Pajamas Media

113 Comments

1. Marc Malone:

I’m not giving a dime to the RNC! Screw ‘em. They are not about promoting what is good for America. They are about promoting the GOP, period. The GOP got us into this mess. They cannot get us out.

Of course Scazzafava got endorsed. the Conservatives are not in charge of the GOP. It’s the same ol’ “moderates”, the career hacks. They play the political game with same stupid old rules. They see nothing wrong with it. They just can’t see that it is not enough to get elected; to have the power. No, one must actually govern properly. Only Conservatism gets it done.

Reagan’s biggest mistaje was taking Bush as his VP. Everything Reagan built got torn down by Bush by simply allowing the stupid Dems to fool him into raising taxes. If Reagan had chosen another Conservative to be his VP, to succeed him, we would not be in this mess. It’s not about power. It is about governing right.

I agree with Beck. McCain would have been worse than Obama. He would have screwed it all up, too, but the blame would be laid at the door of Conservativism, even though McCain isn’t one. Obama is doing Conservatism the greatest service possible. He’s discrediting Liberalism. If we can survive his malfeasance, we sould be set forever, if we don’t put in a bunch of pretend Pubs.

The old wisdom is what got us here. The GOP has just never demonstrated any competence, whatsoever. They suck. They always have sucked. The GOP stands for suckitude. They are the Black Hole of politics, where good men get sucked in and add to the total suck.

Oct 22, 2009 - 2:49 am 2. Ken Miller:

Absolves the party leadership for this fiasco? Check
Blames the base? Check

Get the behind me, ye tool of the soft-bellied party machine.

Oct 22, 2009 - 4:03 am 3. Donna V.:

Conservatives who run for office knows their reputations will be trashed and the media will not only distort their positions on the issues, but will also attack and slander their family. How many of us would be willing to put our loved ones through such an ordeal? How many people have things in their pasts they would prefer to keep private? If you’re a conservative, forget it – a DUI you got in 1985 will be front page news. Liberals don’t have to worry about a hostile media.

With that in mind, why do we wonder that there is a shortage of talent on the GOP side? How many decent, smart people look at the consequences of entering politics and decide it isn’t worth it?

And of course, that is exactly what the leftist media wants – to make the costs of entering politics so high that qualified individuals don’t run so we end up with one party rule.

Oct 22, 2009 - 4:22 am 4. Marcel Ledbetter:

I don’t care about electing Republicans for the sake of having more Republicans – that didn’t get us anywhere last time. I want to advance conservative policies. The Republican party is to me what I am to it – a tool to be used. If the Republicans want my vote, let them nominate conservatives.

Oct 22, 2009 - 4:28 am 5. RE:

While I’m sure the Founding Fathers would view the present Democrat party in horror and exasperation, and wonder why they ever bothered, what do you suppose they’d have to say about the current GOP? I doubt they’d have many kind words, either.

It seems today’s choice is between the GOP’s scared little rabbits or Democrat snakes.

I’ll stay involved with tea parties. Scared rabbits are not getting my support.

Oct 22, 2009 - 4:38 am 6. MarkD:

Eleven Republican commissioners meet, select liberal democrat for candidate; it’s the fault of the party base.

It was stated more eloquently in Animal House. “You trusted us.”

Well, whatever they do will be without my money.

Oct 22, 2009 - 4:56 am 7. Old Soldier:

I understand that the Republican Party is not necessarily the Conservative Party. What frustrates me is their inability to recognize the value of conservatism. When the Republican Party, because of its leadership, has branded itself as the party of conservatives – Reagan & Gingrich eras – they were hugely successful. When they run milk-toast moderates – Ford, Dole, McCain – they lose badly.

Is it the conventional wisdom preached by the MSM that makes them think moderates win? Or just a politician’s natural tendency to grab power (not reduce government)? Either way, the GOP continues to prove they really are the Stupid Party.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:05 am 8. Booker T. Gain:

Show up and do the work if you really want to make a difference. Otherwise, you might just as well shut up for all the good effect you’ll have influencing the political future of this great land.

Telling conservatives upset with the GOP for running a a liberal candidate to shut up isn’t going to help the GOP. Those who have spoken out against this nomination have done more for the future of the GOP than those who have supported it.

The GOP will never improve so long as “conservatives” rally around incompetence.

Ronald Reagan also said stand by your conservative principles and don’t water them down to get elected. He would never have approved Scozzafava.

When Beck broke the Van Jones story Gingrich was on Fox News Sunday pretending not to know what the controversy was all about. Conservatives want the GOP to stand up and fight for conservative values and to nominate candidates whose conservative values are not in doubt. Scozzafava is not a conservative. Her nomination is a body blow to the GOP.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:08 am 9. ConservativeWanderer:

Interesting, Mr. Riehl. You did realize, of course, that in castigating us for breaking Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, you are yourself breaking it, by speaking ill of us rank-and-file Republicans?

Fascinating how that works out, isn’t it?

However, there’s another point that I think you inadvertently made, which undercuts a large portion of your argument. You say, “Money and support flow up and flow back down.” Thus, you are confirming what many of us realize on a “gut” level… the national Republican Party financially assists state and county parties.

Now, let us leave that aside for the moment while I make another point. I do not live in New York; I have never lived in New York. Therefore, I’ve never donated a single dime to the New York GOP, nor to any county GOP organizations in New York. Also, as I live clear across the country from New York, it’s highly unlikely that I am going to be able to go to the meetings where they pick the nominees, even if they were open to the public and even if they were to listen to someone who won’t be voting in their election.

However, as this seat under contention is for the United States House Of Representatives, it is of national import, because whoever wins will be voting on matters that affect the whole country, even people as far from New York as I am.

Going back to the first point, as the national GOP apparatus finances (in part) the New York GOP (remember, you yourself admitted that “Money … flow[s] back down”), the only three ways I have to affect this race which will affect my life to some degree is to (a) reduce my support of the national GOP, (b) donate directly to the candidate I prefer–which ain’t Scozzafava, and (c) to voice our concerns about Scozzafava and support for Hoffman online.

Therefore, it is hardly worthy of castigation for us to take those steps outlined above.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:15 am 10. David Thomson:

Dan Riehl is completely correct. I have been saying the same thing for years. We are both on the same page. Far too many conservatives fail to spend either the money or the time to defeat leftism. They find one excuse after another not to do anything significant. By all rights, we should easily dominate American politics. The odds are actually against the Democrats and “moderate” Republicans. Scozzafava likely captured the nomination due to conservative indifference. Conservatives too often talk the talk, but refuse to walk the walk. And the sad thing is that only a few extra dollars and effort could make all the difference in the world.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:22 am 11. seanmahair:

I am in partial agreement with your premise. We should not totally blame the leadership in DC for the mess in NY. Since in this country we are still free to say what we like and act as we wish (with in the bounds of the law) we and they must take responsibility for our own choices. I also agree that we get the leaders we deserve. If we have abandoned the mores and tenet of our own “civil behavior”, if our integrity and truthfulness is lacking and if we look out only for our own good, why would we expect those in politics to be any different.

That said Scozzafava is not a conservative. Pointing that out should not be construed as “hate speech” but as a public service. Since the media is not there to put the facts before the public it is up to those in the new media to do so. While one doesn’t have to be a conservative to be Republican one wonder why anyone would join a party when said party doesn’t agree with their basic beliefs. Could it be that reading the writing on the wall this candidate sees that in her district the only way to get elected is to be in said party? If so it would see that the candidates only focus is getting elected, not serving her constituents.

Of course, that is what we should expect if we are only interested in how things affect us as opposed to how they affect the country on the whole. After all millions of dollars of federal money flowing into MY state as opposed to someone else’s is A OK. Doesn’t matter if the project is needed or wanted, doesn’t matter where else the money could be spent. Democrat thinking has become the norm almost everywhere, me, me, me, me. So it’s no surprise who gets elected.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:37 am 12. Clayton E. Cramer:

I haven’t been following NY-23 race carefully, so consider what follows a general point.

There are two ways to run a political campaign against another Republican:

1. Personal attacks on their integrity, honesty, and decency.

2. Emphasize what your policy positions are, and how they differ from your opponent.

The first approach may win you the primary–but there is a strong chance that it will so turn off voters that they will simply decide “politics as usual, I’m not going to vote.” If your opponent is actually a criminal, by all means, point it out. But nastiness may just reduce Republican vote turnout in the general election.

The second approach isn’t just Sunday school nice–it raises the general level of the campaign, and gives Republican voters a chance to think about the policy positions that are in play. I would like to think that in a serious discussion of conservative vs. RINO policy, that Republicans will pick the conservative. And if they won’t, would you rather have a RINO who agrees with us 40% of the time, or a Democrat who agrees with 0% of the time?

I have one frightening thought for you: conservatives may need to be working harder on persuading the population. I ran for state senate here in Idaho a couple of years ago, because my Republican state senator was hard to distinguish from a Democrat (sponsoring bills to add sexual orientation to the state’s antidiscrimination statute, hostility to gun ownership). I discovered that even in a very rural district (the largest city has less than 12,000 people, and the rest are vastly smaller), Republicans are pretty liberal: women in their 80s furious that the Republican Party doesn’t support gay marriage, for example; Mormons who didn’t like the incumbent’s pro-gay stance, but who felt that they were required to vote for the incumbent because he was one of them.

Conservatives need to work a lot harder at getting the message across–because television is clearly persuading Republicans that they should support gay marriage, gun control, and higher taxes.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:50 am 13. deguello:

AND MCCAIN WAS ALSO THE BASE’S FAULT? GIVE US A BREAK:THIRD PARTY NOW!THE GOP IS LARGELY A PARTY OF THE GLOBALIST PLUTOCRACY,PRIMARILY INTERSTED IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION,WORLD GOVERNMENT,AND REPRESSING ALL MANIFESTATIONS OF CONSERVATIVE DISSENT BY CO-OPTING IT.THIRD PARTY NOW!

