Moderate Republican Dierdre Scozzafava has dropped out of the NY House Race. Three people were running in this special election: Scozzafava, the moderate Republican, Hoffman, the conservative Republican, and Democrat Bill Owens. Enter Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson who threw endorsements to Hoffman. The money poured in from all over.
The Huffington Post notes:
“In today’s political arena, you must be able to back up your message with money – and as I’ve been outspent on both sides, I’ve been unable to effectively address many of the charges that have been made about my record,” Scozzafava said.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Scozzafava’s decision is a “selfless act” and that the committee is immediately endorsing Hoffman. That support will include financial backing and efforts to get voters to the polls.
Scozzafava also got a gentle nudge to step aside last week from congressional Republicans who had supported her candidacy. Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, tacitly acknowledged Thursday that Hoffman might be the stronger candidate for the party, saying the Conservative Party candidate would be “welcome in our conference.”
The NRCC and RNC moved quickly Saturday to endorse Hoffman, but strategists said television ads run by NRCC in the district will continue criticizing Owens, not backing Hoffman.
Some have called the race a test of the GOP’s future: whether traditional conservative ideology would lead the way forward or if a more inclusive approach would draw more people back to the party.
Once again outsiders have tilted a race. The people of NY have really been disenfranchised because of Palin and Thompson. Tennessee and Alaska are a long way from NY.
Earlier in the evening I chided Slowpoke over caring what happened in NY. I shouldn’t have. This NY race is an election microcosm of what’s really going on in this country. If moderates are being pushed back further and further to the right, what is to become of the country? Will the left move more towards the center, or will both sides square off at their respective poles, like 2 old grizzly bears?
The flaw is, there are many of us in the middle, we prefer to call ourselves moderates, who just don’t like being forced into the left or right. A third party might just have to emerge that represents Americans rather than the fringes.
Is this the new Tea Party Rebellion? It looks to me like the big dogs got sent in to disturb a semi local election. It defintely doesn’t seem like what a true conservative would want, much less a tea-partier.
I love it. If right wing wackos completely take over the GOP, they’ll never win a national election and we’ll have a lot less foreign policy melt downs and a lot better economy. Go nut jobs, go!
Actually, the Democrat in the race is the most moderate of the three candidates. Because of a very odd nominating process, the Republicans nominated Scozzafava who was even more to the left/progressive/liberal (whatever you want to call it) than the more centrist Democratic candidate.
It is a little odd to see a Republican candidate that is pro-EFCA, supports gay marriage and served on the board of Planned Parenthood. Depending on your political views, those may be pluses or minuses, but these are certainly not widely supported positions within the Republican party. It’s not shocking to see a successful rebellion when the candidate’s positions are so out of line with the general beliefs of their party.
The exodus of support for Scozzafava started before Palin and Thompson (and there were many others) got involved. Two weeks ago Newt Gingrich and Michael Steele were both trying to shore up support for Scozzafava when she first started to slip in the polls. (If you want to pin the blame on Scozzafava’s fall, Hoffman didn’t really start to move up until he Club for Growth started running ads supporting him. If anybody did in Scozzafava it was CfG.)
Essentially, Hoffman is a GOP version of Joe Lieberman in 2006. The nomination process produced a candidate that was unlikely to win (Scozzafava here, Lamont in 2006) and there was a backlash against it from the national parties who are more concerned about the balance in Congress than particular local interests. And come next Wednesday, the national parties don’t really care much who wins as long as the winner will caucus with them.
Justin,
You remind me of the Muslim Propaganda ministers that declare “glorious victory” while your country is being bombed into the stone age.
So Republicans, if they return to their core principles, will never win a national election. Who do we elect nationally? County Government? Nooooo. State Legislatures? Nooooo. District representatives in the House? Noooo. State Governors? Nooooo. State Senators? Nooooo. Hmmm, there’s the President….that’s one. If you can think of another one, let me know! I’m cool with Republicans never winning a national election again! I’ll stick with the most important government…at the state level and lower. Does it keep you up at night knowing that people woke up to your liberal BS so fast? Does it kill you that Obama can’t make and stand by a decision to save his soul? If it’s not campaigning, he’s absolutely lost. Does it bother you that your “hope and change” salesman turned out to be just that? A salesman?
