When Republican campaigns implode
By scarce Thursday Oct 22, 2009 9:00amSo what happens when a moderate Republican (Dede Scozzafava) gets bushwhacked from the far right in her quest to win a seat in congress, in what would normally be in a district where the prospects were pretty good she'd win? First, her finances dry up; right-wing Club for Growth starts running ads for her Conservative opponent while she can't run any due to lack of money; she gets attacked by Dick Armey (albeit Newt Gingrich tried to come to her rescue); The Weekly Standard starts running snide things about her campaign so her campaign manager flips out and calls the cops on him.
And then this.
In what can only be described, charitably, as a severe lapse in judgment or common sense, a protest news conference staged in front of her Conservative opponent's headquarters goes awry. And the resulting optics were less than stellar. Scozzafava's pained expression probably came at the exact moment she realized she would be seen standing in front of a wall of signs for her opponent on the local evening news.
Somewhere Democrat Bill Owens and his campaign are chuckling at the continuing travails of the Republicans in upstate New York, and perhaps even the oncoming civil war within the national Republican party itself.
Rachel Maddow weighed in on the race on her show last night.
Maddow: Common political wisdom is that the first round of elections in the new president‘s first year are a referendum on that president. This year‘s bellwether looks a lot more like a referendum on the state of the Republican Party. And at this point, Democrats rejoice. It‘s a cage match.
Transcript below the fold.
MADDOW: Yes, it‘s that time of year, again. We are now precisely two weeks away from election 2009, when voters across specific parts of the country will take to the polls to vote in some local and statewide elections. And some of these elections have gained national attention, like the very highly-anticipated governor‘s races in New Jersey and Virginia.
For the country as a whole, these races are important to the extent that they are bellwethers, real world indicators of what‘s going on in American politics. And if today‘s crazy news about one of these bellwether races is anything to go by, what‘s going on here right now on American politics is absolute chaos on one side of the political spectrum.
The race in question is to replace the Upstate New York Republican Congressman John McHugh. John McHugh needs to be replaced because he‘s been appointed by President Obama to be the new secretary of the army. Mr. McHugh‘s district is described by the local papers there as one of the most reliably Republican seats in the nation. Parts of the district haven‘t been represented by a Democrat since the before the Civil War when Democrat Francis Spinner was elected back in 1854.
This year, this New York district which hasn‘t elected a Democrat since the Civil War era looks awfully close to electing a Democrat in 2009, in large part because of a bare-knuckled, hair-pulling, knockdown drag out intra-party fight that has broken out over this race on the political right.
When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorsed the Republican candidate in this race, the conservative Club for Growth went after Gingrich with both barrels. The head of the Club for Growth publicly snarking about Mr. Gingrich, quote, “Gingrich does this all the time. He likes to cultivate this image of being an innovator and a thinker and so on.”
When the conservative magazine, “The Weekly Standard,” sent a reporter to question the Republican candidate in the race, the candidate called the police to question the reporter, prompting “Weekly Standard” editor Bill Kristol to put out a snarky statement of his own, calling the Republican, quote, “desperate.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee and the House Republican leadership, like John Boehner and Eric Cantor, have come out in favor of the Republican candidate. The Republican Party has spent more than $300,000 in this race on her behalf. That caused Republican columnist Michelle Malkin to tell her readers, quote, “If you have given to the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican National Committee, or Newt Gingrich, under the impression that they are using the money to support conservatism, you might want to ask for your money back.”
Even as the Republican Party and usual suspects, like the National Rifle Association, support the Republican running to replace a Republican congressman in this Republican district, the conservative movement is bolting. They are instead supporting a candidate who‘s running on the conservative party ticket. He‘s even got tea party support in the form of an endorsement from former lobbyist Dick Armey.
And the split isn‘t just between elected Republicans and the conservative movement. Even as the House Republican leadership endorses and funds the Republican candidate in this race, other ambitious elected House Republicans, people like Mike Pence, who appears to want to run for president and Tom Price of Georgia, they have refused to back the Republican candidate.
This is all regardless of the Democrat in the race. Essentially, the right has fractured over this one race. They are not only disagreeing about whether to choose the Republican Party candidate or the conservative party candidate, they are denouncing one another in the process, pledging the death of one another‘s political careers over this split.
Now, the local impact of this chaos on the right, the ultimate affect for the New York‘s 23rd district may very well be that the 23rd district of New York elects its first Democrat since around the time of the Civil War. With Republicans split over the two candidates on the right, the Democrat in the race is now ahead in recent polling.
Common political wisdom is that the first round of elections in the new president‘s first year are a referendum on that president. This year‘s bellwether looks a lot more like a referendum on the state of the Republican Party. And at this point, Democrats rejoice. It‘s a cage match.
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RepuglyKKKan. I'll distinguish among them when they really distinguish among themselves.
I do have sympathy for the moderates and those who are not to the right of Attila the Hun. They are in the minority in their party which they allowed to be captured by neoCons and proto-fascists.
The original party of Lincoln is gone, taken over by the heirs to Jefferson Davis, call it the confederates revenge (like Montezumas Revenge but worse).