Oct 22, 2009 - 6:11 am 14. JRD:

I sent money to Hoffman. Then I informed the RNC when they asked me for a donation that I`m broke, I gave everything I had to Hoffman to support the conservative movement. Let Eric Cantor and John Boehner continue to fund the RINOS. I rather have someone vote against me 100% of the time then to die a slow death waiting to see how they are going to vote like Snowe. I`m sick of Snowejobs. If the republic is truly lost I want to know NOW instead of later. I can always vote with my feet and move. See Ya!

Oct 22, 2009 - 6:22 am 15. Spider79:

“Show up and do the work if you really want to make a difference. Otherwise, you might just as well shut up for all the good effect you’ll have influencing the political future of this great land. Perhaps it’s time for more conservatives to start paying back in that sense, instead of whining and yelling about why the GOP is not paying off.”

You’re right it’s our fault. Maybe we conservatives should start a movement to show the GOP establishment we are engaged and fed up. We could hold rallies across the country in each state. Maybe a million or more of us could march on Washington to show the GOP that we’ve had enough of left leaning repubs. Perhaps the GOP establishment and their scribe apologists would get the message then.

Oct 22, 2009 - 6:51 am 16. G. Juan:

I live in Maine, and I have learned that most Northeast Republicans would be considered liberal Democrats in the South. The GOP needs to stop backing liberals before they ever see any of my hard earned money being donated to them. Senators Snowe and Collins should be stripped of the “R” next to their names. They are both Socialists, judging by their voting records.

I’m tired of the government, both at the state and federal levels, taking money from the people who actually work and giving it to the people who refuse to work. Maine gives the people who refuse to work: money for housing, money for utilities, money for food,and spending cash. To drug addicts who refuse to work, Maine also provides free methadone, and a free taxi ride to and from the methadone clinic ($75 each way, every day!).

Oct 22, 2009 - 6:53 am 17. Fred Z:

I’m with the guy who criticized your criticizing of fellow Republicans after your criticizing of those who criticize their fellow Republicans.

Lots of rage out here, much against gutless wobblies, unprincipled or incompetent politicos.

Other than money, power and ego, is there anything the existing GOP leadership believes in? Do they even believe in money, power and ego? Because, if they do, they are incompetent.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:06 am 18. PD Quig:

I called Eric Cantor’s office yesterday and they transferred me to the NRCC where I spoke with a very nice young man who made the same pitch: the local GOP picked Scozzafava. My reply: I left the GOP to become an independent precisely because of this kind of political expediency. I’m not an ideologue, but the party has got to emphasize a return to first principles. If those who wander off the reservation pay no price (lost campaign support) then we will continue to get the likes of Graham, Snowe, Collins, Jeffords, Voinovich and that little twit Linclown Chafee.

This is a time for cleansing. This is a unique opportunity to recruit some true conservatives to replace the worn-out go-along-to-get-alongers and others who are more interested in protecting their prerogatives than doing the right thing. Good Christ! We’ve even got supposed conservative Jon Kyl speaking out against auditing where the Federal Reserve is sending trillion of taxpayer dollars! Oh. I see. He has received nearly $4 million in campaign contributions from the financial industry.

The GOP is showing me NOTHING with respect to leadership. This ought to be a no-brainer opportunity to rally America to a renewed message of smaller government. I don’t see anyone in leadership making a coherent case.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:09 am 19. Mike:

The Bush presidency exposed the hypocrisy of the Republican Party: They are only fiscal conservatives when they are out of power.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:10 am 20. freedom:

She infiltrated the system, as Alinsky preached. She probably has the DNC or Obama behind her, adding to her “family donations”.
The US is to become a two-party system composed of only DNC (visibly or in costume)

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:11 am 21. Jed Skillman:

The problem with the Republican Party is the same as with any party or large institution: the vision and goals of those who found the organization gets watered down and compromised when the founders step down and hand the day to day operations over to “professionals”. Other priorities get added to the mix. Some of them conflict.

Hired professionals, while possibly agreeing with the purpose of the organization, bring with them professionalized criteria and methods, including sustainability, market share, bottom-line, cost/benefit, personal gain, the old “401-K”…

For a few short years after 1994 the Republican Party was run by Conservative activists. They got a lot done. By 2000 the “professionals” had taken control. Look at the number of conservatives who retired to public life in the early 2000s. Dick Army and J.C. Watts come to mind; burned-out, broke, or tired of fighting the system.

What we need are professionals who share more of our vision, if we can find them.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:13 am 22. Paul A'Barge:

When I listen to radio host Mark Levin talk about his old Reagan days, he doesn’t talk about the evils of liberalism or the tyranny of the state. Mostly he talks about going to work for Reagan…

Just wow.

Are you comparing the situation then with our current situation? Because if you are, you’re comparing a situation when Conservatives occupied the White House (then) with the current situation (Hyper-liberals occupy the White House and both Houses of Congress).

What point would you try to make doing that?

Nonsense.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:18 am 23. TC@LeatherPenguin:

I think a lot of people unfamiliar with New York politics don’t understand a salient point in all this New York CD-23 mess: The NY GOP is a walking, talking clusterf**k. NO Republican candidate wins in this state if they are not cross-endorsed by the Conservative Party. I don’t have the link handy, but some schmuck GOP party hack flat out stated they backed ditzy DeDe because they didn’t want to be seen as taking their marching orders from Mike Long, the head of the NY Conservative Party.

It wasn’t about picking a viable candidate; it was about petty, personal, and totally pretentious pride.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:19 am 24. Steve:

Here’s the problem. Those of us who support the true conservative candidates are usually beaten down by some argument that they will never win and we need to do this incrementally.

That is how you get Arnold Swarchenegger. I remember Hugh Hewitt calling all of us Tom McClintock supports “tom-bots” and stating how we were misguided to try and elect that conservative a politician in California. So, now the mess that is California gets a Republican tag to it because a RINO was elected.

Sorry, but fool me once……..

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:22 am 25. chuckB:

Here’s how I see it. The GOP is like a rental property that I’ve leased to people I didn’t vet very well. Up until recently, they’ve been paying their rent on a regular basis. But now things have changed. I took a look at the property and discovered that it has been abused something fierce. I know I have to throw these bums out. But the other problem that I have is: Can the property be recovered. How much damage have they done. Sometimes it’s just better to cut bait and start over. We really don’t need a party full of people who went native as fast as the class of ‘94 did.
I agree with Bill Whittle. Throw the bums out. Try to replace them with some good people. If there’s too much resistance, burn it down.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:22 am 26. masstexodus:

Check out American Majority for grass roots conservative training/organizing. Local elected offices are the farm team for congress.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:22 am 27. Tim McD:

I have no interest in electing Rebublicans. I am interested in electing people who will govern in a fiscally responsible manner, while engaging in realistic international policy, recognizing that our interests are not always aligned with thos of other nations.

Electing anyone who happnes to have a “R” beside their name cost us Congress in 2006, and we will not get it back by electing more of the same.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:27 am 28. deguello:

#14 JRD BRAVO JRD.! I sent money to Hoffman as well. I have a pre-printed reply to all RNC money requests: “I send my money to REAL conservatives;I suggest you contact Vicente Fox,and the BUSHES, I’m sure they’ll be happy to subsidize your dishonesty.” SNOWE JOB “.I like that! may I use it?

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:28 am 29. inspectorudy:

I have sent money to both Hoffman and Rubio in Fl. These are examples of races where the RNC both local and state have ignored the conservative
position. Then on top of that Newt is telling anyone who will listen that he is correct to endorse scozzafava and that she will win. Who cares? We already have Snowe and Collins in the Senate and we can see what that has done for our party. Just having the numbers is not enough as we saw in the Bush administration. Congress wasn’t a whole lot better than it is now. The country is scared to death of Obama and his policies now and this is the time to throw STRONG conservative principles at them. The big tent crowd should join the circus and leave the heavy lifting to the true conservatives.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:30 am 30. Sam:

How many of you attended your local GOP meeting this last month?
Quit complaining and do something – if every conservative on the internet got off their behind, quit writing the next blog comment that’s going to somehow save the world, and showed up to the local GOP meeting, conservatives could take over the entire party apparatus within an election cycle. It’s really not that difficult…

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:30 am 31. Darcy:

I’ve spent money. I’ve donated time. I’m willing to work for a party that listens to me. The Republicans have left me behind, though. I can no longer call this my party

Do you really think they have an inclination to engage the Tea Partiers? And what more does it take for them to try to understand the outrage? Name me the leaders who have done this sincerely. Elected officials.

It’s a small list. Sadly.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:31 am 32. Robbins Mitchell:

Well,I’m sorry but Dan is just flat out wrong in this instance….Scozzafava first approached the Dem big wigs in that district and ask them to endorse her as their candidate for the seat….and only after they said ‘no thanks’ did she decide to run as a Republican….so now Dan thinks we should simply support her because she now pretends she is a loyal Republican when it is clear she is nothing more than an unprincipled opportunist?…sorry,Dan….that dog won’t hunt…I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn’t know she tried to run as a Democrat before running as a Republican….in which case there is even more reason to ignore your ’sage’ advice.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:33 am 33. Ken Miller:

I’ll put it plainly – when the statists, government-worshippers, leftists, and other various miscreants are on the left, they’re easier for us to defeat. When they’re entrenched in our own ranks, and holding office under the republican banner, they become much more difficult.

Or, in other words, if we’re going to have a cancer in office, it’s better that said cancer have a D after their name, so at least we can run against it.

If for no other reason, that is why we must stand against the Dedes and RINOs, even if it means going against our own party.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:35 am 34. moptop:

“THIRD PARTY NOW” means Democrats for a looong time. Corzine might win in NJ by this strategy, and it won’t go un noticed. Take back the party if you want the power.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:36 am 35. steveg:

The main problem is that there are certain parts of the country where a conservative candidate has no chance of winning. Same goes for an ultra-liberal trying to win in Utah.

