While the GOP was busy writing Obama's post mortem in VA and NJ, a very, very odd thing happened last night in New York's 23rd District. In case you've been under a rock, Tea Partiers, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Tim Pawlenty, and yep, that woman[1], all swooped in and undermined the local Republican candidate for Congress, Dede Scozzfava, by putting their support (and money) behind "Conservative Party" candidate Doug Hoffman. The reason was simple: this was an indictment of the sort of moderate Republicans who've run the party into the ground. Scozzfava had the nerve to support the Stimulus package, be in favor of gay marriage, and pro-choice. She was little more than a RINO, and to prove their point, they'd throw their influence behind Hoffman.
Never mind the fact that upstate NY is traditionally moderate. Never mind the fact that Scozzfava was chosen by the local party. Never mind the fact that Hoffman didn't even live in the district himself. Never mind the fact that Hoffman was tone deaf on any issue of local relevance. Never mind the fact that Hoffman was also in favor of a woman's right to choose. Never mind the fact that Hoffman looks like a grownup Louis Skolnick.
Nope, all that mattered was that the TeaBaggers (yeah, I'm callin' em' that. So what?) wanted to prove a point. Sure the GOP had easily controlled the seat for more than a century, and Scozzfava already had a nice lead on Democrat Bill Owens. No matter, the TeaBaggers had a pointless point to prove, and they proved it, forcing Scozzfava to drop her candidacy over the weekend, and feigning disgust when she had the nerve to step off the plantation and endorse Owens, a Democrat of all things.
And guess what happened. For the first time since Negroes were still legal property, NY-23 has a Democratic Congressman.
TeaBaggers, FTW!!!
This whole thing was billed by many as a referendum on the future of the Republican party. If that's the case, then the GOP might wanna get used to the words EPIC FAIL!!!
Seriously, for a party that's all about "letting states decide things themselves", how dumb does it look for the national party and a legion of misguided marchers to swoop in and try and more of less buy their own handpicked candidate to echo their own views. Hoffman got 95% of his funding from out of state. It's also quite clear that kicking Scozzfava to the curb backfired bigtime, as her supporters either voted Democrat, or stayed home. The beautiful irony is, the very folks who spent the summer b*tching and complaining about ObamaCare, have just given President Obama one more vote in favor of the measure.
TeaBaggers, FTL!!!
Let this be a lesson to the GOP: your problem isn't moderate Republicans. It's ineffective Republicans.
Then again, I'm sure this isn't a referendum on the futile efforts of TeaBaggers, anymore than losing NJ and VA was a referendum on Obama's socialist, America-hating, grandchild-killing policies.
Question: What's your analysis of the NY-23 cluster?!? Does this monumental loss reflect negatively on the legions of high profile Republicans who tries to more or less buy their own candidate?
[1] Nope, I'm still not mentioning her by name. Until she actually does something newsworthy. Endorsing an EPIC FAIL is not newsworthy. Can't wait to read the FaceBook, spin manifesto on this one. I'm sure Obama will be blamed.