Rather than going the way of the whigs, I think a split is comming and soon we'll have these idiots in a so-called "conservative" party (or they may try to keep the Republican tital for themselves), in which case their party will go the way of the Whigs without ever having won a single election.
But the money that rules them
nowstill rules plenty of Dems.Isn't this the same thing we do to Blue Dogs?
Us left-wing crazies are fighting to build a party of progressives who support the civil liberties, people over corporations, human rights and the environment. The right-wing crazies are fighting to build a party that supports theocracy, kleptocracy and an uninhabitable planet.
But we are both sick of the mainstream pander.
And the winners are THE OWNERS.
The Oligarchs are laughing all the way to Bank, which is not far because they are the Bank.
But the Oligarchs (while still ROFLTAO in the Bank), have used up a political party almost beyond viability. They're down to a far more naked use of power that is becoming easier and easier for all to see.
Look at their tactics: naked race baiting, threats to kill grandma, socialist/Hitlerizationery....
It smacks of desperation.
The Democrats are doing the Owners' business to a fare-thee-well.
It doesn't matter to the Oligarchs what the party is called as long as they call the shots.
orgy of cannibalism amongst the right begins!
HA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocFrBvQv4yY
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091022/pl_...
What it like when they implode and explode at the same time
And if no one's there to hear it
Does the pope s**t in the woods?
He said: "Who the he[ck] are the Cowboys? We beat them every time we play them."
Kinda like Republicans recently. They really aren't much of a factor anymore but still get way too much attention.
Whose Buddy Ryan?
... at least when he said the Cowboys line, he was Chicago's defensive coordinator.
He came back as head coach of Philly for the Fog Bowl. That was fun....
In all seriousness though, your analogy highlights a bigger problem in our civic discourse, and that is in how people equate the Democrats and Republicans as two different teams and root for their own favorite.
There are many Democrats we need to flush from our "team" if we ever want a truly representative government. Just as we fought for Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman and so many other truly progressive candidates over Blue Dog shills.
We can laugh at the Republicans when they do this just as they laugh at us when we do. I personally don't find much pleasure in seeing a major political party pushed further into insanity though. As Bill Maher said, "Democrats Have Moved To The Right and The Right Has Moved To The Mental Hospital."
This is not a good thing. Even if it ends up destroying the Republican Party, how does it help when all the "reasonable" Republicans become Democrats? Where does that leave us progressives?
Only problem is your solution would make the parties even more extreme than they already are, hence more like the "teams" you say you oppose.
No. It means, if needed, vote for a new "team."
Let the unwanted "players" from the Republican "team" find their own team and not join ours. We don't need a bunch of conservative corporate scoundrels claiming the title Democrat. If the Democratic candidate is a crook, then vote for a third party candidate.
aw shucks!
I'm not a Republican, so any infighting that's going on among them kind of makes me happy, but I do feel badly for this woman. She seems to be really trying to get her message out and her opponents are doing everything they can to squelch her, because she doesn't subscribe to their wacko, right wing philosophies.
I also think her "handlers" are responsible for allowing the sea of Hoffman signs behind her. It's their responsibility to help their candidate set up these pressers and to show their candidate in the best possible light. They failed miserably, and now I wonder if they aren't trying to sabotage her campaign too! (Sorry; I see conspiracies everywhere these days.)
She doesn't seem as awful a person as many of her fellow party-ers. But I have to admit to chortling at the chickens coming home to roost on the GOP's collective head, doing what chickens doodoo so well.
This year‘s bellwether looks a lot more like a referendum on the state of the Republican Party. And at this point, Democrats rejoice. It‘s a cage match.
"LLLLLLL..LET'S get ready to STUMMMMBLLLLLLE!!!"
For the good of the Nation I hope this party rots in Hell.
ruin a perfectly good Hell?
it's a beautiful part of the country; green, quiet, and hopelessly economically depressed.The people are nice if you don't try to talk to them about anything important. They've been a Republican stronghold for friggin' ever. I'm pretty excited about watching Dede and Hoffman eat each other. Beautiful stuff.
Most of this district is within the Adirondack Park. In my opinion the state of New York made a MAJOR mistake during the founding of the Adirondack Park - making it a "patchwork" of public and private land. The region is SPECTACULARLY beautiful and VERY wild and undeveloped by 21st century standards - JUST the way I like it.
But a LOT of people that live within the park are bitter about it BEING a park and would like to see more development.
The park boundary is known as the "blue line".
I have a saying for these particular people:
DON'T LET THE BLUE LINE HIT YOU IN THE ASS
This place is SUCH A RARITY in today's times and should be kept wild - the state SHOULD buy more forested land within the park to add to the forest preserve as it becomes available (which it does) - to keep the area more wild and intact - to prevent "fragmenting".
People that live within the park OUGHT NOT demand development come to them - millions of people go to the Adirondacks every year for solitude and peace in nature.
The people that live within the park that want development and strip malls ought to GO TO that and not demand that it come to them.
The Maddow quote about Pence has to be the funniest thing I've read this week!