Nevertheless, fiscally conservative candidates should be a hot commodity in 2010 with the electorate. Americans are paying attention to the debt and deficits more than ever, and it will most likely be the number one issue for the next two election cycles.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:38 am 36. Greg Marquez:

It would have been helpful had you actually explained how Scozzafav came to be the Republican candidate. Did she win a primary? Was she chosen by the NY Republican party?

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:38 am 37. Rich Vail:

Mr. Riehl is correct in his asssesment. The local party base is at fault here. They have been complacent in allowing RINO’s to take control of the local party apparatus, as well as the state organization. We as a party must take a long hard local locally, before we can do anything effective nationally. This is especially true in the Northeast and far west. If the local party organizations are run by RINO’s then they will push RINO’s to run in local and state elections.

We collectively have failed in not urging those individuals who are conservatives, not religiously so but fiscally, and will actually uphold the basic tenents of our party.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:41 am 38. Mike McGee:

Dan,

I’ve got to vigorously disagree.

As best as I can tell, the Scozzafava candidacy is representative of the WORST possible grounds for picking someone: She has deep and long running family ties in the area; and people in the party are continuing to ko-tow to media blathering about electing “moderate” candidates.

The problem is that when the media calls a Republican candidate a “moderate” what they really mean is “a democrat who will support all of the liberal policies while inexplicably displaying an ‘R’ on the ballot.” Its great for the liberals. No matter how the election goes, they WIN!

Now, look: The GOP base is going to have to get over the religous dogma issues on the NATIONAL stage. Gay marriage and abortion bans are NOT EVER proper national issues if you really are conservative. Because if you really are conservative, you recognize that Congress does not have power to ban or really legislate on these issues aside from denying funding to programs that end up raising these issues. On this, I will talk you all down from the edge until I am blue in the face: The GOP looks like a ship of fools when it cites chapter and verse about the limits of Congressional power when dealing with global warming and health care, and then when it has power, it forgets about those limits on its own hot button issues.

But on the really issues that count, Scozzafava is a disaster: She’s getting most of her monetary support according to today’s reports from LABOR UNIONS and THE NEA! She’s in favor of card check, which is a way to let union thugs intimidate “yes” votes out of employees during organization campaigns. Want to vote no? The thugs will know. They’ll be at your house and you won’t have a choice to vote their way.

The GOP needs to be understanding of some variations in positions. But when you can list a candidate’s postions and find them to be to the “left of most democrats” (To quote KOS, who endorsed Scozzafava) then these people need to be run out of the party on a rail. And the same goes for Collins, Snow, and should have gone for Specter. How many GOP $ went to elect this guy, now actually a Dem, when everyone knew there was an electable more agreeable candidate.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:42 am 39. unseen:

nope not buying it. Conservatives has to “take back” the party in 1980, then in 1994 and now once again we have to “take back” the party. Maybe its time to give the party to the ?Rino’s since the defacto tendency of the GOP is to revert to Rinoism. Maybe conservatives just are not wanted in leadership positions within the GOP. And if the GOP is the conservative party why do we have to “take it back every 10-13 years after some RINO like Bush 1 and 2 get in there and bring all there Rino’s with them?

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:51 am 40. John:

There’s a reason why Bill Buckley and others created the Conservative Party in New York State in 1962, and a reason why the term “Rockefeller Republican” still is understood by people around the country 47 years later. This is the way the NYS GOP is — they reflexively have no confidence in the party’s general message, and many of the downstate and wanna-be downstaters also have long bought into the Democrats line echoed by the big media that the Republicans in flyover country –including most of Upstate west of I-87 — are a bunch of ill-informed rubes who can’t see the big picture and the fact that the Tide of History is going against them.

Normally in the past the state GOP has been content to let this attitude mainly affect their candidates in the New York City area and around Albany. But in the wake of Obama’s election last year and the Democrats’ gains in 2006 and 2008 the state GOP leadership actually bought into the idea that Obamaism was the Wave of the Future and instead of putting up a candidate in the strongly Republican NY-23 that would fight what the Democrats are doing in Washington they amazingly put up one most likely to go along with the flow, under the idea that a liberal Republican would be the easiest to re-elect in the regular election next November.

It’s one thing to bend a little to try and get someone into office, but when you bend so far your candidate is to the left of at least a third of the Democrats already in Congress you really have no reason for existence as a political party other than to grab some piece of power so you can play the political spoils game along with the Democrats.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:08 am 41. Sum Buddy:

Scozzafava represents a massive failure by the GOP in candidate recruitment and vetting. If the GOP brand means anything then we have to correct this failure.

Years ago in Orange County, CA a Lyndon LaRouche follower made it onto the congressional ballot as the Democratic candidate. This was hugely embarrassing to the local Democrats. In response, the local party chairman launched a write in campaign in order to split the Democratic vote and guarantee that the LaRouche candidate would never represent the Democratic party.

That’s probably the first time in my life that I’ve cited the Democratic party as an example for doing the right thing. So, now do you get how desperate the Scozzafava situation is?

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:10 am 42. Nancy Pelosi:

Dear all:

I just wanted to write to thank all of the “Cconservative” crybabies for their assistance in reelecting us Democrats in yet another landslide. Your abstentions and support for irrelevant third-party extremists will allow us to win in yet another landslide. With unchecked power in both houses of Congress, we will be able to ram through just about whatever we wish. Golly, absolute power is awful nice! Well, just wanted to thank all of you “conservative” purists for your help in ensuring our permanent Democrat majority as we flush America down the toilet!
God bless,

Nancy

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:19 am 43. JohnMc:

Dan ole boy, you miss a very important point. Especially in politics. Its called — Service before the Sale. Or in political terms, representation before I cast my vote.

So ask yourself, what have the Republicans done for me lately? Name me anything that expands my freedoms, lowers my taxes, removes government shackles from my wrists that has been accomplished by the Republicans in the last 5 years? Just ONE thing Dan. If you can I will write a check.

As for getting off the duff. I guess you have missed the Teas haven’t you? Or the huge march in DC? That is principally a right of center non affiliated movement. Its growing. Getting politically active. These are the Republicans and the former Republicans, now Indpendents you said needed to be active but were rebuffed by the party. So they find another way — actively.

“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” Ronald Reagan, 1962. Much can be said of the same for the Republican Party today.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:23 am 44. Mark L:

My question for all those criticizing the choice of Scozzafava: how many of you are active in your local Republican party — the county party?

Those that are have a legitimate beef about Scozzafava. Those that are not? Not so much. And that is what Dan Riehl is saying.

Choices for Congressional races are made at the county party level. If conservatives are not active in their local *REPUBLICAN* party they have only themselves to blame when the local candidates are RINOs. Period. Note that you do NOT have to be happy with the national Republican Party to be active on the county level. And you better be involved with the county Republican party because you have a good chance of influencing choices in that party (and have almost no chance of influencing who the Democrats pick — they are the leftists).

If it is not worth your time to build good conservative grass roots, you really have no beef with the choices made. It really does not take all that much time or effort, either — four to ten hours a month on average.

But it is much more fun for some folks to complain than to work.

Teddy Roosevelt had something to say about that:

“It is not the critic that counts . . . ” You can google the rest.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:28 am 45. PD Quig:

#24 Steve, right on. I’ve been listening to Hugh Hewitt for years because he’s intelligent and does great interviews…but HE HASNT’ GOTTEN A SINGLE THING RIGHT in that whole time. He is simply a flat out poor judge of politic currents. From politics to sports he backs losers every time. He was one of the “let’s be nice and give Obama a chance crowd” that allowed The One to ride his bamboozlment of the rubes to several huge legislative atrocities.

We’re tired of being fed the incrementalist line. It is buying the cancer instead of the car crash. Well, we went incremental in 2006 and 2008 and now we have the car crash AND the cancer–and it has metastasized throughout the body politic. Clearly, the GOP is less bad than the Demorats, but that is not a message to rally the troops for a country-saving push in 2010 and 2012. I predict Obama is re-elected if the GOP doesn’t learn the lesson of the tea parties. Cut the DC crap and get back to founding principles.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:32 am 46. JohnMc:

Teddy Roosevelt had something to say about that:

“It is not the critic that counts . . . ” You can google the rest.

– Mark L.

Funny you should pick that particular reference. I know it.

But it counters your argument. Roosevelt was a Progressive.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:32 am 47. Kristen Burroughs:

The GOP has never stood for top-down governance. Perhaps we should concentrate on candidates and ignore our “higher ups.” It is easier than you’d think …

I’m running for a local office — state representative — and, yes, I’m conservative. Here’s some anecdotal observations. Not once has the state or even local GOP offered advice or support even though I am likely to win the race. Not once have they given me a call. Frankly, I’m surprised. I had expected, wrongly, the local, county and state Republican Party to be a presence in my campaign. Instead, I’m happily doing it alone.

If you want to understand why “paid professionals” are so powerful, look no further than the incompetence and infighting among local Republicans within legislative districts. Without paid professionals, first-time candidates wouldn’t have any idea how to run. For this reason, paid consultants are very powerful. Very. In a way, they fill the void left by disfunctional local parties and uninvolved state parties.

This may not be all bad. Pragmatic and sensible conservative candidates can win elections under the Republican label. All is needed is the label … and a lot of money to buy consultants.

On the state legislative level, the party has been reduced to a label. To the voter, that label is the first screen that differentiates conservative and liberal ideologies. In spite of the NY candidate and other liberals who run as Republicans, the Republican label still means something to the typical voter. It suggests conservatism, or relative conservatism. In contradistinction to Democrat, “Republican” means conservative.

