As first reported by the Watertown Daily Times, the Republican nominee in the New York 23rd Congressional special election, Dede Scozzafava, announced this morning she's suspending her campaign. Her exit leaves Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, who had garnered plenty of national GOP support, as the favorite to win what was a hotly-contested 3-way race. Republicans had feared that Hoffman and Scozzafava would split the Republican vote in this somewhat competitive district and hand the seat to Democrat Bill Owens. Former Republican Congressman John McHugh resigned his seat earlier this year after he was named by Pres. Obama to be the Secretary of the Army.Here's my take on all this:
1) The message this sends to moderate Republicans, centrist Independents, and especially women is "There is no place for you in this Republican Party anymore." If this was a battle for the soul of the GOP, then all three of those groups have lost in favor of extremism. The Purge is now officially on.
2) The corporate Club For Growth/FreedomWorks anti-government crowd is now 100% in control of the GOP. There is no middle ground. There is no choice but to tow the line or they will bring in someone who will and drive you out of the election. They're not even going to pretend anymore.
3) What moderate in their right mind will even run on the GOP ticket in 2010 now? Not a one. I forsee nothing but Teabaggers in House races, screaming that the Kenyan Usurper Other is coming to personally enslave your nubile daughters while wearing FREE ORLY TAITZ T-shirts.
4) I wonder what Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are thinking right about now...
Welcome to your new GOP, America. You wanted it? You got it.
[UPDATE 12:30 PM] Dave Weigel has Scozzafava's statement here, and notes that she did not endorse either remaining candidate on the way out.
2010 is going to be a brutal year if you are a moderate Republican or an incumbent. These Teabaggers don't like the powers that be (probably disliking Bush almost as much as us for different reasons) and will fight just as hard against folks on their own side as on the Dems.
ReplyDeleteWhat if Hoffman loses? What if it's a close race and Hoffman loses by 3-4% or so?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what then...
worse yet what if hoffman WINS ???
ReplyDeleteNY-23: Scozzafava Drops Out, Saving Face for Petrified National Republicans
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/799108/-NY-23:-Scozzafava-Drops-Out,-Saving-Face-for-Petrified-National-Republicans
One thing is for certain - the impact of the NY-23 saga on the fate of the GOP will have far more long-reaching effects than the simple question of who wins on Tuesday. The Republican establishment that at least pretended to speak to all Americans is deeply, deeply wounded, and a wild-eyed, exclusionist, birther religio-beast is taking its place.
Seriously, it appears that the teabaggers are gaining steam. And lest we think they are just a funny joke, it would probably pay to recall instances in history when radical, paranoid right wingers got legitimate political power. The joke can easily turn into a nightmare.
ReplyDeletehttp://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/drop-out-by-digby-so-it-looks-like.html
Not Much Question What Will Happen Now
ReplyDeletehttp://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=29104
Think that this one taste of blood will satisfy the birthers, supremacists and Christianist extremists who fuel the teabagging movement? Wingnut, my friends, has not yet begun to peak.
Before moving on to something else, take a moment to sympathize with coalition builders like Newt and David Frum, no doubt tearing their hair out at the runaway success of Sarah Starbursts’ insurgent crusade.
NY-23: Dominoes Fall, And A Reflection On Moderates and Women
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/799118/-NY-23:-Dominoes-Fall,-And-A-Reflection-On-Moderates-and-Women
It did not take long, upon the shocking revelation that DeDe Scozzafava had walked the plank, for a number of political dominoes to begin to fall.
The spectacular flameout of the Scozzafava campaign, with the GOP rank-and-file providing both the torches and the fuel, inspires this observation:
Yet look at what just happened. We have just witnessed a woman, a moderate in her party, be awarded the nomination of the Republican Party, and then have it brutally snatched away from her: first by the fringe elements within the party, and then by some of the party regulars (including, ironically, Sarah Palin herself). Ultimately, it was the leadership of the party itself that elected to turn their backs on her, with the chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, saying yesterday that a victory by third-party insurgent candidate Doug Hoffman was just like a Republican victory to him. Indeed, when Scozzafava called it quits today, Steele jumped in with a promise to assist Hoffman, a more sincere and more generous offer than was ever extended to the Republican nominee during the course of her campaign.
In the final analysis, the Republican Party could not control itself. It had to destroy one of its own nominees, because she committed the unpardonable sin of being "a moderate".
Zandar said of the GOP today "There is no choice but to tow the line..."
ReplyDeleteJust so you know -- because I hate it when people I mostly agree with look wrong in print like that -- the saying is "toe the line."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_the_line