You may recall that the NY-20 special election was disastrous for Republican: a well-known Republican candidate, Jim Tedisco, lost to a Democrat no one had ever heard of in a district with a large Republican registration advantage. The primary reason was Tedisco’s opposition to the stimulus bill, which was forced on Tedisco by Eric Cantor et al.
It looks like Republicans are trying something different in NY-23. They’re running the mother of all RINOs:
Republicans have picked Assemblywoman DeDe Scozzafava as their candidate to replace John McHugh in Congress.
[….]She is considered to be fairly liberal—she voted to legalize same-sex marriage…
Now, pretty much all New York State Republicans, except Peter King, are RINOs. But voting for same-sex marriage is not something many would do. Upstate New Yorkers are pretty far to the left when it comes to things like unions and government services, but they also tend to be old and Catholic, which means they may not like same-sex marriage.
In fact, it was not clear initially whether Scozzafava would run as a Democrat or as a Republican.
I take this as an admission that the “Back In the Saddle Again” hard-right all the time approach has been a disaster for Republicans.
Update. Red State already hates Scozzafava (via Irene Liu):
If Scozzafava is the GOP candidate, I will support and encourage all of you to support the Democrat, who will vote will us more often than Scozzafava ever would.
(bold theirs)
NobodySpecial
As long as the nutcases run things, this will be the exception to the rule. Besides, it’s New York, where even Republican blood runs blue.
Crashman06
Someone, I don’t remember if it was John or Doug, once wrote the greatest headline I’ve ever seen on a blog.
Panic at Tedisco.
Makes me happy just thinking about it.
ronin122
So when will we hear the shrieks of pain from Limbaugh, Beck and the rest of the ilk at Faux?
DougJ
Someone, I don’t remember if it was John or Doug, once wrote the greatest headline I’ve ever seen on a blog.
I think it was actually a commenter.
amk
Hey, if you can’t fight them, join’em, right ?
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Where does one invest in popcorn futures?
aimai
Scozzafavva is the name of a major character in the Godfather. Weird.
aimai
Xenos
@ronin122: When HR 3200 passes. There is not even a GOP sponsored alternative. We will have the mother of all hissy fits while the Senate takes up the text.
John PM
I plan on asking my congressman whether he believes that Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States. After all, he and Obama were in the Illinois General Assembly together at the same time, so he might have some interesting insight.
Incertus
@ronin122: I imagine it’ll happen just as soon as this gets on the radar at RedState or Free Republic or WorldNutDaily. We could set them up…
Crashman06
@DougJ:
Well, then. Bravo to you, anonymous commenter. Bravo.
lotus
So many Goopers, and all with bupkes:
PeakVT
Even a RINO can do a lot of damage, as Gov. Scissorhands or the ladies from Maine show.
Baucus, however, may do more harm than a herd of RINOs. Bastard.
DougJ
Scozzafavva is the name of a major character in the Godfather.
I think it’s a pretty hard-core Sicilian name.
PeakVT
OT: I’m getting really, really tired of On Point. Today’s first guest: Ceci Connolly. Yargh.
Zifnab
So does this mean the RCCC is finally breaking off it’s right wing nose dive, or has the NY GOP decided to tell the rest of the party to go stick it’s head in a blender and manage their own failed candidates back in Bumfuck Tennessee?
I can’t imagine that with guys like Eric Cantor and John Boehner leading the charge, the party as a whole has moved in a different direction. The NE Coast just doesn’t have enough Congress people in the party to justify running hard Right failures anymore.
mistermix
This statement actually makes some sense, but probably for reasons Red State won’t acknowledge. The Republican minority has almost no leverage because their strategy is simply to obstruct. But a Blue Dog from a tough district is going to have some leverage, since they want to be seen as pushing their party to be more conservative/mainstream, but they’ll vote with the majority once their objections have been addressed.
4tehlulz
>>I will support and encourage all of you to support the Democrat
Erick is a traitor to the cause; he must be purged to protect the Party.
gex
The beauty of this is that, although the party is conceding the failure of their approach in NY-20 by backing off and running a RINO, the base is protesting loudly. They want themselves some more of that tasty, tasty failure.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
I think it’s much more important for a party to maintain ideological purity than it is for them to pursue transient and corruptive power.
Continue to purge the RINOs, GOP. Continue to purge, until you’re so pure that you squabble with the Constitution Party for the only remaining swing voters pure enough to join you.