One more point. To voters, Republican stands for a distant constellation of values and beliefs. If a typical voter is asked about global warming, for example, he or she will probably associate airy-fairy environmentalism with Democrats, not Republicans. There’s a sensibility among voters. They intuit, more than know, what parties represent. This bodes well for us. Obama has sharpened their intuitive identification of Democrat-as-liberal and Republican-as-conservative. And this may be enough.

During my campaign, I’m stressing my Republican ID even though the party has absolutely no impact on my race or the content of my platform; even though I’ve never had any contact with the state party; even though the party qua party is totally absent from my daily considerations. The party, then, is only a label. An identifier.

No more. No less.

Kristen Burroughs
LD 7 candidate for the Arizona House of Representatives
kburroughsk@cox.net

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:34 am 48. Mike McGee:

Mark L:

Shove it. The reason we support political parties on a systemic basis is that it is supposed to be an easy way for people who are busy with their jobs, lives, illnesses, hardships and other commitments to get a sense of candidates. Your argument is nonsense. No one suggests that if every rank and file democrat fails to maximize local insertion in their party that the party starts suddenly nominating Ronald Reagan minded conservatives.

If you want to say that the local GOP organizations automatically and reflexively turn into little RINO making machines the moment the base stops hounding them, you’re just giving the best argument I can imagine for the emergence of a new 3rd party (probably most closely aligned with key elements of objectivist epistemology) and for the GOP both local and nationwide to go the way of the Whigs. And good riddance to the GOP too, if that’s what it has become.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:36 am 49. T. O'Connor:

To me the recent lessons of NY State’s 21st district must be included here somehow.

How was it that Congressman Sweeney had been improperly vetted by the local party chiefs, leaving a savvy Gillibrand (now a US Senator!) able to trumpet Sweeney’s domestic abuse transgressions only days before the election. What warped the local leader’s thinking there?

The result: today the 21st district has elected its second Democratic Congressman in a row, Murphy, to take Gillibrand’s place (who took Clinton’s place in the Senate), all because the 21st district has – in this same period of time – become predominantly Democrat for the first time in its history.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:37 am 50. Mike McGee:

Mark L:

Shove it. The reason we support political parties on a systemic basis is that it is supposed to be an easy way for people who are busy with their jobs, lives, illnesses, hardships and other commitments to get a sense of candidates. Your argument is nonsense. No one suggests that if every rank and file democrat fails to maximize local insertion in their party that the party starts suddenly nominating Ronald Reagan minded conservatives.

If you want to say that the local GOP organizations automatically and reflexively turn into little RINO making machines the moment the base stops hounding them, you’re just giving the best argument I can imagine for the emergence of a new 3rd party (probably most closely aligned with key elements of objectivist epistemology) and for the GOP both local and nationwide to go the way of the Whigs. And good riddance to the GOP too, if that’s what it has become.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:38 am 51. jd:

It was not the NY state GOP that infused the Scozzafava campaign with cash in the 6 figure sum.

It was Michael Steele and the RNC.

So where do you hold the RNC and DC republicans blameless?

With that glaring error in mind, your article holds no water.

The RNC screwed up, and my financial support for them shall be drying up as well.

Support Candidates, NOT the RNC.

Do Not Feed the RINOs

jd

jd

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:38 am 52. Bilgeman:

Mr. Riehl:
“If grassroots conservatives have dropped the ball in some way, especially in the Northeast, it is that we haven’t done the hard work to take back the Republican Party from the ground up. To truly prevail we must do that.”

Back for more, eh, Mr. Riehl?

Who is this “we” that you talk about?

Now if “we” are so interested in winning elections and returning to good governance along conservative principles, then when “we” show up, moderate republicans should just step aside and leave the keys on the desk, shouldn’t they?

But it doesn’t work that way. No-one voluntarily steps aside, they have to be nudged, pushed, or tossed out on their ear.

So be it.

One of the ways you get tossed out on your ear is by nominating a RINO candidate,(and in NY-23, this dame is apparently too “moderate” even by New York state GOP standards…judging from the obloquy she’s attracted from native Republicans), and then having that candidate getting clobbered in the general when the base decides to take a pass.

Mounting a primary challenger to the right of the institutional GOP candidate is exactly one such way that “we” do the hard work.

If the GOP wants to run itself as a “brand”, then it had better field candidates that pass muster with the base before marketing them to the general electorate.

Or have “we” STILL not internalized the lesson of McCain ‘08?

Apparently not, since yours and others’ scorn for Beck and the TEA partiers seem to indicate that you’d much rather have Democrats say nice things about you while running the country into the ground, rather than suffer the slings and arrows and perhaps actually end up making government what it should be…efficient, thrifty, and largely unseen until it’s absolutely needed.

“Why is the state GOP chairman, at least potentially, an old Nader guy at heart? Why did the local county chairmen think that Scozzafava would be a better candidate than Doug Hoffman might be?”

Because they’re clueless, and since the National GOP leadership didn’t inform them of this, it falls to rank and file conservatives to mount an insurrection against the hapless boob that the clueless few gave their blessing to.

Frankly, if the National GOP didn’t realize the State and Countys’ “crimethink”, then that indicates a great big blind spot and vulnerability at the national leadership level.

Does this mean lockstep, monolithic conformity of GOP candidates everywhere?

No.

Just some consistency in the GOP brand, please-thanks, so that voters will know that the GOP candidate will reliably usually oppose tax increases, uncontrolled deficit spending, and promote a government that does only what the People empowered it to do in the Constitutions of the Fed and the individual States, and insist that it do this efficiently.

Is that so hard?

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:40 am 53. gs:

Whom the local GOP nominates is up to them, but it is more than appropriate to criticize the national GOP for–cue the Twilight Zone theme–sending money to a KOS-endorsed candidate. Surely scarce resources can be put to more constructive use than that, especially if we look beyond this one election.

‘#39 unseen’, I’m with you. An underlying paradox is that those of us who want a smaller, limited government are exhorted to devote more effort to political activism. This, after almost three decades of Republican ascendancy. Dan Riehl, I find it hard to engage your arguments unless you address this paradox.

I’d like to say more but don’t have time: I took major risks assuming that the politicians would keep the economy upright in election year 2008, and am pushing my margin of safety.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:43 am 54. Bob in FL:

Just a side note: I’ve seen a lot of folks criticize the Class of 1994 for “going native” and “squandering the opportunity” and “joining the Beltway Club” — both in these comments and elsewhere. I don’t think that’s fair: the honest new folks elected in 1994 — who campaigned supporting things like term limits and MEANT it — weren’t around in 2000. They didn’t go native; they retired and went back to their REAL jobs, just like they promised. The ones who stayed were the ones who DIDN’T mean it — well, they didn’t “go native”, they already WERE D.C. natives before ever they were elected.

Our mistake was replacing the retiring conservatives with Rockefeller types, instead of more solid conservatives.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:44 am 55. bowman:

Dear Dan Riehl,

Not only no, but HELL no.

The leaders of the republican party in that district and the democrat candidate they chose to represent the republican party is the problem. No amount of pretending otherwise is going to change that.

As for Reagan, He didn’t face so-called republicans who were shills for the democrat’s Maoist-in-Chief and his hordes of comminist sympathizers.

I challenge you to go back and read or listen to what Reagan had to say about socialized medicine, socialism, communism, and communist sympathizers. Then come back and again try to tell us that Reagan would have blithely let a socialist wear the republican label and actively participate in the destruction of the country.

Please.

I dare you.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:45 am 56. Lummox JR:

Sorry, I don’t buy the premise. I can understand sometimes swallowing a bitter pill of supporting some candidates you don’t like who strengthen party unity as a whole, but the Republican party has gone way beyond that. Instead of nominating candidates who support the majority of the party’s platform, they nominate someone who opposes practically all of it, and this is somehow conservatives’ fault for not being active enough? Yes, conservatives should be more active in trying to control the party, but the party as it stands now only wants power for power’s sake, and has no interest in standing by its own principles. Efforts to get conservatives more attention within the party structure are usually Sisyphean battles. The party leaders will only listen to money, so withholding money and frustrating their efforts to elect more losers like Scozzafava is the only way to get their attention. Win or lose, this Hoffman business is going to get conservatives a lot more attention within the Republican party because Dede is a sinking ship, so conservatives will gain a lot from this even if Owens is elected by default.

There’s a time to try to take control of the party, and maybe that will result from this special election in NY-23 as the tea party movement gets more respect, but there’s also a time to tear it down. If the Republican party no longer has any principles, it must be torn down and replaced with one that does. The biggest threat to our liberty right now is not Democrats or Republicans, but the arrogance of the political class, elitists who will nakedly do anything to gain or hold power. Remember that the tea parties aren’t a Republican phenomenon–they’re comprised of people across the ideological spectrum who have stood up for responsible spending and smaller government, people who say enough is enough. A new party that stood for nothing else but that one issue would attract voters in droves. I won’t claim that the transition will be easy or that we won’t see a lot of bad law from Democrats running wild in Congress in the meantime, but we’re facing a point where we’ve run out of alternatives.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:46 am 57. Charlie:

I understand your point, but like other posters I am irritated with a leadership that fields weak candidates and espouses weak policies. This is not the GOP that I joined, and I’ll be damned if I’ll spend my time and money trying to teach them their trade.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:03 am 58. Jeff Weimer:

Dan has a valid point – and it’s not breaking the 11th commandment. We need to have these discussions amongst ourselves if we are going to effect anything remotely like fixing the party.

We who consider ourselves conservatives are taken for granted precisely because we don’t tend to get very involved in the Republican (or Democrat for that matter) party and wield direct influence on their decisions. If we want that to change, we need to do more than refuse to send money and make stinks at primaries. After all, the party (logically) listens to those who materially support it through donations, as donators are putting their money where their mouth is, and they abide the decisions of the party activists precisely because they are active.

