Posted on 11/03/2009 12:31:12 PM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
When Dede Scozzafava votes today, she will see her name on the Republican line for the 23rd Congressional District.
She plans to pull the lever for her Democratic opponent, then take the rest of the day off to do laundry and take care of other chores she ignored in the last two months of debating and defending her candidacy.
Scozzafava quit the race three days before the election and threw her support behind the Democrat, Bill Owens.
Scozzafava had been elected as a pro-choice Republican to be mayor of Gouverneur and member of the New York state Assembly. Suddenly, she was not conservative enough for the rest of the country.
Conservatives put Doug Hoffman on the ballot and he won support from talk show hosts and Republicans in state and national offices. Rush Limbaugh called Scozzafava a “RINO,” a Republican in Name Only.
The biggest sting, she said, came Thursday when former Gov. George Pataki showed up in the district to campaign for Hoffman. Pataki had not told Scozzafava, who had organized rallies for his re-election campaigns, that he switched.
“I thought he was a Republican,” she said.
Friday night brought more bad news.
A Siena College poll was about to come out, showing Scozzafava in last place. She was having trouble raising money for advertising. She talked about it only with her husband, she said. She hardly slept. In the morning, she decided to drop out.
Her cell phone rang. It was Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat whom she had talked with only when he visited the district. Scozzafava said Schumer did not ask for anything. He also didn’t offer anything.
“He just basically said that he was very sorry for the way that I had been treated,” she said.
Then, U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, a Long Island Democrat, called on behalf of the White House to say the same, she said.
“The one thing that wasn’t occurring, as the Republicans in Washington were changing their allegiances, no one bothered to call me,” she said.
On Sunday, Scozzafava announced she would throw her support to Owens, the Democrat.
Monday morning, she reported for work in the state Assembly.
The Hoffman campaign sent out a press release that called for an investigation of a “deal” between Scozzafava and Democrats.
“The amount of hate and lies and the deceitfulness,” she said. “I don’t believe that should be the characteristics that define the Republican Party. I think people should be allowed to have discussions and reasonable disagreements. But this was a full frontal assault on me personally and politically, for weeks.”
The phone calls came in to her office, as they had for weeks, from angry people all over the country.
The ringing overwhelmed her three state government staffers. Scozzafava answered a phone herself.
“There was a man from Oregon,” she said. “We talked for half an hour. In the beginning, he just started lecturing me on the Bible, lecturing me on sin, on liberalism. Finally, I said, ‘How about honesty? How about telling the truth?’”
Scozzafava said she has a long list of news reporters and others who called Monday to hear her story.
“I’m really not interested in talking right now,” she said. “I think in time, I’ll tell my story. Right now, we’re at this point, the election is tomorrow. The outcome will be known tomorrow night. We’ll have a new congressional representative and hopefully, he’ll do a good job for this area.”
Scozzafava plans to return to the state Assembly to finish her term. Next year will be another election year.
Well she should stop hating and lying then.
And, sniff, of course, snuffle, the fact that she was a, sob, RINO had nothing to do with it??
It wasn’t hate or lies that wore her down. It was lousy poll numbers.
She sure knows how to whine... she will make a great Democrat.
Well then she wasn’t ready for national level politics. Politics is hardball, and if you can’t take a fastball to the head while standing in the box, you need to keep playing in the minors.
She was also all for Obamacare AND Cap & Trade.
Not conservative enough.....ya think?
Wow.
The rattlesnake known as Chuckie Schumer called her, and there was no ulterior motive?
Scozzafava is such a liar.
I am relieved that she is out of the race.
Well, you do reap what is sown. No sympathy here.
Got tired of lying and telling everyone I stood for Republican principles that I hate...
If hate is what it takes, then hate you’ll get, Ms. Scozzafava. As for the lying, you can stop lying and that will stop wearing you down.
It wasn’t hate or lies that wore her down. It was lousy poll numbers.
She got run over by a conservative Double- Decker Bus!
Dede, you are a typical back stabbing liar liberal. At least you further revealed the stupidity of RINOs.
Conservatives are a lot smarter than her and all the other RHINOs take us for. And liberals are too stupid to even notice what’s happening
Dede, have a nice, big, steaming cup of STFU.
Your 15 minutes of fame are so over.
light of truth = hate lies... gotcha...
“Scozzafava plans to return to the state Assembly to finish her term. Next year will be another election year.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.