Keep your party from moving the least bit centrist and assure it being a permanent minority.
I am slightly left of Karl Marx, but I understand the importance of Independents and Centrists to winning elections.
I wish we had more choices. I would not mind if we had 13 parties like Italy, but this is a two party system and designed to stay that way. It would take decades of hard work to have a third party that has any power at all.
Sooooo, I would encourage my fellow lefties to support the Prez and support the Dems, warts and all, because the alternative is 100 times worse. Movement to the left or right comes in baby steps and that will never change.
Today's special is "republicans eating their own".
It comes with a dollop of sarcasm, a side dish of "socialist", and a never-ending supply of irony.
Chow down, suckers!
Don't forget the crème sure
Which is French for spilled milk.
What an unfortunate visual for that woman.
Would have been if all of those TeaBaggin' wingnuts holding the signs were also carrying guns and screaming about "watering the tree of liberty". You know...the usual Republican stuff.
That there is no progressive party in this country that could take advantage of all this infighting.
no sympathy for the moderates in the GOP because in their lust for winning elections they allowed their party to be taken over by the crazies. they made a pact with the devil and now it is coming back to bite them in the ass. i feel no sympathy for them whatsoever, and to paraphrase Malcolm X, this is a case of the chickens coming home to roost and as a country boy i was never sad at chickens coming home, in fact it only made me glad.
another saying around where i live is watching rattlesnakes commit suicide has never made me sad. and the GOP is nothing but a next of political rattlesnakes whose time has come! say hello to the Whig party on the trash heap of history, republicans! you made your party irrelevant by catering to Talibangelicals, fundies, other loony xtians, racists, homophobes, misogynists, and other assorted malcontents.
Well, nice chaos there in this district. But next time they're gonna regroup and likely win it back (if they lose at all). What's much more important and dangerous is that we're gonna lose Virginia and New Jersey. That's gonna hurt - and please the right wing to no end.
We will probably not win Virginia. Deeds is not running much of a campaign. I'm not so convinced that Corzine will lose Jersey. I'm from a neighboring state. Democratic candidates tend to poll low in Jersey then end up winning the election by 3 to 5 points. I think Corzine can pull it out.
And isn't it so cute how the chattering class says the Dems are in danger of the repugs winning back the House or Senate next year? Fat f*cking chance of these fails winning either in 2010. Repugs please nominate Palin in 2012 so we can finally bury your party for a good generation or two.
Regretably, the second Bellwether, my state of Virginia, will likely go Republican. McDonnell has a comfortable lead over Deeds in every poll.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2009/...
we do what we're told
The Republican Party is imploding before out very eyes. Grab a seat and stay for a while.
that this is being allowed to happen might make one think that the tattered remnants of the conservative party may be abetting the quick death of the extreme right. there is no other way that i can see the right regaining any credibility in the foreseeable future, than by lancing this boil. i mean, really, there just have to be, on the right, some number of sane-thinking folk. i meet a lot of rigorous thinking conservatives, so i know they are out there. i don't agree with them politically, but they ay least stick to issues. rather than committing political suicide by outwardly speaking against the fringe, they rather encourage it by stoic acquiescence, in some hope that the country can awaken from its moral sleep.
but i could be wrong.
just sayin'
and while i'm on the subject, where is that voice of liberalism? who can frame it in such a way that it becomes not only palatable, but even desirable, to more significant numbers of people? the real void in the political sphere in this country, as in many others, is the complete inability of the true liberal voice to get a serious hearing. the leftmost party we have is so far right that i barely recognize. nor do i have any desire to be associated with major portions of its agenda.
where are the 21st century hippies?
just sayin'
Yet more proof that the Right hates democracy.
I went and saw Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story' last night. Great movie - Moore's best so far, and very sobering to watch. Go see it!
There's an interview in the film with an editor from the Wall Street Journal (can't remember his name, ) that was shocking to see. The fellow was openly disdainful of democracy. He basically said unrestrained capitalism is the ideal state of affairs, and the thing Americans should concern themselves with - not democracy. To actually hear a senior staffer at the country's leading national newsaper say this in a very relaxed, casual, matter-of-fact way, was chilling.
Throughout history. For conservatives, it's always been about consolidating power and wealth to the richest among us. Leaving our society not much different than the European feudal era. During the Constitutional Convention, conservative founding father Alexander Hamilton advocate for a president for life. One would think that after the revolutionary war, such an idea wouldn't be considered. I give that Wall Street Journal editor credit for being honest. If the republicans were ever honest about the true intent of conservatives, they'd go the way of the whigs. Instead, you have a bunch of poor people voting GOP thinking the tax cuts the repugs advocate for will make a difference in their lot in life.
Would be to one day see the shell of the republican party hanging on a tree like an abandoned cicadas shell!
If they keep going like they are now, my dream may turn into a reality.
politicians,be they republican,democrat or any of the fringe parties, are greedy power seekers in it to follow the agenda that suits them.cant you see they want all this fighting and argueing amongst ourselves so that they may advance their own agenda whether it be power or wealth..
when will we learn?
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