Bottom line, we need to do more in order to bring the party around. Otherwise we are making a lot of smoke and very little heat.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:20 am 59. narciso:

Of course, politics and local, and the local committee supported Scozzofazza, but what explains Steele, the NRCC, and Gingrich’s reaction,coming to their rescue.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:22 am 60. DavidC:

Their is some validity to this. We have sat by the side frustrated, disillusioned, and more confused as the party we thought was fighting for us threw us under the bus to gain acceptance in DC. We have watched those we support abandon us for political expediency.

And we were silent.

The problem is now that we are becoming active, now that we are rising up to make our voice known, how are we being received by those we supported? We are basically being told to shut up and be quiet, they know best how to take care of us as the anointed ones.

Anyone who knows anything of leadership knows a bad leader ruins a successful company every time. No how much you work from the bottom to shore up the failing enterprise, if the leaders are making bad choices, it will still fail. What we are seeing is the result of that from the top down.

The GOP leadership has failed US for years. This race is just one, and consider the GOP is supporting Crist in Florida before the primary is even started. This shows the leadership is still failing and turning a deaf ear to its own grassroots. Rubio is their choice yet the GOP is throwing it’s weight and funding behind another RINO.

There comes a time when you must name names and call those to task who are not doing their job. Reagan may have believed that, I do not because I am sick and tired of working and telling local leaders what the PEOPLE want and watching them do what they want because that’s what the national leaders want. Until that changes, nothing we do at the bottom will matter because it hasn’t proven viable to this point.

It’s like going to the doctor, telling him you have a headache and he insists on cutting off your foot. It’s that kind of a disconnect that exists in the party at this point. GOP leadership is more concerned with being fawned on by MSM than it’s people. Yes it’s up to us to change that leadership but it’s up to leadership to make good choices as well. Stop focusing on one side only.

As Mark Levin says, we must be our own Paul Revere’s and start at the bottom. And if we must fire the leadership at all levels from there, so be it.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:40 am 61. BK:

“Dan Riehl is a former marketing professional in the technology industry turned blogger/new media consultant. He’s based in Virginia, just off the D.C. Beltway.”

You don’t say.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:45 am 62. John:

Oh, &^%$ing please. The Republican Party is not worth saving. Have you not seen enough?

Bush spent like a drunken sailor and his Republican cronies in Congress were worse.

The GOP only seem to remember its small government principles only when it no longer controls the pursestrings.

I’m done supporting the worthless Republicans. If we’re gonna bankrupt the country, let the Socialists get the credit.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:45 am 63. TMLutas:

Getting out and doing the work also means filling committee posts, many of which are vacant because nobody will run for them. Then when it comes time to name conservatives or moderates as nominees, conservatives will have the votes to put in people they believe will serve well.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:53 am 64. Bob in VA:

I pick ‘em as I see ‘em. Sent Hoffman $25 – that’s a lot for me on my small fixed income. Did the same for Murtha’s challenger in PA last year. No NRCC is going to shake me down to support their take on who’s best qualified to receive GOP money – period. Big tent concept only goes so far. And Gingrich and Scarborough should think twice about any further political ambitions. Left the GOP and went Indy because of this crap. Sarah got my vote; not McCain.

Oct 22, 2009 - 9:54 am 65. Anonymous:

This is from an article in National Review, regarding the 1976 Republican primary between Reagan and Ford:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWQ1NzJjZmViNTRkOWY3ZDZjMWQ5YzFjNjBiYjAyYzc=

“Disgruntled with Ford’s pursuit of détente with the Soviets, Ronald Reagan in 1975 decided to seek the seemingly impossible: to challenge the incumbent president from his own party, thereby breaking Reagan’s own “Eleventh Commandment:” “Thou Shall Not Speak Ill of Another Republican.”

Reagan fired unceasingly at Ford’s support of détente. “We are blind to reality if we refuse to recognize that détente’s usefulness to the Soviets is only as a cover for their traditional and basic strategy for aggression,” he said in October 1975. “Détente is for the Soviet Union a no-can-lose proposition.”

This is no different than the base pounding Scozzofazza, and proves that Mr. Riehl needs to brush up on his history.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:00 am 66. Terrye:

I think you have to let the locals decide something like this, the people will make the decision..but I am not going to blame every Republican in the country for this one race. And what is more, I don’t think it is reasonable to think that the RNC is going to ignore the Republican candidate endorsed by the locals and support someone who is not even running as a Republican. When Lieberman ran on his own in Conn., he did not expect the DNC to endorse him..he just did what he thought was right and he won.

So if Hoffman can win, that is not a bad thing. However, my fear is that there will be a third party split and the Democrats will win just like the usually do when there is a third party candidate.

A primary can cull out a lot of bad candidates, but in special elections like this conservatives need to be more active in local politics, because that is who makes these decisions in elections like this.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:05 am 67. Terrye:

Bob:

You can not have it both ways, if you don’t support them, they won’t support you.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:06 am 68. Sean:

Criticism in New York does, in effect, lie at the feet of New York’s Republicans.

The NY GOP has no interest in grassroots organizing. It is only interested in gathering donations, much of which comes from wealthy Manhattan liberal Republicans. This way they can keep a small number of connected “consultants” earning a living.

I tried over several years to get involved with NY’s GOP, and there was no apparatus to do so, and no one interested in help in building one. I can only assume that, with the county GOP up there where NY-23 is located nominating such a liberal Republican, my experience is probably the same as the one up there.

Precinct/block captains were a rarity. The grassroots apparatus is basically precicnt/block captains elect a District Leader, who elect County Committee people who elect the County Republican Leader. Those County Republican leaders choose their local candidates, as well as elect state candidates. At it’s core, the block captains call the shots.

The problem is, most of the time, there is no activity at the most basic levels, with less than 50% of the election districts, if I remember correctly, even having a District Leader. NYC even has some districts with 10% and fewer block captains per district.

On the bright side, New York, of all states, is completely ready for a Tea Party takeover from the ground up. But it would involve a lot of shoe leather, time and a bit of organization. Sadly, most counties in New York don’t have enough interested Republicans to return the party back to a responsive grassroots organization.

But even worse, the GOP in New York will actually try to destroy someone else trying to come in and shake things up. The earlier-mentioned “consultants” are actually in large part character assassins, one of whom was even caught making threats at one point to Eliot Spitzer’s father. They also have done similar things in the past, hiring private detectives and employing contacts in state/local law enforcement to find skeletons in people’s closets even within the GOP if those candidates/activists announce intentions to upset the GOP patronage apple cart.

The NY GOP could be taken over within a matter of 4 years if someone wanted, but there would be a few people destroyed personally in the process.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:17 am 69. TParty4USA:

By their actions and statements in the NY-23rd fiasco, leaders in the GOP are apparently soon going to withdraw from the Republican party and become card-carrying Democrats.

After all, most all Democrats also support card check, the stimulus, and dummy-up (or call 911) when asked questions about their positions? And ACORN is an arm of the Democrats, and an enemy of every one else.

What’s next from the GOP’s chosen candidates? Support for the public option, crap and tax, increased taxes, “fairness” doctrine, gun ban, Indoctrination High, apology tours abroad, the destruction of free speech here at home, Mao, Che Guevera, redistribution of wealth, punish profits, life like back in the USSR?

What’s the line?

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:25 am 70. George B:

Jed wrote: “For a few short years after 1994 the Republican Party was run by Conservative activists. They got a lot done. By 2000 the “professionals” had taken control. Look at the number of conservatives who retired to public life in the early 2000s. Dick Army and J.C. Watts come to mind; burned-out, broke, or tired of fighting the system.”

The Class of 94 Congressmen were strong supporters of term limits and at least some pledged to retire after 3 terms. Many kept their promise in 2000 and professional politicians moved in to take their seats. Unfortunately conservatives were not as fired up in 1999 and 2000 and the quality of Republican candidates suffered. The replacement Republicans were good enough to keep seats in Republican hands, but not conservative enough to resist out of control spending.

I bypass the GOP and donate time and/or hard money directly to conservative candidates. Let big donors make big diffuse soft money contributions to Republicans in general. I’ll make small online donations and walk neighborhoods for specific conservative candidates in contested races where I can make a difference.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:31 am 71. Lummox JR:

Something I didn’t say, that I realized after the fact I should have, is that there is more than one way to get active and involved in a party and helping decide its course. Some people are natural activists and like to get deeply involved, investing a great deal of time. Others have more money than time, and they choose to use that money to donate in the belief that it will be spent wisely to further the general platform in which they believe. Some write letters or even just talk up the candidates they believe in. Those that have donated to the RNC in the past are now frustrated by the 8 RINOs who voted yes on cap-and-trade, to say nothing of Scozzafava. Money, time, and talk invested in the party are being wasted by those making decisions, from the national level right down to the state and often even the local level. Reallocating those resources IS a form of involvement, and so is the display of righteous anger against those who have abused their trust. Not everyone has to stuff envelopes or answer phones or collect signatures for petitions or even run for office to be “active” in a party. Jerking the leash is all some of us can do; it’s wrong to belittle that.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:45 am 72. JMH:

Absolves the party leadership for this fiasco? Check
Blames the base? Check

Well, there’s another way to read what he wrote. Instead of saying he’s blaming the base, you could say he placed the blame on the NY State GOP and told the base what it needs to do to fix the problem.

Seriously, the people responsible for this fiasco are the NY State GOP leadership who picked Scozzafava. They screwed up and need to be replaced. Who’s going to fire them and pick the replacements? Riehl is telling you it’s not going to be Steele and the National GOP, the party doesn’t work that way (it’s not a top-down organization). The only people who can fire the NY GOP leadership responsible for this are conservatives in NY State, and the only way for them to do that is to put enough time and effort into the NY State GOP to have a say when the matter comes up. Nobody else is going to do it for you – if you expect that, than really you’re no better than the average Obama voter who expects someone else to pay his mortgage or provide his “free” health care. If you leave it up to someone else to organize your political party, who’s fault is it if liberals do all the organizing?