The Moar You Know
@gex: Failure: It’s What’s For Dinner.
NonyNony
@gex:
Of course. Look the “base” that is doing the protesting has little to no interest in having a Republican Party where they have to share power with moderates. They would rather have a smaller, meaner, more philosophically “pure” party than share power with a bunch of “moderates” who bargain away issues that they think are important.
Comrade Jake
OT, but if you haven’t seen the Stewart clip on the birthers/Lou Dobbs, it is a thing of beauty.
ronin122
@Incertus: Nothing at Freeperville yet. WND doesn’t really do it for me so I won’t check. However, at FreekRepublic here is a list of their popular search terms:
11th agenda banglist bho44 bhofascism
bhohealthcare birthcertificate birthers
certifigate colb congress democrats economy
healthcare honduras islam larrysinclairslover
mrskippy obama obamacare palin
socialism socializedmedicine truthers usurper
I dare ask, what the hell is Mr. Skippy?
Napoleon
@NonyNony:
Just to take a contrarian view for a moment, their strategy (though that word likely assumes more intelligence and foresight on their part then warranted) may not be all that stupid with the Blue Dogs in the house that are cowered at everything and Reid allowing only 40 Rep Senators to derail things that a clear majority wants. They may actually manage to cause the Rep to destroy more of the Democratic agenda then they otherwise would, and since at heart the Rep. base really is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, nihilistic movement, that is a win for them.
PS, I should add that since the current tax structure will not support the current spending structure anything to slow down and derail reform brings the entire US government and economy closer to a California style meltdown and Grover Norquest dream of drowning the government in a bathtub. I bet if you caught the Rep. base in a moment of truth, they would admit that they would love that result to happen.
Just Some Fuckhead
I don’t think what happens in one congressional district in New Fucking York matters to the regional Return of the Confederacy Republican party.
Napoleon
Ah, the Republican base at work.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/conservative_activist_forwards_racist_pic_showing.php?ref=fpa
Comrade Dread
Maybe they’ve realized that the Republican brand is so toxic that the only way to win is to throw their endorsement behind the Democrats in order to tar them with the stench of Republican, so the public will be turned off to Dems as well?
Michael
I call foul. It is one of my favorite books and my favorite movie. I remember no Scozzafavva.
Perhaps you’re getting it confused with Fabrizzio, the shepherd who killed Appollonia.
Brian J
I don’t know anything about this woman. Hell, I’m not even sure she’s real. With a name like that, she sounds made up–and this is coming from someone with a pretty funny last name.
Seriously though, this sounds like a case of them realizing that the only way back into power is to juice the numbers by regaining the majority even if it is with liberal members. Once they are in power, they can hopefully marginalize them enough so that they are little more than props. Whether it’s simply the state party that realizes this is unclear, but unless she brings some clear advantages, like a lot of personal money or fund raising prowess or a great name, that would ensure her election, I don’t see a plausible explanation.
inkadu
@Napoleon: Obama’s got the juju. Conservatives know it.
JGabriel
If Lindsey Graham can be a GOP Senator from South Carolina, then why can’t someone who merely supports gay marriage be a GOP Senator from New York?
.
JGabriel
Did no one else see her name and think, “Mmm, Scozzafava beans and nice chianti?”
I would think Michelle Bachman would especially like this combo, given her dislike of census takers.
.
J.D. Rhoades
So when will we hear the shrieks of pain from Limbaugh, Beck and the rest of the ilk at Faux?
I hope Beck cries. I love to see Beck cry.
JGabriel
ronin122:
Sounds like it’s probably a term of opprobrium for Henry “Skip” Gates.
.
sparky
um, means nothing. She was picked by the district county chairs not in a party primary. old-line NYS GOP types care not one whit about Redstate and its ilk, unless to align with them on things like marriage. that’s why the Conservative party has always been a real, if minor, force in NYS politics.
yellowdog
McHugh, who gave up this seat to become Army Secretary, was pretty much a RINO. He was fairly labor friendly, which is anathema to the party of NO.
JoeyJoeJoe
If the Red Staters can’t stand her, I can only imagine how they’d respond to the Republicans that used to come from upstate and the city. People like Frank Horton and Bill Green would probably make their heads explode. Hell, they almost primaried Sherry Boehlert, and he wasn’t exactly a liberal.