Posted on 11/04/2009 3:07:13 AM PST by markomalley
Conservatives owe NY-23 candidate Doug Hoffman immeasurable gratitude. He overcame impossible odds (single digits just a month ago) to come within two points of defeating Democrat Bill Owens. Hoffman had zero name recognition. National Republican Party officials dumped nearly $1 million into the race on behalf of radical leftist GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava, who then turned around, endorsed Owens and siphoned off 5 percent of the vote with her name still on the ballot after she dropped out.
Conservatives’ money went to pay for specious attack ads against Hoffman run by the NRCC like this.
Conservatives’ money went to support a GOP candidate who shares the same socialist alliances with fellow SEIU/ACORN/New Party/Working Families Party activist Patrick Gaspard, the Obama White House political director who intervened in the race to secure Scozzafava’s endorsement of Owens.
Hoffman’s candidacy illuminated the stark difference between GOP political opportunists willing to pimp out their endorsements to any old ACORN-embracing, Working Families Party-consorting, Big Labor crony who puts an “R” by her name — and movement conservatives who refuse to “mooooderate” for the politically expedient sake of mooooderation as dictated by out-of-touch Beltway party leaders. The NRCC/RNC’s $1 million debacle will cost much more than that.
As I’ve repeated many times over the last several weeks:
One thing is guaranteed at the conclusion of the NY-23 special congressional election: The Beltway Republicans who endorsed radical leftist Dede Scozzafava are going to have indelible egg stains on their faces. And GOP establishment fund-raising organizations will be the poorer for it.
To illustrate the point: This blog now has a regular feature spotlighting readers’ RNC rejected solicitation forms of the day.
Today’s rejected RNC donor form comes from reader Bud:
Which brings me to my syndicated column today.
Hoffman may have lost narrowly, but NY-23 is a much broader victory for conservatives who believe the Republican Party should stand for core limited government principles. Scozzafava, who was endorsed by far Left blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and backed by Planned Parenthood, the National Education Association, and card-check-promoting trade unions, was denied the congressional seat because movement conservatives refused to support Arlen Specter in a skirt. This is a victory of principle.
Better a donkey in office that acts like a donkey than a donkey in elephant’s clothing making a complete ass of the GOP.
Moreover, NY-23 is a victory for conservatives who refuse to be marginalized in the public square by either the unhinged left or the establishment right. A humble accountant from upstate New York exposed the hypocrisy of GOP leaders trying to solicit funds from conservatives by lambasting Pelosi and the Dems’ support for high taxes, Big Labor, and bigger government — while using conservatives’ money to subsidize a high-taxing, Big Labor-pandering, bigger government radical. The repercussions will be felt well beyond NY-23’s borders. Conservatives’ disgust with the status quo has been heard and felt. They have been silent too long. They will be silent no more.
The GOP leadership knows it cannot afford to rest on its laurels, continue business as usual, and bask in yesterday’s electoral victories without confronting its abysmal abdication of principled conservative leadership in NY-23.
As Hoffman said in his concession speech, “This is only one fight in the battle.”
Onward. Upward. Rightward.
Hoffman isn’t the issue. The issue is that the GOP needs to attract and back conservative candidates. Hoffman himself wasn’t the greatest candidate, he was the vehicle to fight RINOism. And he succeeded and deserves our thanks.
Didn’t she (intentionally) resign too late to have it removed?
More words of wisdom.
Your RINO talking points are summarily rejected on the basis of the facts.
WTF?
You do recall the following, don’t you?
1) There was no primary to allow people’s true positions to be aired — party officials in consultation with DC RINOs chose Scuzzy.
2) A month ago Hoffmann was mired in last place.
3) Sarah Palin spoke up, but did not campaign in person. A couple of Tweets and/or Facebook postings.
(Contrast this, by the way, to the multiple PERSONAL appearances that Obama(+) put in for Corzine and Deeds. FAIL.)
4) Hoffmann surged.
5) The RINOs did a double-pronged attack. The GOP hierarchy and heavy hitters — including GOP chair Steele and RINO-turncoat-Newt — publicly endorsed Scuzzy.