Maybe you think the GOP is beyond saving. Okay, fine, then you better put your energy behind getting a third-party working really, really quick. Nov. 2010 will be here faster than you think, and removing Reid and Pelosi from control of Congress is going to require a lot more work than just showing up to cast a ballot. Somebody’s got to do that work, or the Democrats will just win again. If you’re not going to do it, than who is? Liberals, that’s who. It’s part of their gameplan, they show up, not just at the polls, but at the organizing meetings. Hell, they’re so good at showing up, they even managed to hijak at least one state GOP organization.

We’ve got two choices – either unhijak the GOP and take it back, or cobble together a viable 3rd party in less than 12 months time. Neither job is going to do itself. It’s probably a state-by-state question which is the better choice, but every single one of us needs to make that choice soon and get our butts in gear.

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:45 am 73. Sara:

The GOP is now a total Rino organization. If I were a liberal, I would vote for the liberal party. I would not vote for the lying party that claims to be Republican but is really liberal.

Rinos ran a permanent minority party before Reagan and they want to get back to the bad old days of perminate minority again. They are in bi-partisan agreement with the Democrats – they hate conservatives. They hated and smeared Reagan as a dangerous extremist.

They have been undermining the GOP as best they can by running left of center candidates and shouting down conservatives. It is time for them to go to the back of the bus where they belong so that Republicans with ideas for reform can lead again. When they threaten to leave the party, they should be shown the door quickly. If the GOP is to be a minority party, let it be a conservative oppostition party to the socialists not a stupid Rino head nodding party with the socialists.

If it were not for the tea party and it’s ensuing activism, the Rinos would have shoved socialized medicine and tax and trade with their friends the Democrats on Americans by now. They are very angry that “extremists” have made them afraid for their jobs and stripped them of their chance to be adored by the socialist media.

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:05 am 74. Lummox JR:

JHM, the national leadership can and should be blamed because they threw money at Scozzafava instead of telling the idiots at the state level that their choice was unacceptable. Just because it’s not top-down doesn’t mean the top level has to rubber-stamp whatever the state and local branches approve. If they pick someone who’s not in line with the platform, that candidate should get not one thin dime of national money. Would the New York GOP be so dysfunctional if they were kept in check by the national party leaders holding a death grip on the cookie jar?

I agree that if the Republican party is replaced it’s not going to happen overnight and it’s going to throw us into chaos. We may face that choice either way. Unfortunately the cancer in this organization has metastasized. The RINOs are eating the party from the inside out and it will collapse if they are not fought. Fighting them conventionally hasn’t worked so well to date–but maybe Dede’s defeat will help. If not, remember that even the Republican party didn’t coalesce overnight after the Whigs imploded. The Democrats can do real damage until that time, but if a strong new party emerges with firm roots in fiscal responsibility, that damage might just be undoable. Much stranger things have happened in our political history. 2010 will likely see a major Republican pickup even if the ship is taking on a lot of water, but the base’s anger won’t disappear and the party is already ridiculously unprepared to field a presidential candidate in 2012. We don’t have one year for the Tea Party to become a reality; realistically we have three.

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:06 am 75. Sapwolf:

Dan,

Great post. I was all set to rip your head off and then I agree’d with you by the middle of page 2.

I was just on the phone with another TeamSarah Tea Party person in Ohio earlier today and we were talking about what to do next. We agreed that getting Tea Party Movement libertarians and conservatives taking over the county-level GOP groups is a start.

I’m starting to do research and find out how I can get this going in my county, especially since I’m unemployed now.

Thanks.

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:16 am 76. John:

The local party may have picked this RINO but the national party is giving her money, and high profile support. The RNC could have evaluated the candidate and limited or elimanated their support but choose not to.

The RNC will not get a dime. I will continue to support conservative candidates by not a dime for the national party.

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:16 am 77. M. Simon:

I don’t think Socialists belong in the Republican Party. It is what we have Democrats for.

I have a few more words on the subject:

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2009/10/revolution-starts-here.html

What do I want to see:

“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.” – Ronald Reagan

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:39 am 78. Mwalimu Daudi:

In the 1980 election Ronald Reagan was opposed tooth-and-nail by GOP “moderates” (I use quote marks because there is nothing remotely moderate about them). Former GOP Congressman John Anderson based his independent Presidential campaign upon a supposedly huge army of voters fed up with Reagan’s conservatism and Carter’s incompetence. Anderson got a whopping 7% of the popular vote and failed to keep Reagan from getting more than 50%.

The issues Anderson ran on were familiar – Reagan was a stupid Moral Majority theocrat who hated women, seniors and blacks, and who was lusting for a nuclear war with the USSR after he destroyed the environment. Carter, by contrast, was upbraided as being insufficiently liberal. Over and over again Anderson whined, “I want my party back!” and the MSM of the day eagerly agreed.

Trouble is, Anderson did get it back. After Reagan came Bush I, Dole, Bush II, and McCain. Each GOP Presidential nominee was to the left of the GOP base – and further to the left of his predecessor. In 2008, in fact, we witnessed the weird spectacle of McGovernite Obama being to the right of McCain on taxes and illegal aliens.

The Party of Reagan that defeated Communism and (for a time, at least) altered the course of government spending has morphed back into the Party of Moderate Republicans. John Anderson with his 7% has triumphed over Reagan and his 51%.
For that reason I am not in sympathy with Riehl’s argument because it ignores what has happened over the last 20 years: the GOP has drifted so far to the left it no longer differs from the Democrat Party in any meaningful sense (except perhaps national security and defense, and there I suspect it is only a matter of time). If in 1989 someone had told me that Republicans would win control of Congress and the Presidency, only to blow it a few years later because they were thieves who spent tax money like Democrats on all sorts of earmarks and worse-than-useless programs (the prescription drug benefit that was supposed to create an electoral lock for the GOP), I would have said they were crazy.

In New Jersey “moderate” Republican Chris Christie will lose to highly unpopular Democrat Corzine, who might be re-elected with less than 40% of the vote. A third-party anti-property tax candidate is cleaning Christie’s clock. Recall that Christie had a 15-point lead at one time.

In Illinois, Delaware, and Florida the same left-wing GOP Establishment that assured us that McCain was a conservative is pushing three more “moderates”. Assuming all three get elected (a dubious proposition) the only question is: which one will be the first to pull a Specter and join the Democrat Party? My money is on Castle of Delaware, but the other two could surprise. Why bother?

No more GOP “moderates”. No more GOP. A third party, please. It’s time to have two major political parties in America again, and the GOP is not the one to do it.

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:41 am 79. Izengabe:

Dan, great article but get your facts straight about Ed Cox. He didn’t pick Scozzafava. He inherited the mess from Joseph Mondello who will probably go down as one of the worst NY GOP chairmen of all time.

It was Mondello who pushed the local GOP to pick Scozzafava. National Republicans and the RNCC wanted Matt Doheny a local wealthy Republican investment banker who quickly raised before the selection process $300,000 and offered to put in at least $500,000 into the race.

So instead of going with Doheny who had over $800,000 in his campaign kitty and would have easily gotten Conservative Party backing they picked Scozzafava and caused this mess.

Hoffman was always considered a 2nd tier candidate by the local GOP and only came to prominance because he was the best canidate the Conservative Party could get.

BTW, this is Mondollo’s 2nd special election screw up. He was also the one who bullied the local GOP into picking Tedisco (who didn’t live in district) over the popular John Faso who would have been a much better canidate and probably could have beaten Murphy.

Oct 22, 2009 - 11:48 am 80. M. Simon:

12. Clayton E. Cramer:

I’ll give you two out of three.

1. No On gun control
2. No on higher taxes

I don’t give a F*** about gay marriage.

I’m have absolutely zero interest in a culture war. None. Zip. Nada.

If you want to run as Alan Keyes, I’m voting for the Communist. And I did.

The voters sent you a message. Evidently you didn’t get it.

Oct 22, 2009 - 12:27 pm 81. JMH:

JHM, the national leadership can and should be blamed because they threw money at Scozzafava instead of telling the idiots at the state level that their choice was unacceptable.

I didn’t say the national leadership wasn’t to blame, I said they weren’t going to fix the problem. There’s a big difference between saying someone is responsible for causing a problem and saying they’re responsible for fixing it. Yeah, sure, ideally the people who screwed up would be responsible for cleaning up their own mess, but the reality is, they can’t. They either have the wrong ideas or the wrong skills, that’s why they screwed up in the first place.

We didn’t cause the problem, but we do need to fix it, cause no one else is going to for us.

Oct 22, 2009 - 12:48 pm 82. LilSpitfire:

TCOT has the sequence of events concerning HOW this idiotic candidate was ’selected.’
It appears to have been a set-up – basing my opinion, in part, on the fact that DeDe had the PRESS ready and waiting outside of the meeting.
………….

The impression that the entire county chairman nomination meeting was stage managed in secret by Duprey and Scozzafava was re-enforced when the nomination was secured. As the county chairmen walked out of the restaurant that day, there was Scozzafava, with the cameras of the local Watertown television station waiting to break the news that she was the nominee.

http://www.tcotreport.com/23ny1.html

Oct 22, 2009 - 1:01 pm 83. twoninerkilo:

Another lesser of two evils screeds by Riehl. Good God man! When are you going to go over to the Dhims, like your buddy Arlen? In the mean time quit wasting our time, you’d do better writing for the daily cos. You weak, pathetic,RINO.

Oct 22, 2009 - 1:19 pm 84. BobSledd:

I was a Registered Republican in NJ for the last 30 years..
I am now registered as an Indpendent.
I am voting for Daggett.
Christie has NO PLANS only vague promises.
Daggett has a plan.
I am NOT voting just to get an empty suit, RINO in office.
We have had enough of that for years now.
It’s time for REAL change.

