An earned day of rest and celebration for teabaggers, who claimed their first political scalp today.
In a huge development in the NY-23 special election, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has announced that she is suspending her campaign, citing an inability to win in light of recent polls and a lack of money — leaving this race as a vote between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, and a strong message that the Republican Party can no longer nominate moderate candidates, or else face a right-wing revolt.
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.
jwb
This must be great news for President McCain!
demkat620
I don’t know what it will mean tuesday night, but you gotta hope the RNC has a little case of worry over the teabagging now.
Lupin
We haven’t even approached the event horizon of birther madness. Here is a particularly cosmic example of a birther who believes Obama is the bastard son of East German Stasi leader Markus Wolf:
link.
burnspbesq
If the Republican Party wishes to perform an act of ritual self-immolation, I will happily contribute the cost of a can of gasoline.
Psst … hey buddy … can I borrow your lighter for a sec?
Jesse Ewiak
When Newt Gingrich is saying you’ve gone too crazy…Jesus Christ.
Amanda in the South Bay
Will this be good news for the Dem in the race, as people who previously supported a moderate Republican are more likely to support a Dem than a fucked up wingnut? I know I’m probably missing something here…
Brick Oven Bill
Hooray.
Jamey
RNCC’s got Hoffman’s back. Deeders will have to fall in line.
NY-23 goes up to the North Country/1,000 Islands. Real Americans and rugged individualists all — who all either have state jobs, or rely on some sort of public assistance.
Bad Horse's Filly
I can’t decide if I should do the snoopy-dance in celebration of the ‘reap-what-you-sow’ consequences here or to mourn the loss of a two party system that we really kinda need. I mean, does anyone want to see how the democrats can run amok with no real challengers?
WyldPiratd
“You reap what you sow.” And the Rethugtards have been sowing a lot of batshit crazy for 30 years.
Fuck ’em.
Mark
Jamey – I’ve been up and down I-81 a million times and I don’t recall it being *that* conservative in the North Country. They previously elected a Republican (McHugh) who was palatable to the Obama administration. And it’s a stretch to call the guys stationed at Fort Drum reliant on the government!
Anya
David Frum is freaking out because he lived through this scenario already in Canada – that is why he left in the first place because he could not stomach the marginalization of the right in Canada. For him this is turning to resemble the Canadian conservatives in the 80s and 90s when cons from the West decided that they will form their own party under the slogan “The West wants In.” This of course led to a split in the conservative party and the long rule of the Liberal Party. I am hoping this will be the case.
cleek
remember when the Dems tried to out-left Lieberman? remember how the Village moaned and groaned over the impropriety of the whole notion?
it’s different, if you’re a Republican.
Brachiator
What makes this especially interesting is that while the conservative GOP wing is very strong in the South and parts of the West, they had been losing steam in the East. This, and the fact that the race between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is still perceived to be tight is not exactly great news for either moderate Republicans or Democrats.
Yeah, Wingnuts are crazy, but the Democrats have not exactly sealed the deal with everybody else. And the fact that out here in California, former liberal fave Gavin Newsom has dropped out of the gubernatorial race is a further sign that the political deck is being reshuffled to some extent for everybody. Note also that aside from re-tread Jerry Brown, there is no other Democrat who has a clear shot at the governor’s job, despite the craptastic legacy left by The Governator Arnold.
TruthOfAngels
Sweet sweet schadenfreude. May the teabagger’s quest for purity never falter, the f-wits.
TruthOfAngels
Bollocks, apostrophe in the wrong place. I will now commit ritual hara-kiri, or at least drink a swift beer.
Leelee for Obama
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I think there is enough pain in the butt conservative Dems to keep the running amok to a livable level. This situation is the last gasp for the Old Guard Repubs back home in NY. Until 20 years ago or so, Repubs in NY were sane and kinda boring-one could have a respect for them even if you didn’t vote for them. Then, things went really weird and there was a movement to registering Independent. Right after that, a Republican on LI started the Independent Party and that was where such registrations went. But, he ran on both Repub and Independent lines. He was still crazy enough that his own Uncle wouldn’t campaign for him. Ah, the good old days! This is interesting-finding Newt a bit sane is disconcerting, at best. Wonder who will benefit from Dede stepping out? It’s hard to believe that those NYers are that batshit crazy-but I didn’t live Upstate, so I’m not sure of that.
MikeJ
Why’s that?
Rick Taylor
And be sure to send a thank you card to John McCain, for doing his bit to help rip apart his party.
PaulW
@cleek:
Well, obviously, the Kos crowd is not allowed by law to mope and scheme and do whatever they want, because the Club For Greed will be most displeased.
Anyone keep up with NeoMugWump? He recently bemoaned that moderate Republicans aren’t fighting hard enough to regain control of the party. He’s not going to be thrilled about how this special election is turning out… In a way, I sympathize with his passion to try and save the GOP. But as I told him in the comments, I left the Republicans years ago when it became obvious there was NOTHING moderates can really do: the Crazies were too far ingrained and in control of too much of the party’s funding. Best to let the purity pustchists (sp?) have their way and drive out all the RINOs they can, and let the party die: better solution would be to find and fund our own Moderate Party to fill the void when the Republicans go the way of the Whigs…
So anybody know a Moderate Republican with $300 million to spend?
Kryptik
@cleek:
Noticeable difference between them too is that the National Democratic organizations and many Congressmen had Lieberman’s back for the most part. Lamont was more pushed by liberal activists and actual Connecticut Dems.
Scozzafava, meanwhile, was mostly abandoned by any significant national GOPer except Gingrich (who has no actual power outside of ideological and moral support).
