While the GOP was busy writing Obama's post mortem in VA and NJ, a very, very odd thing happened last night in New York's 23rd District. In case you've been under a rock, Tea Partiers, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Tim Pawlenty, and yep, that woman[1], all swooped in and undermined the local Republican candidate for Congress, Dede Scozzfava, by putting their support (and money) behind "Conservative Party" candidate Doug Hoffman. The reason was simple: this was an indictment of the sort of moderate Republicans who've run the party into the ground. Scozzfava had the nerve to support the Stimulus package, be in favor of gay marriage, and pro-choice. She was little more than a RINO, and to prove their point, they'd throw their influence behind Hoffman.
Never mind the fact that upstate NY is traditionally moderate. Never mind the fact that Scozzfava was chosen by the local party. Never mind the fact that Hoffman didn't even live in the district himself. Never mind the fact that Hoffman was tone deaf on any issue of local relevance. Never mind the fact that Hoffman was also in favor of a woman's right to choose. Never mind the fact that Hoffman looks like a grownup Louis Skolnick.
Nope, all that mattered was that the TeaBaggers (yeah, I'm callin' em' that. So what?) wanted to prove a point. Sure the GOP had easily controlled the seat for more than a century, and Scozzfava already had a nice lead on Democrat Bill Owens. No matter, the TeaBaggers had a pointless point to prove, and they proved it, forcing Scozzfava to drop her candidacy over the weekend, and feigning disgust when she had the nerve to step off the plantation and endorse Owens, a Democrat of all things.
And guess what happened. For the first time since Negroes were still legal property, NY-23 has a Democratic Congressman.
TeaBaggers, FTW!!!
This whole thing was billed by many as a referendum on the future of the Republican party. If that's the case, then the GOP might wanna get used to the words EPIC FAIL!!!
Seriously, for a party that's all about "letting states decide things themselves", how dumb does it look for the national party and a legion of misguided marchers to swoop in and try and more of less buy their own handpicked candidate to echo their own views. Hoffman got 95% of his funding from out of state. It's also quite clear that kicking Scozzfava to the curb backfired bigtime, as her supporters either voted Democrat, or stayed home. The beautiful irony is, the very folks who spent the summer b*tching and complaining about ObamaCare, have just given President Obama one more vote in favor of the measure.
TeaBaggers, FTL!!!
Let this be a lesson to the GOP: your problem isn't moderate Republicans. It's ineffective Republicans.
Then again, I'm sure this isn't a referendum on the futile efforts of TeaBaggers, anymore than losing NJ and VA was a referendum on Obama's socialist, America-hating, grandchild-killing policies.
Question: What's your analysis of the NY-23 cluster?!? Does this monumental loss reflect negatively on the legions of high profile Republicans who tries to more or less buy their own candidate?
[1] Nope, I'm still not mentioning her by name. Until she actually does something newsworthy. Endorsing an EPIC FAIL is not newsworthy. Can't wait to read the FaceBook, spin manifesto on this one. I'm sure Obama will be blamed.
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Hey 'bro, glad you are on this CRAP (Conservative Republic American Party) 'movement.' She who should not be named should IMO remain nameless.
Thanks
Oops
CRAP* = Conservative REPUBLICAN American Party
*Best title of the freeper-retrocon new wannabe third political party contest a while back at themudflats.net. Priceless.
[HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF]
New York, baby! WE BE MOD-ER-RATE!
It is not the Republicans in general who is keeping them down, it is those hypocritical wing-nuts who are killing the Republicans.
@ The Smoking Ace - I totally are with your comment. The GOP needs to slice out the Wingnuts and bigots because they are really stunting the growth of the party.
@Marbles
Was this your district? I couldn't remember if you had mentioned this or not. I was watching on Huff Post & DailyKos wondering what the hell was going on.
Palin sent robo calls to VA endorsing the "conservative candidate". She was not allowed to mention McDonnell's name because it was a 501c4 charity that was sending out the calls.
While McDonnell won I'm pretty sure it wasn't related to Ms. Sarah's robo calls.
VA Dems lost because they ran a blue dog who did not "energize" the Dem base. Voter turn out was low for dems...
Rep turn out was "normal" (based on numbers I read this morning).
Congrats to the wing nuts in NY for screwing their own. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
Palin/Steele 2012
@AB, Did you know that there is an ad for the book by the woman you won't name on your web site?
Well, Obama says these races mean nothing, so I guess I'm not going to care.
You guys are off message. Course reversal in 3... 2...
One critical point of fact for AB: There is no primary in the NY 23rd district. It's a talent show where prospective members parade themselves in front of the district party bosses, and then they get together and pick the one they want. There is no primary election, no GOP voters chose her before the general election race began.
In fact no GOP voters chose her at all... and the Democrat actually ran to the RIGHT of her. lol!
@spool CRAP! I didnt hit the buzzer in time. You said everything I was about to say except that Scozzafaba sounds amusing through a vocoder.
Scozzafava was picked in a back room. Citation for primary please.
Spool, you may have a point but it's a bit academic now. You can quibble with how Scozzafava was chosen but it is probably safe to say that her political views were probably more aligned with the voters in the 23rd district. NY23 is a solid Republican district (they had not elected a Dem to represent them in over 100 years), but one that tends to be pretty moderate.
With all due respect, Hoffman was seen as an outsider to the district - he didn't even live in the district, and the outside financial backing by some of the more ideological hard-right political elements may not have sat well with the voters.
@ vlatte:
Not my district, no---though I do come from the district of Congresswoman-now-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. (I voted in that election 7 months before moving to NYC.)
But I am still enormously relieved that this didn't happen. I just wish the margin had been a lot larger. I worry that this is a forebearer of things to come, especially if Obama doesn't deliver results so tangible that the hardcore regressives will have trouble spinning them as disastrous.
On the other hand, it was a sad day in Maine. Very sad. It makes me so angry that this keeps on happening. Does anyone realize how absurd it is that people even vote on that issue anyway? What concern is it of ours?!?!
If civil rights laws had been enacted on a state-by-state basis 45 years ago, this voters-overturning-the-law business would have probably happened in all 50 of them! That battle would STILL be going on today!
Argh.
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