I’m sure there’s a reason for this but I don’t know what it is:
Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in a key upcoming House special election, is running dangerously low on campaign cash, according to several GOP sources familiar with her spending and fundraising.
[…..]“Chairman Steele hasn’t put up a cent, not even the obligatory $5,000,” said a New York-based GOP operative. “There’s been no support from the RNC. Democrats are going all out for this race. Everyone’s in the same direction.”
My guess is that the teabag wing of the party wants the RNC to stay out, because it prefers third-party whack job Doug Hoffman in the race. But not even putting up the token 5K seems extreme.
Meanwhile, the Democrat, Bill Owens, has pulled slightly ahead in the race.
I grew up in this district and having picked Dede Scozzafava, the race should have been a gimme for Republicans. I still can’t believe they’re letting the nuts teabag the race away.
General Winfield Stuck
The first thing I read this morning and it brought a smile to start the day. The big snipe hunt for the purist wingnut is good news to democrats. Also, Too.
ellaesther
…they’re letting the nuts teabag the race away.
Now THERE’S a sentence you don’t see everyday!
I’m sorry, that’s not really a contribution, but I was too entirely thrown off by your wordsmithery, DougJ! In my head, that line is now set to the tune of a particularly noxious Rod Stewart ditty.
The Grand Panjandrum
Guffaw.
I was just coming over here to see if you had posted on this. I am fascinated by the RNC these days.
Rep. Grayson is having a good laugh down in Fla as well. He pointed out in a tweet yesterday that Charlie Cook downgraded his chances of reelection to a toss up a couple of weeks ago. He was getting a chuckle out of it since the 7th string Republican just bailed.
Looks like the GOP is ripping a page out of the Dem play book and forming circular firing squads. Damn shame, that …
Bootlegger
Interesting note at the end of that article that the district went to Obama last fall.
The Grand Panjandrum
@ellaesther:
I think DougJ is plenty sexy … aren’t all mathematicians?
Legalize
Well played, sir.
General Winfield Stuck
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Nerdelicious
Ash Can
Is it possible that the RNC itself is short on cash?
Bnad
Just contributed $25 to Scozzafava… she’s more liberal than her Blue Dog Democratic opponent.
ricky
Oneonta Dede Scozzafava in Skaneateles?
The Bearded Blogger
In all nerdyness, to me this looks like a number of systems that have lost all their negative feedback loops and have plenty of positive feedback…
The Moar You Know
@The Grand Panjandrum: Is it a “circular firing squad” when the method seems to be to load up the magazine of the gun and then empty it into your own ballsack?
Buzzybill
I also endorse the phrase “letting the nuts teabag the race away.”
I hope that we get many opportunities to see this phrase used in elections all around the country.
So as the GOP train starts to pull away from the Regional Party station, what will the next stop be?
Napoleon
@ricky:
So what. Are you insane?
Zifnab
@Bnad: I was going to say – it’s a win win here. You’ve got a GOP candidate that’s more liberal than the Dem in the race. If the Dems win, it’s another notch on the Obama score card. If the Republicans win, you get a GOP House candidate that doesn’t owe the party jack squat and is that much more likely to work with the progressives on health reform, environment, and immigration.
You almost wonder why Scozzafava isn’t the one running as an independent.
Ambergris
Another great success for the Club for Growth!
Minionero
I wonder if Scozzafava knows that buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo?
gbear
The republicans are simply too busy investigating Islamo-Fascist spy interns. This one is as funny as anything of the other republican missteps that have happened this week.
The only reason I can see that Bachmann wasn’t in this group is that they didn’t trust her not to go public early so as to take credit for the whole thing.