Oct 22, 2009 - 1:33 pm 85. Sean:

It comes down to this: The local GOP picked a horrible candidate (this is Standard Operating Procedure for the NY GOP).

The national GOP can’t abandon a locally-selected GOP candidate because they disagree with them on some issues.

Bear in mind, I’ve sent my personal money to Hoffman. However, the national committees have an obligation to support candidates that get the GOP endorsement, and part of that obligation is giving them funds. They can’t overrule a local selection by choosing a third party candidate when a Republican is running. The system would just break down, and potential candidates would lose faith in the organization. The national GOP has it’s hands tied.

Newt Gingrich, however, has much to be ashamed of. He has lost all credibility with Conservatives at this point by voluntarily offering his support to an uber-liberal.

Oct 22, 2009 - 1:42 pm 86. FC:

Dan couldn’t be more wrong on this. This is squarely on the shoulders of Michael Steele and the NRCC. They did a recruitment poll and distributed to the county chairs. They were pushing for Dedee.

Oct 22, 2009 - 2:00 pm 87. Richard:

I’m from Central New York so I know something about the procedures used.

Here is a contemporary account (i.e. before the present controversy) of how Scozzafava received the nomination from a district newspaper, with no ax to grind: http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/507692.html?nav=5008

Scozzafava was chosen by a vote of county chairmen, representing the 11 counties in the district, based on weighted vote. That is, each county chairman cast the number of votes received by the Republican candidate (the incumbent McHugh) in his or her county in the 2008 election. The selection took four ballots. In short, a small number of North Country Republicans, not state and national leaders, selected the candidate. Undoubtedly, most of the county chairmen based their votes on friendships, relationships, and personal histories, not issues.

There are no primaries for special elections. A convention, or series county-by-county meetings, with party committee members (numbering in the low thousands) voting, might also have provided a better result. But, it didn’t happen.

All that said, I’d vote for Hoffman too.

Oct 22, 2009 - 2:04 pm 88. McGehee:

Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.

I think I see the problem.

We’re not leaving the GOP — we’re recognizing that the GOP has left us.

Oct 22, 2009 - 2:34 pm 89. Lummox JR:

Sean, I don’t for a second believe there’d be a systemic breakdown if the national party refused to support candidates who complete violate its platform. It’s one thing to accept that a Republican in New York is different from one in Wyoming on a number of issues, and it’s perfectly reasonable to expect a lot of flexibility from the national organization on their choice. However this choice is so completely wrong-headed it’s a disaster; Dede doesn’t merely disagree on “some issues”, but on almost all substantive planks of the Republican platform.

Who would really lose faith in the process if the national party turned their backs on Scozzafava? Only other RINOs and not-so-closeted Democrats like Scozzafava, that’s who. And it would send a clear message to the state and local levels of the party: Get your ducks in a row or receive no national support. What in the world is there to gain by not drawing a line somewhere? At the very very least they could have simply gone after Owens instead of also trying to attack Hoffman.

Oct 22, 2009 - 2:42 pm 90. Patrick Of Atlantis:

The salient fact is that Scozzafava is an Obama
supporter running as a Republican.

Oct 22, 2009 - 2:49 pm 91. Whitehorse:

I have busted my butt for years, knocking on doors, making calls, & putting up signs. I have sat outside of polling places holding signs & waving for years.

We conservatives are the ones who do this – the squishy country clubbers are too busy holding down chairs to do this “beneath them” work. Scozzafava is to the left of the Democrat candidate – no moderate, no centrist.

Reagan said that my 80% friend is not my enemy. Scozzafava is a <10% enemy of what we believe as conservative Republicans. Authenticity in belief is what people are looking for in 2010.

Oct 22, 2009 - 3:06 pm 92. Bilgeman:

#85 Sean:
“The national GOP can’t abandon a locally-selected GOP candidate because they disagree with them on some issues.”

Then what you’re saying here is that the national GOP has no control over it’s own branding.

Somehow, I don’t quite think that’s the case.

Like I said above, it doesn’t need to be a straitjacket, but agreement on some broad parameters with where everyone else is.

So the GOP doesn’t have to embarass itself to it’s own base by failing to explain the fact of a DeDe.

And that IS the responsibility of Michael Steele…to protect and promote the brand.

Oct 22, 2009 - 3:15 pm 93. Ytzik:

Mike McGee,

I understad your point but you should recognize Mark L has a point too. You say many people supports the Gop but they can’t get more involved because they are “busy with their jobs, lives, illnesses, hardships and other commitments”. Ok, now think of your opponents: people who never had a real job, never got a life, never overcame any hardship, never had any worthy commitments… THEY most probably will have all the time to get involved in politics.

I’m glad you mention Objectivist Epistemology. because I suppose you know the last consequences of that philosophy. You profiled the producers by telling about lifes, jobs and commitments. I just profiled the parasites. Yes, people oriented to Life is busy all the time. People without a life have all the time to get involved in politics.

The question is what are we gonna do about it?

That’s why I think Mark L (and Riehl) have a point. You better find the time to fight for what you love more -your life and the system that make it possible, or accept the consequences of Evil filling the void spaces you’ve left.

The price of Freedom is the eternal vigilance. Jefferson.

Oct 22, 2009 - 5:11 pm 94. Delia:

I never met a car salesman I liked.

Welcome to politics 101.

Sleazy. √
Liars. √
Will do anything for a buck √
Philanderers √
Back peddlers √
Turn coats √
Self serving √
Hypocrites √
Lawyers √
etc. etc. ad nauseum √

The best and the brightest of our country want nothing to do with politics. Can you blame them? The only people that gravitate towards politics are slime.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:45 pm 95. Delia:

Self-Edit:

The only people WHO gravitate towards politics are slime IN THIS DAY AND AGE.

Oh hell. Who am I kidding? They were slime back ‘then’ too more than likely.

Oct 22, 2009 - 7:46 pm 96. Tennwriter:

The statement that online activists should shut up unless they are also working at the county level is wrong. It looks like an attempt to shut down conservatives.

We can motivate the GOP by varying methods. Shouting at them, and refusing money, and refusing votes is one method. Its not the only method. Starting a third party, donations to opposing candidates, and getting in to committee chairs are other methods.

If you say, ‘hey, conservatives need to do more’ then no one has an objection. If you say, ‘do more, or shut up’, then I have an objection.

His remedy sounds an awful lot like ‘in ten years time you might get some of what you want if you support the RINOs now.’ Well, I say, in light of the RINOs obvious failures its time for the RINOs to support the True Cons.

M. Simon, thank you for proving what many Real Conservatives suspect. The RINOs hate us more than they hate the Democrats. And isn’t it confusing that social conservatism was more popular in California than Republicanism? Remember Prop 8?

I sit here and think, hey, maybe M. Simon might have a point about drugs, at least enough to do an experiment. And then M. Simon breaks the 11th Commandment into little bitty pieces. He still might have a point, but unless he’s going to support reason and right, why should we put ourselves out to support his pet project? We should just file it down around priority fifty behind getting a border fence between Canada and America. If we get to it, well and good. If not, well, maybe next time.

I half expect Mr. Riehl to come out with hatred for socons sometime in the next year. Socons are going to persistently, and with good humor dispute points made by Mr. Riehl. Eventually, he’s going to be real tempted to lose his cool as he keeps getting politely pistol smacked, and go Kathleen Parker.

It seems to be the thing. Fiscons and centrists, when the crunch gets hard, go squish, and change sides. If you want a real fiscon, elect a socon, and the more hard-nosed the better. Alan Keyes might be interesting.

Oct 22, 2009 - 8:42 pm 97. Marc Malone:

312 Cramer – To answer your question, I choose the Dem who supports me 0%. I know where he stands. Obma taught me this lesson. Everything but Conservatism leads to a road off the cliff. When they wreck things, I want the Dems to get ALL the blame. I don’t want there to be some bipartisan support, so that the Dems can dodge the blame.

The Pubs in Congress and the Senate have stood tall lately, except the usual suspects. Spectre switched parties. See what you get with someone who agrees 40%? I’m tired of the Pubs having to keep fake Pubs on the reservation.

#67 Terrye – “If you don’t support them, they won’t support you.” Wrong! If the base witholds support, the RINO’s finally pay attention. The moderates in Congress only started standing up when they sensed that America was moving Conservative. You have to call them out.

Same with National GOP vs. local. Steele should have called them out. “Too much suck. You get no support from us. We endorse Hoffman. We urge all Pubs to vote for Hoffman. Please ignore the local, corrupt powerbrokers.”

Imagine the huge, HUGE media play that would get. The Leftist media would be all atwitter talking about the Pub feud, all the while, not realising that they are advertising the GOP getting its head on straight. The credibility that would get the Pubs would have been huge. What a signal that would have sent!

We need someone in charge of the GOP who would take such a canny and prinicpled stand. Now, if only there were someone like that. Oh, wait, just today, Sarah Palin took such a stand and endorsed Hoffman! She also took the Pubbies to task for endorsing a Manchurian Candidate.

And people wonder why Sarah is so popular with the base? My response to her action? “Oh, Hell yeah!” I’m sure Hoffman’s and the NYS Conservative party’s response is exactly the same, “Oh, Hell yeah!”

Oct 22, 2009 - 10:41 pm 98. darcy:

What you wrote, Mike Mcgee, is exactly my conclusion too, and here’s how I’d say it:

It’s bad enough that conservatives in this center-right nation (according to polling data) have to fight tooth and nail against leftist Democrats and their entrenched back up teams: Hollywood, the so-called MSM, and our K through grad-school indoctrination centers — not to mention the decimation of our courts.

But no, we also have to wage battle against the dark forces in a political party whose sole reason for being should be as a counterweight to despotic, “Progressive” powers.