Formerly, I sure am trying to figure out where/how you get all your info. Do you read EVERYthing?
So why did people support Scozzafava in the first place and why was she a Republican? I feel it is strange that she has been embraced by the party this long.
On the other hand, I don’t like outsiders coming into local elections.
Slow, I took down one of your posts. Figured you would want me too.
I don’t like the idea that Republicans are going to back off into their own corner. I dislike both parties. Maybe it will be a good thing. I am all for a third party. I think it is past time for a legitimate moderate party to form.
Can’t buy your states rights position in the 21st century. I still say the Civil War effectively neutered those. A nation cannot function as a bunch of city states. We aren’t ancient Greece.
I do thank you for jolting me off my apathy on this one though. I was wrong to scoff at you over it.
Well, you’ve just outlined that exact agenda our founding fathers feared the most! Go ahead, tell me how much smarter we are than they were!
Like McAuliffe?
My impression was that Scozzafava was selected originally in a backroom deal. Given that she could not raise money (locally or globally) and her polling was weak, it is hard to say that outsiders made this happen. Notwithstanding the labeling of the Washington Post and Huffington Post, Scozzafava certainly does not seem very moderate — this supposed Republican actually had the backing of ACORN.
11 County Supervisors chose Scozzafava, not the people. The GOP still has some lessons to learn, and they could be painful, but hey, the Dems aren’t exactly the picture of unity, either. The GOP needs to stop listening to advice given to it by it’s enemies. Pretty easy/fundamental thing, isn’t it? Don’t take what your opponent offers you. They’ll figure it out eventually, or suffer.
lets see if Scozzafava is appointed to a position in the next few months.
Slow, far be it from me to speak for the Dems. See my comments yesterday about the governor’s race.
As for the founding fathers, so much has changed. Are we smarter? I don’t think I would use the word smart. I think we are different. I still say that states rights lost most of their power during the civil war. Once over 600,000 Americans have died over an issue, I don’t really see how we can walk away the same people who walked in.
That begs the real question at this time, do we really want the states to do their own thing? Do we want a patch work of laws?
Kelly, why a slam at WaPo or Huffington? What if I found the same information at say, CNN? Why are we always having to qualify news. I see a horrible problem with having to do that.
McAuliffe? Fair question since I thought of him when I was typing an earlier response. Actually McAuliffe has been a long time Virginia resident, but somehow we don’t think of him as one. I think this perception definitely hurt his chances in the VA governor’s race.
He was also just seen as too slick and polished. He puts on quite a dog and pony show. The stories that came back from the JJ dinner in Richmond last year were interesting.
@Kelly, funny how ACORN has become the big buggaboo. 2 years ago most of us had never heard of it. now it has replaced communism as the big threat. I don’t even want to ask what the connection is between Scozzafava and aCORN. I am sure there is some spin there somewhere.
I always thought Huffington was opinion not news, wolfie. I am never sure about WaPo since I learned in college how to slant news just by placement in a story.
Huffington is news is like Glenn Beck or Keith O. is news. None of them are news–they are opinionated commentators.
@Slowpoke Rodriguez
When those 11 county supervisors selected Scozzafava, I bet that it was with the backing and support of the RNC and Newt Gingrich. You have to ask yourself who the real loser here is. From what I can tell, the real loser may be Newt Gingrich and I am not at all unhappy about that.
I view WaPo and Huffington to be every bit as biased as you perceive Fox News to be. So when the news comes from either of those two sources, I find it necessary to take the same shots at them as you do for Fox News.
I’ve always liked Newt, but you’ve always got to keep an eye on him. He’s prone to sitting on couches with Botox Queens and allowing “global warming” diarrhea to fall out of his mouth. I think he’s a very intelligent man, but there’s just a bit too much “I’d sell my principles to stay in power” in him. In that respect, he’s a little too close to Arlen Specter for me. Specter’s been a smart guy too, at times, but to hear him lately, I think he’s having some dementia issues. When he speaks, there’s clearly something “off” about him.
