fart.”
RING, RING!! This is your WAKE-UP CALL, RINOS!!
“Pawlenty would not be much of a change from Obama.”
R U KIDDING ME??
yeah - lets be pure U can B a party of ONE
Remember, we are after voters ~ so what you gonna' attract them with if you have Pawlenty as a candidate?
(NOTE: I was being polite about Pawlenty).
Works for me!
WE NEED CASH UP THERE FOLKS, SEVERELY! (Also send in some badly needed bucks to FRee Republic, too, while you are at it):
"Of Scozzafava's contributions, $103,890 came from PACs. Her individual donors include: Her father, Bill, on whose behalf she suspended her campaign earlier this season ($500, $1,500);her mother, Marilyn, ($2,400); former state GOP Chairman Sandy Treadwell ($1,000); Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb ($500); lobbyist Patrick McCarthy ($500); Margo Catsimatidis, wife of supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, ($1,000); former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, ($1,000); NRCC ($4,500); the state GOP ($5,000); Assembly members Janet Duprey ($1,000), Teresa Sayward ($1,000) and Joel Miller ($500), all fellow "yes" votes on gay marriage; the late Sen. Ron Stafford's campaign committee ($1,000); Kay Stafford, ($1,400); the Congressional Majority Committee ($5,000), former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso ($250), Rep. Chris Lee ($1,000), NARAL (National Abortion Rights League)($2,000). The son of state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, Christopher, gave $4,600, but that was refunded (no explanation was given). .....
Doug Hoffman outspent his fundraising - $229,879 to 205,139 - quite a burn rate. He's also $215,000 in debt ($102,000 of that is his own loan). His campaign has said he raised $210,000 on-line since the reporting period ended. The Club for Growth accounts for the lion's share of Hoffman's contributions. (This is being flagged in the report for breaking the limits, but it's an independent expenditure). There's also a lot of out-of-state money pouring into his coffers. Other donors of interest include: The state Conservative Party ($5,000), and the Citizens United Political Victory Fund ($10,000). "
The Democrats (D)
The Republicans (R)
The National Conservatives (NC)
In fact, you may start to see (D) vs (R) vs (NC) on many, many more ballots in the US, until it does not become rare and the prospect of three parties equally vying for electoral seats becomes the norm. And I certainly will welcome it. Fundamentally the American people are conservative about many things, trending Center/Right. Obama is way out of step and the National Republican Establishment is too much of an appeasing organism to put their foot down and stop his nonsense.
With such a political realignment, big changes can happen. I also think this (NC) could just about blow away anything like Perot or Wallace's AIP, or the Constitution Party, all essentially single digit and in rare cases, low double digits and historically never crossing the rubicon. But immense grassroots disatissfaction with both OBAMA AND Rino-dom is at a all time high, so the critical shift could be started with this congressional election. The RNC knows it.
A Conservative Party, ballot qualified, needs to regularly poll in the mid 30s in three way races. At least that is how I see the realignment. NY-23 could be the show stopper. I think all eyes will be up there more than on Trenton and Richmond two weeks from now.
For what it is worth, I am glad I sent in my few bucks worth to Mr. Hoffman the other day; hope it does some good back there.
The article states that after Palin’s endorsement he got $100,000 in endorsements with in days....pretty powerful stuff. That’s lots of little “republicans” who listen to her and opened their wallets.
I used to agree with Newt that electing Republicans, any Republicans - warts (read RINOs) and all - should be our primary objective since Republican control of the House & Senate may be our only hope of stopping Obama. But Scozzafava is a bridge too far. With 2010 shaping up to be the Year of the Conservative, Scozzafava is probably the first of many Dems in RINO clothing who will try to infiltrate our ranks and wreak havoc from within. Hopefully Newt will see this too.
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