Brian J
Assuming things don’t get worse, let alone actually improve to the point where people feel happy, this is one reason why I feel Republican gains will be limited for the next few years, at minimum. No, they aren’t going to launch a primary battle against everyone, but these clowns have a way of inflicting lots of harm against themselves. I imagine they will do it to someone like Mary Bono in California for voting for Waxman-Markey, despite the fact that she won her seat by over 30 points. There aren’t that many districts where Republican moderates are in office, so the potential for damage is naturally limited, but off the top of my head, I’d bet they’ll be stupid enough to sacrifice their moderates, allowing Democrats to be competitive and thus essentially canceling out any losses.
gbear
@gbear:
This one is as funny as any
thingof the other republican missteps…crap
Napoleon
@Zifnab:
Are you insane? There was not one single vote during the entire Republican rule where defections from their moderates cost them a vote and in fact they had a well reported program of “catch and release” whereby to allow their “moderates” to fool their constituants the Republicans would allow a certain number of them to vote with the Dems on an issue to give them cover. Here is a good example of how it partially went wrong for them with my “moderate” Rep Congressman Steven L..
http://www.factcheck.org/democratic_radio_ads_can_stand_clarification.html
General Winfield Stuck
@gbear:
Good gawd almighty. Have they no shame/wingnut
ellaesther
@The Grand Panjandrum: A) “Twisting the Night Away,” doofus, not “Don’t You Think I’m Sexy”! Of course DougJ is sexy! As are we all! (“Teabagging, teabagging, teabagging the race awaaaaay…!”)
but B) He’s a mathematician? Huh! I did not know that. I clearly have not been paying enough attention.
Napoleon
By the way a PS to my two earlier post, the Republicans had a rule when they ran the house that an issue did not even come to a vote if a majority of Reps did not approve it. So your Rep. Congress person could be Micheal Moore and the only vote he will even make that matters is voting for the Rep. Speaker of the House. Anyone who voted for their Congress person on any other basis (barring that they are simply a crook or insane) is nuts.
ricky
@Napoleon: Syracusing me of insanity? Oneida have my head examined?
Adirondack after they have a look at me. In the meantime, Oswego, so goes the nation.
gbear
@General Winfield Stuck: Steve Benen has a good posting about the story too. His irony meter exploded.
ricky
@gbear:
And what makes this even more deliciously sinister is they do not know who or where the interns are.
MikeJ
@ricky: Holy shit! invisible mooslims!
Lee
lol, you win the internet for today.
Brian J
On a related note, what is it with states like North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, and Minnesota? Perhaps it’s a matter of relativity, but the nuttiness that we see from their Republicans is just astonishing.
jl
@The Grand Panjandrum: mathematicians sexy? Ahem, the NY Times said that statisticians are sexy in some bogus hot future careers story a few weeks ago.
But, it’s in the NY Times, so it must be true.
Zifnab
@Napoleon: That was btw ’02 and ’05 under DeLay. The current GOP playbook is lockstep opposition. Check the stimulus bill. Did you see any “catch and release”? Look at the health care votes. Near iron clad Republican opposition.
And check how DeLay kept his troops in line. Often, it was a combination of carrots – pork that came out of homeland security or highway budgets – and sticks – cutting off the K-Street cash.
But the Republicans aren’t in a position to offer freebies to friendly districts. And the RNC isn’t dropping a dime on the race, indicating they’ve already beat the stick off to a nub. What is going to keep her in line except a lot of brow beating and cat calls of RINO?
Napoleon
@ricky:
Couldn’t work Watertown into that one, could you?
Napoleon
@Zifnab:
If they regain the majority why do you think they would be any differant then last time? A vote for ANY Republican Congress person is a vote for the most conservative 51% of the Republican caucus.
ricky
@MikeJ:
And pretty soon somebody will have a list of 43 of them in his or her pocket. Next thing you know they will be popping up like tiny Michale Steele’s all over government web sites.
burnspbesq
@ellaesther:
I must be a little older than you. I’m hearing Sam Cooke.
Teabag, teabag,
Everybody’s doing great!
Teabag, teabag,
Teabag the race away.
jibeaux
They spent the $5k making Steele walk onto the website, or maybe focus-grouping the title “What Up” with a focus group apparently composed of stealthy Sadly, No! commentators?
Molly
Serious question…
I’m watching the Republican party destroy itself, or rather, become the party of the weird uncle at Thanksgiving who drinks too much Zinfandel and then rails about liberals and socialism.
