Boehner says NY GOP ignored warnings from NRCC (Wrong...)

Washington Examiner ^ | 11/4/2009 | J.P. Freire

[markomalley]

At a meeting of Washington conservatives this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed pride over GOP success in last night's election. But questions about NY-23 remain -- so I asked him whether there was an effort to get New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in that race, to endorse Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.

"There was a huge effort," he replied. 

When asked about rumors that the New York Republican Party picked Scozzafava because of the advice of Washington insiders who felt she would be a more electable candidate, Boehner rolled his eyes. "We told them to hold off on a decision, to work with us, but they went ahead and did it."

 

So if she was a rotten egg, why spend money? "All the money spent on that race was anti-Owens money, not pro-Scozzafava money."

 

UPDATE:

Boehner's response obviously doesn't cover for the anti-Hoffman web ads put out by the NRCC, accusing the third-party candidate of only being in it for himself. Or the active ripping on Hoffman, like in this statement to National Journal: 

"[Conservative] Party bosses in New York have been sold a bill of goods in the form of Doug Hoffman's deceptive smoke-and-mirrors campaign, but fortunately they aren't the ones deciding this election," said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the NRCC, which has produced Web ads attacking Hoffman's conservative bona fides.  "We will continue to remind New Yorkers that a vote for Hoffman or Bill Owens is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and her far-left, radical agenda."

And any defense of Scozzafava's electibility should have to address the character issue: Her campaign was willing to smear Weekly Standard writer John McCormack. Even if it was someone "misspeaking," that someone should have been fired.

UPDATE 2:

Pete Sessions is playing "cover your assets" too. In a statement: 

"After two special elections in New York, there is no doubt in my mind that the candidate selection process lacks openness and transparency and should be changed to a primary system so voters can have a say in who their respective parties nominate."

[HiramQuick]

My neighbor ... Old Butthead himself. For two years I have written here what a loser he (Boehner) is on this board .. he has never been anything but a poseur. A Xavier grad, focusing on gaining a political seat, a self proclaimed career politician from the very beginning. But I got flamed soooo many times here I said to hell with it.

Reality always seems to come out eventually.

Flame away .. I've been told everything that I was jealous of what he had, to that I had no idea what I was talking about .... those of you have done so in the past .. perhaps your eyes might start to be opened. Somhow I doubt it.

Keep them closed ... flames don't bother me at all ....

I washed my hands of all RINO republicans .. of which he is chief.

He couldn't lead a 2 year old to the crapper if he tried .. he was trained well, the rest of the little (”r's) he hangs out with insured that.

[JrsyJack]

I don’t think it’s funny to lose a seat for a year. There is no short term benefit for us in the loss of NY-23. We can HOPE the loss is only for a year. We HOPE that the party leadership learned a lesson from this and it APPEARS they have, but we won’t know that for sure until we see a change in their process, strategy and ideology that is more closely aligned with the base.

While I agree that a loss is not good in reality we are talking about a 79 seat Dem majority versus a 80 seat dem majority. The pain until the general election will be mitigated by the lessons learned.

[packrat35]

It was worth repeating!

[Brugmansian]

The base needs to demand due diligence. Everyone in leadership positions should disclose the sources of income and assets. I can’t prove anything of course but its pretty clear from the history of the left there are people in the GOP receiving emolument from the left while they collect a Republican party paycheck. Tim Gill, Soros, Sandler, Bing and others have hundreds of millions to splash around. I have no doubt some is being splashed into the GOP to neuter and destroy it.

[BAW]

Some heads need to roll.

[bustinchops]

I agree the loss will be worth it if our statement in NY-23 has the result we hope for, and I agree that as a difference between 79 vs. 80, it doesn’t mean much. But a loss is NEVER as good as a win, and a three-state win would have sent an even more powerful statement to both parties than the two-state win. Certainly a conservative win in NY-23 would have sent an even stronger message to the pub leadership than the loss did, even though our shift in support from scuzzy to Hoffman sent a loud and clear message we aren’t going to take RINOs anymore.

[JrsyJack]

Agreed...

[Soul Seeker]

Too bad. I find it incredibly amusing that a party that said it knew better and conservatism was too extreme for the district had their candidate come in dead last despite spending about one million dollars on her. Only to have her betray them in the end.

As for the seat? Nothing was lost. Well I guess you might consider something lost if you consider the previous holder the seat who departed to serve Obama. But as for this race I repeat...nothing lost. Had the GOP had their way an extreme Liberal would have won the seat. Instead a Democrat won a temporary placement in which he will face the same pressures as all the other Democrat’s. Whether to oppose Obama and his leadership...or not. I’m thinking he won’t be any more eager to embrace that health bill than anyone else. Dede? Her I’m not so sure about. All Republicans lost was a number that doesn’t impact the control of the house in anyway.

You can fret if you like but the pros and cons of the situation were weighted and debated for weeks. I feel nor do I recognize any loss here. AT most I feel we gained a small victory IF Republicans like Cornyn hold to their fresh promise to never again interfere with an open seat.

[Randy Larsen]

Who authorized the $900,000 contribution to DD’s warchest?

[bustinchops]

I wasn’t fretting. Brush up on your reading comprehension. I simply made the point that it’s better to win than to lose and, since we lost, let’s hope the oddities of that particular race translate into a lesson learned by the GOP.

[Redbob]

And I got a mailer requesting money from the NRCC just today:
in place of a dollar amount I wrote one thing:
“Dede Scozzofava”

[ntnychik]

Is Steele trying to make me decide between Steele and Palin?
Hmmm. Steele...Palin... Sorry Mike, you gotta go. It was a no-brainer (yours).

[Brad from Tennessee]

The election was stolen in a classic Chicago-style operation orchestrated from the White House. Likely Scozzafava was in contact with Democratic operatives since at least July when she was tapped by the GOP panel. The White House needed a
republican candidate who would vote with Democrats on the major bills like ObamaCare, Cap-and-Trade, Gay Marriage and Card-Check. That describes Dede. A win by either candidate would be a win for Nancy Pelosi. Then Hoffman showed and upset the applecart. Hoffman immediatley began attrracting high-powered support and finally pulled ahead Dede. At this point Scozzafava began pulling more votes from Owens than from Hoffman. So—suprise! surprise! surprise!—DeDe endorses Democrat Owens. She’ll probably be sitting in a plush office by year’s end with a view of the Potomic.

[jimday]

that what he is RINO

[bustinchops]

“As for the seat? Nothing was lost. Well I guess you might consider something lost if you consider the previous holder the seat who departed to serve Obama. But as for this race I repeat...nothing lost.”

Well, seeing as how Owens turned on his campaign promises and his constituents within minutes of being sworn in and voted FOR the House death care bill that passed by 2 votes, maybe you can now see that one seat really DOES matter. As I told you before, a win is better than a loss.