Gates of Vienna blog has a very worthwhile comment to the question of the NY political football...the end of it says this:
gatesofvienna.blogspot.com
So there you have the players:
• a Republican RINO, Scozzafava, who has lots of leftist tentacles in state politics and an endorsement by ACORN;
• a newbie, Owens, running as a Democrat. He’s on record as favoring big government ideas. The Dems hope he will snag a seat in what has been till now safely Republican; and,
• the spoiler, another newbie, Hoffman, who is the Conservative Party nominee. His platform differs sharply from the other two candidates.
The supporting players are:
• the usual Republican Party voices, including an endorsement for Scozzafava by Newt Gingrich, which he may live to regret. There is little active enthusiasm for Scozzafava by other House members, though she has gotten support from the bosses. This is a big election for the national machine. If Scozzafava loses, they might get the idea that the political climate really has changed. It seems that nothing less will penetrate;
• the Democrat political machine which is working on both sides in this one. If Owens wins, they have a new Democrat seat. If Scozzafava wins, they still have the seat in the bag (so to speak) since her vote will mostly be in the Democrat column anyway, so it’s one less vote to worry about.
• the various and sundry advocacy groups, particularly the Club for Growth, whose political action committee has gotten behind the Conservative candidate with a $300,000.00 campaign chest and all the political will it can muster.
• the media, in its various forms, which is proving to be more clueless than usual. For example The Hill called Scozzafava a “centrist”. If she’s a centrist, I’m a leprechaun. And even The Washington Times referred to this battle as one between “the Tea Partiers and the regular GOP”.
That opinion is evidence of a deep ignorance about the work the Club for Growth has been doing for years, long before the “Tea Parties” came into existence. It also displays a lack of understanding about the Conservative Party in New York. In adddition, the Times referred to Scozzafava as a “conservative icon”. I can’t remember a more willfully misleading editorial in all the years I’ve been reading that paper.
I am solidly behind the Conservative candidate, Hoffman. The other two will only increase the depth and breadth of governmental overreach. Erick at RedState and Michelle Malkin have both done yeoman’s work in exposing the machinations involved here.
Today, Erick has a post up about Dick Armey’s trip to the 23rd New York congressional district to fight for Hoffman:
It has been much rumored, but not fully confirmed until now. Dick Armey, the House Majority Leader after the 1994 Conservative Revolution will go to New York to campaign for Doug Hoffman.
In an exclusive conversation with RedState, Armey explains his reasons.
“We win when we are us. We lose when we are Democrat lite,” he told me. In New York’s 23rd Congressional District, two Democrats and a Republican are running for Congress. One of the Democrats just happens to have an “R” next to her name and the Republican is running on the Conservative Party ticket thanks to the way the candidates were chosen.
“We attract people by being small government conservatives,” Armey told me. “Big Government Republicans, though they call themselves Big Government Conservatives, do not win. I would tell the Republican Party leadership it cannot win if it insists on recruiting and supporting candidates out of step with the voters.”
…He continued by saying it was “baloney” that Hoffman could not beat Scozzafava. “People are largely disaffected with Obama and we need to draw sharp distinctions,” he said.
[…]
Armey said he does not think the establishment within the Republican Party really understands the mood of the country right now. “There is a sharp difference between now and November. If we knew then what we know now, I doubt Obama would have been elected…”
Mark Tapscott at The Washington Examiner has a good description of the problem with the Republicans:
Just when it seems congressional Republicans have finally gotten the message about standing on principle before grasping for power, they go and pull a Dede Scozzafava.
That’s what this kind of machine politics will become known as in the future: “pulling a Dede”. I think it is a worn-out gambit and the party had better freshen its skill set if it wants to win any future seats.
Incredibly, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, is throwing its money and resources behind Scozzafava.
And what kind of Republican is Scozzafava? She favors unlimited abortion rights. She favors Big Labor’s Card Check. She favors government bailouts like the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She favors more government spending. She also favors higher taxes, but doesn’t appear to get in a hurry about paying them, as earlier this year there were multiple liens against her companies for $192,000 in unpaid state and federal taxes.
There is something else about Scozzafava - she has repeatedly run for the New York Legislature with the endorsement of ACORN’s Working Families Party. If you know anything about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, you know the WFP was established to give the most far-left fringe candidates a comfortable place on the ballot.
In other words, if she is elected, Scozzafava’s voting record in Congress likely will be at least as extreme as that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Considering her tax problems, you also have to wonder how long it will be before Scozzafava defends Charlie Rangel, thereby demonstrating that imitation can also be the lowest form of flattery.
If you doubt that assessment, consider this: Scozzafava has been endorsed by Daily Kos, the clarion voice of the loony left in the blogosphere.
Daily Kos??? Jesus, Mary and Joseph why is this woman running on a Republican ticket???
Mr. Tapscott reasonably asks about the National Congressional Committee Chairman:
…what is Sessions smoking?
That is an especially relevant question when one takes a look at Doug Hoffman, the man who could be the GOP candidate instead of Scozzafava. An extremely successful entrepreneur and family man from Lake Placid, Hoffman is the candidate of the Conservative Party of New York.
For those who don’t remember, the Conservative Party of New York was behind the 1970 election of Sen. James L. Buckley, brother of William F. Buckley Jr. Buckley defeated Charlie Goodell, a male version of Scozzafava who was appointed by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller following the tragic assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
Goodell was a classic liberal GOPer, who sought to capitalize on the growing public dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War. Buckley’s winning campaign slogan - “Isn’t it time we have a senator?” - captured traditional Republicans, independents, and culturally conservative blue-collar Democrats.
It’s déjà vu all over again for David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union who worked for Buckley and later for President Ronald Reagan:
“Republicans, conservatives, independents and moderate Democrats will rally to Doug because he represents their values and because no one wants to be forced to ‘choose’ between two virtually identical and equally distasteful major-party candidates,” said Keene.
This campaign by the Republicans to put a big spender in Congress is a disgrace. And they wonder why all of us have discarded the Republican mantle? These people have been inside the Beltway far too long. They can’t tell the difference between principle and politics-as-usual.
Anyone who feels inclined to support Hoffman against the machine can check in here. We certainly would if we could still afford it. Back in the old days, I used to give money to the Club for Growth because they’re dedicated to reducing government interference in prosperity:
Club for Growth is a national network of thousands of Americans, from all walks of life, who believe that prosperity and opportunity come through economic freedom. We work to promote public policies that promote economic growth primarily through legislative involvement, issue advocacy, research, training and educational activity.
The longer Obama is in office, the stronger the Club for Growth will become |