So, what’s next? One viable party, the Democrats? I’m in Texas, I know we’ll always have right-wingers to deal with, but they are rapidly becoming utterly irrelevant. But what I’m seeing is one viable party, the Democrats, in which there is such a variety of views it’s not a united party at all. We’re caught in this tension of wanting the Democrats to be one block, but also having the fact that the Democratic party is where everyone is landing right now, either voluntarily or because they’ve been basically forced out of the Republican party by the radicals.
Do we end up with one party in the United States, made up of individuals who sometimes have very little in common from an ideological perspective? Do we end up with a new party of Republicans that is somewhat sane? Because the Democrats are now, and will continue to be, ineffective as group because they simply are so ideologically diverse.
It’s fascinating to watch unfold.
Molly
Stuck in moderation because I used the dreaded sociali$m word. I will be flogging myself soon.
Serious question…
I’m watching the Republican party destroy itself, or rather, become the party of the weird uncle at Thanksgiving who drinks too much Zinfandel and then rails about liberals and sociali$m.
So, what’s next? One viable party, the Democrats? I’m in Texas, I know we’ll always have right-wingers to deal with, but they are rapidly becoming utterly irrelevant. But what I’m seeing is one viable party, the Democrats, in which there is such a variety of views it’s not a united party at all. We’re caught in this tension of wanting the Democrats to be one block, but also having the fact that the Democratic party is where everyone is landing right now, either voluntarily or because they’ve been basically forced out of the Republican party by the radicals.
Do we end up with one party in the United States, made up of individuals who sometimes have very little in common from an ideological perspective? Do we end up with a new party of Republicans that is somewhat sane? Because the Democrats are now, and will continue to be, ineffective as group because they simply are so ideologically diverse.
It’s fascinating to watch unfold.
John Cole
@Molly: LOL. Don’t fool yourself. We are a few bad economic quarters away from a Republican house. If the economy does not get noticeably better, it will be Speaker Boehner before you know what hit you.
PanAmerican
@Ash Can:
This is my take as well. That kind of disparity between the fund raising rhetoric and actual expenditures is certainly a red flag. Would any one be shocked if it turned out they were cooking the books?
ricky
@Napoleon:
One cannot work in Watertown except the water works.
Lotsa lakes.
Cheryl from Maryland
Based on my experience with a moderate Republican congresswoman, Connie Morella, Scozzafava will break your heart by only voting moderate on the small things. Connie didn’t need party money, but the party still owned her when it mattered.
Molly
@John Cole:
Oh, I understand, but I’m curious as to what that party will actually BE. It’s feeding on itself right now, becoming smaller and smaller, and more and more weird. What will be left in the end to take advantage of the situation you described above?
superluminar
OT slightly, but thought I’d draw people’s attention to this via Atrios. For those not wanting to visit, this is what it says:
That has got to be some genius spoofing right there, or maybe the Wingularity has been reached.
superluminar
blockquote Fail.
Gunner
I see that Erick son of Erick has revved up the mighty Red State Strike force to throw their full support behind Hoffman. I can’t wait to see what they decide to send in the mail.
Midnight Marauder
@superluminar:
Well, unless they are of someone’s father.
CalD
Sounds to me like they’ve internalized the Club for Growth. I’m all for it of course.
LD50
Wow, Scozzafava must be appalled by this:
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
JGabriel
DougJ:
Welcome to the Purity Spiral(tm).
.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Midnight Marauder:
LOL
Chuck Butcher
The Republicans have set course and they’re going to stay that course. A handful of “moderates” will make not one iota difference.
For lessons in “moderate” Republican strategy please see ex-Sen Gordon Smith (OR-R) who played that for all it was worth. For an even more informative lesson in what utter crap will pass that measure see Rep Greg Walden (OR-02-R). You can blow smoke up your own ass about more progressive than x(D) and then go look at the right down the line votes of all those “moderates.”
Utter and complete horse shit, I’ve even fallen for it a couple times many years ago. That “R” is all that counts once the crush comes.