I understand the desire for ideological purity. With regard to abortion I rather sympathize. My concern is that this trend of running a third party candidate each time Club For Growth sees an opportunity is going to spread. Soon there will be no standards for deciding what makes a Republican ideologically impure. The definition of Republican will narrow, candidates with moderate views will refuse to run, and party membership will shrink.
Kelly3406, Slowpoke Rodriguez and Pat.Herve are all right. New York state politics make Virginia’s tortured mess look clear, obvious and transparent. Scozzafava’s nomination have a lot more to do with internal politcs in New York than anything else. I don’t have enough local knowledge to comment more specifically but I understand that there are fault lines regionally, ideologically and of course family connections that cross party lines. Far too messy and too far from home for me to worry about.
Formerly, when you speak I always feel you have done your own research rather than quoting out of some canned article. I do mean that as a compliment.
As for Huffington, I will have to admit that I used to think the same thing and never read it. However, it now has become ‘all growed up’ and prints articles from AP etc. Regular stories. It isn’t just opinion. Unless it is an obvious spoof, I always check it out with a few other sources, just to get the lay of the land. The Richmond Times Dispatch is generally a good counter point.
I am not so cynical about the WaPo. I generally don’t read opinion columns there though. For a blog though, USA Today works. No one holds us to literary standards. The articles are just used as focal points for discussion. If you want well researched blogging, check out Anke Cheney. Her blog was always impeccably researched.
Classic… Dems control everything yet can’t decide on anything but the right is in shambles. How delusional can you be? You know what JustinT, I found a video that perfectly captures how you and the left feel about themselves… all alone on a boat man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvaCV6uQp8
Got one more vid for all you on the left… is this how you felt when Obama got elected? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4&NR=1&feature=fvwp
My favorite part of JustinT’s public break with reality is “less foreign policy meltdowns”. Wow, the power of denial is truly awesome!
tell me about it Slow… maybe someone should remind JustinT that their ‘foreign policy expert’ is Joe Biden. What an f’n joke… 🙂
This is the ‘boss’ Joe Biden in action… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp7jp5H-xWU&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=ED9441CFC963F147
We need look no farther than Virginia to see upstanding moderates leaving races and leaving the Republican party, pushed out by ideologically pure, and altogether unviable candidates. We lost a Senate seat AND a House seat because Tom Davis was too liberal for the RPV. Tom Davis too liberal?!
In the case of this New York district, I don’t know which would be worse, losing another seat or gaining one and encouraging an intra-party war that could drag out across three or four election cycles. America is no longer homogenous enough for a major party to limit itself to a very narrow political, cultural, and ethnic constituency. Whether in the short term or the long term or both, this purge and shrink strategy is bad news.
Reminder, there are many out there who are not on the right or the left and who are neither Democrat or Republican. Those are the people you on ‘either side’ need to really watch out for. We can throw an election in a heartbeat if we decide to.
Yes, M-H, that is my point exactly. If 20% of the nation is Republican, and 30% is Democrat, that means 50% is either too independent or too apathetic to register with either party. I am weary of a day when 12% is Republican, 8% is “conservative,” and 30% is Democrat, and all three introduce candidates into races where Republicans once enjoyed a demographic advantage.
This advantage will only endure, in my estimation, if moderate Republicans are, not only allowed to run without being back-stabbed by far right Republicans, but ultimately win the day when it comes to platforms and messaging. If the definition of Republican ends up being “must think and talk like Palin and Thompson,” we lose the 50% in the middle who rejected Palin a year ago.
I feel confident that McCain would be president if he had not felt the need to pick from the far right. Is firmed up his far right base but it chased all the moderates off and into the arms of Obama. I know MANY people who might not have voted Democrat had Palin not been thrown into the mix.
The bottom line is, most people are not far right or far left. Most people are hovering somewhere around the middle. Why should they not be represented?
@Moon-howler
Twist that around 180 degrees, and you’re close to the truth. McCain was known for “poking conservatives in the eye”. Well when we poke…it ain’t in the eye. That and the fact that the sheeple fell for the absolute character assassination of Palin by the media, and there you have it.