Since the Republican Party no longer sees itself as said counterweight — examine your own hearts, you lackeys — it is past time to let them go the way of their own choosing.

I’m sick and damn tired of the fight.

This NY23 race is the very last straw. Boehner, Cantor, McCotter, Gingrich — a pox on all your houses.

The Republican Party will NEVER be a majority party again; conservatives are done with you.

Let the cookie crumble where it will. We won’t sell our souls for RINOs PC praise.

Oct 23, 2009 - 12:11 am 99. M:

Lame..and truly indicative of the problems with the GOP.

Oct 23, 2009 - 12:12 am 100. Poor Citizen:

No. 94 Delia,

Hey, give President Bush some credit will you? He was not bad as a great example of how to golf and take vacations. Hence, he showed tremendous leadership in those areas.

And on the serious note: The GOP faces two choices, making the tent wider by re establishing contacts with its fringes (environmentalist, women/s groups and centrists) or pair down to the 40% base and wait it out for 12 years or so, to get back in. Sooner or later, they will decide. Good luck to them.

Oct 23, 2009 - 3:54 am 101. Dave:

“show up and do the work”…. ????????????????

You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

First and foremost, it’s our representatives’ job to REPRESENT US. They CANNOT fail to know what we want and who we are and how many of us there are. They are ignoring us and aiming for the middle because of what THEY believe, not because we’re not SHOWING UP.

The GOP must either kick US out or we must get control of the GOP and kick out the moderates. They can vote how they like. If they are true to their claims, they will vote GOP no matter who the candidates are. If they are secretly liberal in their views, as I believe they are, they can go vote Obama for all I care.

Reagan proved it, and it is STILL TRUE… if we are unashamedly and loudly conservative we will WIN ELECTIONS.

Are you listening, McCain? Schmidt? Noonan? Newt???

We are the MAJORITY. Self identified conservatives are the largest block in the nation!!! over 60% of the nation opposes abortion!! READ THE POLLS!

Or ask the right question in the polls… this healthcare thing drives me crazy, why don’t we have a poll that asks flat out “do you want government controlled single payer tax-funded health care like Canada or Britain?” We already know that’s what the white house wants and Frank wants and Pelosi wants and Reid wants. If you ask THAT question in a poll the answer will come back EIGHTY PERCENT AGAINST!!!!!!!!!!!

Be conservative, GOP, or be eventually irrelevant.

Oct 23, 2009 - 6:46 am 102. Bilgeman:

#100 Poor Citizen:
“The GOP faces two choices, making the tent wider by re establishing contacts with its fringes (environmentalist, women/s groups and centrists) or pair down to the 40% base and wait it out for 12 years or so, to get back in. Sooner or later, they will decide. Good luck to them.”

Aw, gee. And you’ve been such a staunch Republican that your advice is highly valued around these parts.

If people want to advance a green feminist agenda, why in the world would they NOT vote for a Democrat?

The fact is that the modern definitions of the terms you use are not what you think they are,(or would like us to think they are).

Oct 23, 2009 - 8:33 am 103. Bilgeman:

#101 Dave:
“We already know that’s what the white house wants and Frank wants and Pelosi wants and Reid wants. If you ask THAT question in a poll the answer will come back EIGHTY PERCENT AGAINST!!!!!!!!!!!”

Actually, when it comes to Obama and HCR, he’s got the moonbats in full howling double-Hindu sh!t-fit mode because he has NOT come out and stated his support for PO/Single-Payer/Socialist Utopiacare.

Pull on your hip-waders and rubber gloves, put your snorkel in your mouth and plunge over to “The Plum Line”,(as despicably laughable a moonbat sweat-lodge as you’re likely to find…they’ve repulsed even OTHER Democrats, lately), to see them all wailing and yammering and pity-partying about Obama’s playing it coy.

Oct 23, 2009 - 8:39 am 104. Eddie:

I’d love to get involved… but every time I try what it gets me is more fliers asking for money.

That said… if I have a choice between two cars driving towards disaster, I’ll take the one driving at 10mph over the one moving at 70, every time.

No candidate, unless you run yourself, is going to represent you 100% of the way. It’s absurd to posture that allowing someone diametrically opposed to your views is better than voting in someone who agrees with you 70%, 60% or maybe only 30% of the time.

Oct 23, 2009 - 6:45 pm 105. Brian Richard Allen:

Just as there were no women in Theater in the days of Shakespeare’s Globe and all of the female parts were played by poofters, so are there no Republicans in today’s politics.

And every Republican part is played at by a John McRainman or by a Lindthay Graham.

Oct 23, 2009 - 11:33 pm 106. ConservativeWanderer:

Okay, Eddie, I’ve got a challenge for you.

Show me the 70% of the GOP platform (that is, the official GOP platform as voted on at the 2008 convention) that Scozzafava has expressed her agreement with during this election cycle. If she hasn’t commented on an issue, you can’t count it as agreement.

I eagerly await the results of your exhaustive research… or your desperate Rockefeller Republican spin, whichever you decide to give us.

Oct 24, 2009 - 9:42 am 107. Lisa Graas:

Dan, before that NRCC donation I would have totally agreed with you. That rocked me. Six figures??? I’m stunned. Yes, everything you say here *would* have been true, if not for that six-figure donation from the NRCC.

Suffice it to say that I am really looking forward to reading Sarah Palin’s book and I’m hopeful that she is candid and names some names.

I’m quite convinced that Sarah Palin was intentionally sabotaged on the various invitations, to just make her look bad, and on the fundraiser itself, they tried to push off that Ryan TARP-supporter guy from Wisconsin as a “Palin substitute” because he’s got sex appeal and has some conservative credentials (other than TARP). He was given the spot of introducing Gingrich which was supposed to go to Palin. There was a certain “unnamed” GOP Senator from a “battleground state” who dissed her in comments that night………I could go on and on and on with this. I’m telling you, I’m not having any more of it.

There was a great article at Politico today regarding the Hoffman endorsement where several people were quoted. Palin was extensively quoted from her Facebook post………and it ended with an **anonymous** GOP “insider” whose opinion means nothing to me. Why should it? He/she won’t add his/her name to the comment. Why are they afraid to add their names to comments about the grassroots who have been alienated?? These weasels need to go NOW or the party is going to go down with them.

They all need to have some humility and RESIGN because the trashing has come from them “anonymously” every time Palin gets some good ink. We are not amused by calls for us to “play nice” with the GOP when they are clearly out to destroy her and the momentum of the grassroots conservatives under her leadership.

Sure, they didn’t choose Scozzafava, but a six-figure donation??? Please. *URP*

Nothing personal. I love ya, Dan, but no more for me…….until I see what Palin is going to do. Can’t wait for Palin’s book.

Oct 24, 2009 - 8:28 pm 108. David:

Reagans law applys only to republicans not liberals hiding behind the elephant.Fiar game is anyone who agrees with liberal philosophy and is backed by groups such as acorn.They are not republicans when they vote against every other republican.Standing on their own MAKING DEALS WITH THE DEVIL,laughing at the rest.This candidate is a democrat,her record and what she supports proves that.So remove her from the ticket,or put democrat beside her name.Reagan would be appauled at the blurred lines we see nowdays.He would toss out his rule and join in the verbal attack on her,thats 100% forsure.At least in his day republican ment something.These days we are so confused it has become a dirty word.So yes we must fight to bring the GOP back to its roots.However if the GOP puts candidates that are really dems on the ticket,you can forget Reagans 11th.

Oct 24, 2009 - 10:16 pm 109. myth buster:

No Eddie, it isn’t. The reason it isn’t is that choosing the lesser of two evils is a losing battle. You’re always ceding ground with no way to reclaim it. This makes disaster inevitable, as opposed to the opposition taking over fully and making a mess of things quickly, where it will get very bad, but you have a chance to turn the car around before you actually go over the cliff. The guy driving at 10 mph will forcibly restrain you from grabbing the controls and turning around- the guy going 70 mph won’t be able to stop you.

Oct 24, 2009 - 10:42 pm 110. idalily:

New to PJM, but for my first post, I have to say: I want fiscally responsible government. Why is this so hard for the RNC to understand? STOP SPENDING. Oh, and Newt: shut up.

Oct 24, 2009 - 10:45 pm 111. Berlet98:

New York Republicans Just Don’t Get It

She’s pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-card check, pro-tax and spend, in bed with labor unions, and has been endorsed by DailyKos.com.

I’m not referring to Nancy Pelosi or Barbara Boxer. I’m referring to New York State Assmblywoman Dede Scozafazza, the Republican nominee for Congress in New York 23rd CD.

More liberal than many of her Democratic colleagues in the Assembly yet termed a moderate, Scozzafazza is about as moderate as George Soros and her nomination represents the most asinine Republican pick since Rick Lazio ran against Hillary in 2000.

Opposed in the special election on November 3rd by Democrat Bill Owens and the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, Scozafazza’s nomination is a classic example of the political astigmatism and poor memories of the New York State Republicans.

The 23rd and this country as a whole are politically center right and generally reject political extremism of liberal candidates such as Barack Obama unless they successfully cloak that philosophy in rhetorical vagaries, such as Barack Obama did.

Last November’s election . . .

(Read the rest at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1281)

Oct 24, 2009 - 10:51 pm 112. Sebastian Shaw:

Scozafazza is a liberal Democrat. Why is the RNC backing this woman calling herself a Republican? The RNC is clueless. The RNC should be backing Hoffman; given his ascendancy in the race, I hope he wins. Newt needs to go away. He’s wrong.

Oct 25, 2009 - 11:10 am 113. jtb, dallas, texas, usa:

It is past time for the Conservatives of this country to build a Republican party that has morals, has standards, welcomes anyone, protects everyone, but refuses to compromise on morals and standards for candidates…

The GOP “Leadership” needs to wake up and smell the coffee… Or they will be replaced…

Nov 1, 2009 - 7:18 am

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