6) The GOP also spent $900,000 on Scuzzy. And promied phone bank support when a TV report -- IIRC, Fox News -- showed the phone bank EMPTY on the last day.
7) At the last minute, Scuzzy dropped out. This had the effect of negating all of the GOP-cast absentee ballots, now guaranteed to be wasted for purposes of defeating the DEM.
8) To make the stab in the back DOUBLY sure, Scuzzy officially, and in public, endorsed the DEM. (WTF???)
9) Hoffman still came within 3% as a Third Party candidate, after coming from nowhere to remove the hand-picked GOP RINO quisling.
10) But all you can do is say “we lost, boo hoo.”
I beg to differ.
Cheers!
"most people" do not claim to be conservatives, that number is 40%. If can start at 40% and get one-half of self-described moderates, you win.
A liberal starts with 20% and needs all of the moderates to get to 50%. What's your preferable starting point?
I like Medved, but he has lousy political instincts. He was a McCain supporter way back into and before the primaries. How'd that work out?
He lost because his teeth were scuzzy and painful to look at. Mccain’s were just as bad.
The RNC should invest in crest white strips.
I hate to sound shallow but short men and ugly woman have a harder time being elected and someone should have corrected this issue.
A lot of clueless conservatives who sent money to Hoffman, and read the polls yesterday are saying the same thing. If you are intellegent, I believe that you may come to understand my post after a few more election losses.
Cheers!
So will Owens stand for reelection in 2010?
Obama has a history of removing opponents before an election.
Obama played hardball in first Chicago campaign
As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers. Obama's past battlesThe move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.
In order to win elections, we must appeal to moderates and independents.
IMHO, the NY race has a couple of messages. I am glad Hoffman prevailed as the candidate but it is not good news that the RAT won the election. Why did the RAT win?
Fire the GOP leadership.
Oh, come now, Eyeore, don't be so glum -
To cheer you up, how 'bout a Pooh hum....?
I believe that most voters have very little depth to their selections. You must appeal to their emotions.
There's the likeability factor, too. How much of that comes into play.
For fun, a friend and I talk about that and we make our predictions on just that factor.
Sometimes, we spend too much time analyzing substantive factors when in fact, voters are more shallow than that.
For sure, fire the GOP leadership that selected Scuzzy as the candidate. That’s up to the locals.
The message is conservatives can't stop McCain from winning the primary, can't win a general for Palin, can't win in a solid NY GOP RINO seat, and if conservatives don't like the GOP candidate they will spent mindnumbing time, effort and millions of dollars to elect rats...so you better make goddamn sure you move left to get enough liberal votes to make up the difference and get elected. Stupid move conservatives. After the defeat of the GOP in 2006 and Sen. Santorum, Rep JD Hayworth, Sen George Allen, Rep Richard Pombo, Rep. Curt Weldon, and Rep. Charles Taylor and the rise of Pelosi, Reid, Frank, and then the election of 0...it takes incredible brain damage to give the rats even more power. Dear Reader, ands the rats thank you.
Gov elect Mcdonnell was blasted for praising Obama. Hoffman will be forgotten in a couple week despite endorsements by the leadership of the unelected or retired...Rush, Hannity, and Palin. Some fools call the lost GOP congressional seat a moral victory, while Pelosi laughs.
Sadly, I can only imagine the headlines if the GOP had won NJ, VA, and NY-23.
It depends on the RINO, I think. Scozzafasa was so far to the left that I can see any conservative -- social and/or fiscal not voting for her. There's a good chance Hoffman might have split the vote and the Dem would have won anyhow.
That said, I agree that 100% purity isn't going to work -- some candidates will not measure up to all litmus tests, but will still be much better than the Dem.
But this candidate was nothing short of a disaster for the GOP -- her selection did nothing but reinforce the idea that the party insiders have all but given up on supporting any conservative principles, never mind some.
Going forward, I hope she was an aberration, rather than the norm, but I'm not counting on it.
Hoffman was a threat to the GOP machine officials. The party officials must be purged at Primary time.
Right. And no national leadership backed her, or supported ads against the true conservative. Sure, it was just the locals who were to blame. Keep believing that.
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