BARACK OBAMA’S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.
The governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia were once billed as the marquee events of Election Day 2009 — a referendum on the Obama presidency and a possible Republican “comeback.” But preposterous as it sounds, the real action migrated to New York’s 23rd, a rural Congressional district abutting Canada. That this pastoral setting could become a G.O.P. killing field, attracting an all-star cast of combatants led by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, William Kristol and Newt Gingrich, is a premise out of a Depression-era screwball comedy. But such farces have become the norm for the conservative movement — whether the participants are dressing up in full “tea party” drag or not.
The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom has what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true.
The New York fracas was ignited by the routine decision of 11 local Republican county chairmen to anoint an assemblywoman, Dede Scozzafava, as their party’s nominee for the vacant seat. The 23rd is in safe Republican territory that hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress in decades. And Scozzafava is a mainstream conservative by New York standards; one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly. But she has occasionally strayed from orthodoxy on social issues (abortion, same-sex marriage) and endorsed the Obama stimulus package. To the right’s Jacobins, that’s cause to send her to the guillotine.
Sure enough, bloggers trashed her as a radical leftist and ditched her for a third-party candidate they deem a “true” conservative, an accountant and businessman named Doug Hoffman. When Gingrich dared endorse Scozzafava anyway — as did other party potentates like John Boehner and Michael Steele — he too was slimed. Mocking Newt’s presumed 2012 presidential ambitions, Michelle Malkin imagined him appointing Al Sharpton as secretary of education and Al Gore as “global warming czar.” She’s quite the wit.
The wrecking crew of Kristol, Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and the government-bashing Club for Growth all joined the Hoffman putsch. Then came the big enchilada: a Hoffman endorsement from Palin on her Facebook page. Such is Palin’s clout that Steve Forbes, Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor (and presidential aspirant), promptly fell over one another in their Pavlovian rush to second her motion. They were joined by far-flung Republican congressmen from Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and California, not to mention a gaggle of state legislators from Colorado. On Fox News, Beck took up the charge, insinuating that Hoffman’s Republican opponent might be a fan of Karl Marx. Some $3 million has now been dumped into this race by outside groups.
Who exactly is the third-party maverick arousing such ardor? Hoffman doesn’t even live in the district. When he appeared before the editorial board of The Watertown Daily Times 10 days ago, he “showed no grasp” of local issues, as the subsequent editorial put it. Hoffman complained that he should have received the questions in advance — blissfully unaware that they had been asked by the paper in an editorial on the morning of his visit.
Last week it turned out that Hoffman’s prime attribute to the radical right — as a take-no-prisoners fiscal conservative — was bogus. In fact he’s on the finance committee of a hospital that happily helped itself to a $479,000 federal earmark. Then again, without the federal government largess that the tea party crowd so deplores, New York’s 23rd would be a Siberia of joblessness. The biggest local employer is the pork-dependent military base, Fort Drum.
The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. On Saturday, the battered Scozzafava suspended her campaign, further scrambling the race. It’s still conceivable that the Democratic candidate could capture a seat the Republicans should own. But it’s even better for Democrats if Hoffman wins. Punch-drunk with this triumph, the right will redouble its support of primary challengers to 2010 G.O.P. candidates they regard as impure. That’s bad news for even a Republican as conservative as Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose primary opponent in the Texas governor’s race, the incumbent Rick Perry, floated the possibility of secession at a teabagger rally in April and hastily endorsed Hoffman on Thursday.
The scorn liberals show for values voters is laughable, they just can't help themselves. "Teabaggers," "punchdrunk," "double-barreled suicide?"
They're seething with anger at how Obama's "most devlish" political move has exploded in their face. Not only is liberalism from both political parties being rejected in a race these jokers thought they could win, it's entirely possible they could lose the trifecta Tuesday night. What really drives them nuts is that this obscure district in upstate NY that they thought they could slip by un-noticed was singlehandedly put on the front page of every major news outlet by a two-sentence facebook post by none other than Sarah Palin. How's that for juice? There's going to be about 50 House Democrats hiding in their closets Wednesday morning and health care reform as we've come to know it (thanks, Nancy) could very well die in 24 hours and pull the rest of their agenda down the bowl with it. God Bless Joe Liebermann and Sarah Palin!
The scorn liberals show for values voters is laughable, they just can't help themselves. "Teabaggers," "punchdrunk," "double-barreled suicide?"
They're seething with anger at how Obama's "most devlish" political move has exploded in their face. Not only is liberalism from both political parties being rejected in a race these jokers thought they could win, it's entirely possible they could lose the trifecta Tuesday night. What really drives them nuts is that this obscure district in upstate NY that they thought they could slip by un-noticed was singlehandedly put on the front page of every major news outlet by a two-sentence facebook post by none other than Sarah Palin. How's that for juice? There's going to be about 50 House Democrats hiding in their closets Wednesday morning and health care reform as we've come to know it (thanks, Nancy) could very well die in 24 hours and pull the rest of their agenda down the bowl with it. God Bless Joe Liebermann and Sarah Palin!
I agree with you completely. I hate how the left-wing media outlets always try and downplay Sarah Palin and make her seem like she's just some Dumb Blonde who doesn't know what she's talking about. Sarah Palin is a star. If Palin comes across as a problem solver and a sincere conservative looking out for the folks, she can gain some credibilty for herself by doing this. Look at her track record, she did run Alaska well while she was governor- she clearly has political skills. The problem with Palin is that she needs to be more assertive- she seems to be kind of uncertain and tentative. She needs to put fourth her philosophy in vivid terms and have solutions to complicated problems. I hope she does- this country needs charismatic politicans and new voices. Palin has tremendous potential to fit this spot.
And no- I'm not making a party play even though I do consider myself to be a conservative republican. I'm just saying America needs more strong leaders who are actually looking out for the folks whether they be democrat or republican.
Stupid article but that's hardly the reason the NYT is bankrupt lol. The decline of newspapers has very little to do with quality of reporting just as the decline of radio had nothing to do with a decrease in quality.
It's simply a change in technology that's leaving the old ways behind. To pin it on some article is both simplistic and ignorant.
Stupid article but that's hardly the reason the NYT is bankrupt lol. The decline of newspapers has very little to do with quality of reporting just as the decline of radio had nothing to do with a decrease in quality.
It's simply a change in technology that's leaving the old ways behind. To pin it on some article is both simplistic and ignorant.
+1
But don't let that reality get in the way of a little more "blame the media" whining from the usual suspects.
Stupid article but that's hardly the reason the NYT is bankrupt lol. The decline of newspapers has very little to do with quality of reporting just as the decline of radio had nothing to do with a decrease in quality.
It's simply a change in technology that's leaving the old ways behind. To pin it on some article is both simplistic and ignorant.
And so is USA Today(although like the Journal they've still had to make cuts over the past couple years.) What's your point?
Hopefully you weren't trying to say that the WSJ is profitable because it's conservative lol. It has a very specialized, and built in, market. It will always have a place because of that.
Another conservative paper, the NY Post, is a disaster.
And so is USA Today(although like the Journal they've still had to make cuts over the past couple years.) What's your point?
Hopefully you weren't trying to say that the WSJ is profitable because it's conservative lol. It has a very specialized, and built in, market. It will always have a place because of that.
Another conservative paper, the NY Post, is a disaster.
No, I'm saying they've found a way to adapt to changing times. Particularly in the way they've used the internet to broaden their base of readers.
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