Which part do you want me to turn 180 degrees?
I don’t think people (or sheeple) fell for character assassinations on Palin. She was simply too conservative for most of the moderates. She wasn’t a bad lady.
I know many people who would have voted for McCain until Palin got into the mix. I don’t want the far right or the far left in control of the country. Why should we have be governed ideology rather than common sense?
Seems the lady with the un-spellable name has endorsed the Democratic candidate.
Yeah … but there were lots of people who would not have voted for McCain without Palin in the mix. More people self identify as conservative than moderate (40% vs 37%). If McCain gets all the conservatives and half the moderates, he would of won easily. It would be interesting to see what the split of moderates was — it seems unlikely that Obama got more than half of the moderates.
Ok, I give up. With Scozzafava endorsing Owens, NY-23 has gotten too crazy to pay attention to anymore. Call me when Alan Keyes enters the race. (Yes, this is a reference to Obama’s 2004 Senate win, which was my previous high water mark for absurdity.)
As for Palin in the last election, I think she was done in more by impression she was unqualified more than ideology. The Couric interview was a fatal blow and Palin never recovered from it.
And as for McCain having a chance in 2008. He had a slim chance at the start of 2008 if all the breaks went his way. The Palin pick was very high-risk and it didn’t pan out. And if there was any chance at all left after that, it disappeared during the financial chaos of Sept 15-30, 2008. (That foolish suspending your campaign idea didn’t help much either. It reminded some of us of Ross Perot in 1992.)
Kelly, I simply do not believe there are more conservatives than moderates. I don’t really see how that can be measured. Who else would conservatives had to vote for if not McCain? Maybe they would have just stayed home. usually when there is a risk of that, someone trots out some iniative for the ballot like a protect marriage act or something clever like that.
What do you do about people who are conservative on some things and liberal on others? It just can’t be measured.
Recent Gallup poll saying most people identify with conservatives over liberals, but Democrats over Republicans…
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52602
@Moon-howler
>>>Who else would conservatives had to vote for if not McCain? Maybe they would have just stayed home.
I believe that most conservatives DID stay home, or they voted for Sarah (not McCain). I’m in the latter group. I wouldn’t have voted at all if she wasn’t on the ticket.
Why would you not vote? I am not willing to give that up, regardless of my choices.
Do you think you are unique in your feelings or not?
I am not really sure what that article said. I came away with the idea that there are an awful lot of people who simply don’t know what they are.
What about those of us who are liberal about some things and conservative about others? I doubt if I could place myself in either category.
Ahhh, this is good stuff happening here. This shows the Republican party that conservatives can live without the Republican party….but the party can’t live without conservatives. And for anyone who wants to say how this will end all remaining influence of the Republican party…….hold that thought for about 36 hours then get back to me!
@Moon-howler
>>>Why would you not vote? I am not willing to give that up, regardless of my choices.
I *did* vote… for Sarah.
>>> Do you think you are unique in your feelings or not?
Not at all! 🙂
>>> I am not really sure what that article said. I came away with the idea that there are an awful lot of people who simply don’t know what they are.
Well, if you have more people identifying with conservatives than liberals, but more people call themselves Democrats than Republicans then my guess is that conservatives just don’t like what the GOP offers. I sure as hell don’t.
The GOP is losing its conservative base. That used to be its ‘bread-and-butter’, and its move to the ‘left’ (what you would probably call the ‘center’) is starting to foment a rebellion. Good thing, I say.
>>> What about those of us who are liberal about some things and conservative about others?
You’re just confused. 😉 (running and hiding…) 🙂
@Slowpoke Rodriguez
>>> Ahhh, this is good stuff happening here. This shows the Republican party that conservatives can live without the Republican party
You know it bro’!
Actually, when I used to vote Republican, the party was moderate, even after the big southern switch, (which was before I voted) Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush ! were moderate as I recall. There are those who might say that Bush 2 was moderate although I would not say that.
I don’t know where you are coming from. I remember a take-over by the Moral Majority back in the 80’s. It was definitely a take-over. I think we have the chicken and egg confused here.