Should we change IOKIYAR to IOKIYARC (It’s OK if you’re a Radical Conservative)?
Ed in NJ
The question is what’s better in the long run for Democrats: winning this and mocking the wingnuts who threw away a congressional seat, or having the teabagger eek out a win and embolden them into nominated a horde of unelectable candidates next year?
catclub
She suspends her campaign but her name is already on the ballot. Should make for an interesting race.
I assume that the top vote getter in the election is the winner.
Rather than needing over 50% in a runoff election.
parksideq
I love the new tag, but I feel like it was made by the marketing team at the Department of Redundancy Department.
Rebecca
Ah f*ck. Her quitting makes it more likely that the Conservative will actually get it. D: D:
Jane2
I don’t see this as a bad thing at all…it’s time the fringes went head to head with moderate voters.
Mark
@MikeJ – I was referring to the people actually in the armed forces stationed at Fort Drum, who owe their continued survival to the minimal checks and balances on Dick Cheney’s insanity. Hard to call those ‘no-show/no-work’ jobs.
But yes, civilians working at Fort Drum who owe their livelihood to massive military budgets yet complain about the deficit, fuck ’em.
Reason60
I am afraid that with this taste of blood, the Stalinist wing of the conservative movement will continue its purges.
I’m not so optimistic about the Tea Party as being unelectable; I wish it were true, but they are unfocused enough to become the generalized Party of Not-The-Incumbent and win seats as a protest in the midterms.
valdivia
@catclub:
this, the old school reps (that 17 percent she was getting) may stay home or vote for owens and some may not even know she is out…
parksideq
Jumping back in to say: the 2010 primaries are going to be a hot mess for the GOP. Now that the ‘baggers have a taste of victory vs. a moderate Repub., they’re going to go all-in with the crazy.
I can’t wait to see all of next year’s GOP incumbents try to dial the wingnut to 11 in order to placate the base. Mark this date on your calendar, for we have just witnessed a pre-cursor to The Wingularity.
Tim F.
@Ed in NJ: To be honest, I marginally lead towards Hoffman in this one. (1) I want the Democratic party to realize that it need to win by nominating Demcs, not Lieberdem schmucks like Owens, and (2) Hoffman will be awesome in the House. There is zero chance that a teabagger Congressman will server quietly. The guy will need almost constant infusions of attention to mollify his base. Every antic will embarrass Republicans and force authority-worshipping rightwingers to back him and his crap even further. Unless Hoffman flips out like the dude in Milk his two-year term will be epic.
mcc
Oh shit!
I can’t help but think that this is good news for the Democrats. In that this makes Owens a zillion times more likely to win. And that’s… good for the democrats, by definition, sort of. And I can’t help but wonder if Scoffazia actually intended for that to happen– surely she cannot think that dropping out will benefit Hoffman, who’s a 20% candidate by design.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@Brachiator: An article or two I read said that Newsom couldn’t raise the $$ necessary. Don’t forget that CA is a very expensive media state. How many millions would be needed to run a legitimate state wide campaign out there for Governor or Senator?
Martin
Estimates are that a competitive Governors race would today clock in upwards of $250M. Per candidate.
Not only do you have 3 of the most expensive media markets in the country (SF, LA, SD), you still have to reach media markets up the coast (SLO), Bakersfield, Fresno, etc. plus the costs of a ground campaign which is spread out all over the damn place.
But more importantly, the race is expensive because the governor wields significant power and is very high profile. California, when the state is functioning, can shape the domestic policy narrative of the nation – from energy to immigration to agriculture. That’s why the NYC mayoral race is so expensive. The stakes are high.
But the problem in CA right now is that the citizenry isn’t going to put that kind of money up for the governor race since everyone is disgusted with how the state runs (no matter who is in office). The only people that can afford to run in this race will be those with big moneyed interests and those with big money of their own.
Elie the Amateur
As messy as it is, we have to allow bad outcomes to play out…
The tea baggers may have some electoral successes. But then the tricky part happens and they have to govern. Then unfortunately, but sometimes necessarily, the effects of that have to happen before some see what their reality presents, having tethered themselves to insurgency, its pretty hard to go mainstream and govern.
As for the reshuffling happening all around that Brachiator referenced upstring, I agree about the dearth of good Democrats in a lot of places.
In my opinion, it highlights that the last 20 years have been a catastrophe for the values of citizenship and the common good. We have all, right and left, become so distorted by me,me,me politics, social darwinism and the consumer/market culture that it will take a while to even start really talking to each other again. All over the blogs, both left and right scream, show off and tout their own view of reality. There is very little attempt at reaching across and trying to work out our very serious problems from a community perspective. I am sure that is happening a little, but the approaches that are getting the most play and dominating our frame of reference are about winner take all approaches to problem solving…
We desperately need statesmen and women. That said, these people will appear when the people actually want that to happen. Maybe right now we are as a people too confused — wanting to go back to the past, afraid of our future and in truly making the change that we need.
You can feel the pain out here. Its pervasive and right this moment, not pushing us to the courage it will take to make the change we need. I do believe though, that it will sort out over time…we just have to keep working and talking about our values and doing our values too. Our leaders will show up…
Anyway, thats my take. When you undergo the change that we have and will continue to experience, we can expect a lot of this.
timb
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Haven’t we? A health care policy that ignores universal coverage, creates a weak, ineffectual govt option, and largely exempts device manufacturers and Big Pharma? A president who is called a communist by the teabaggers, whose sole tax enactment has been to cut taxes?
Corporate taxes are off-limits, the defense budget won’t be touched, Big Oil continues to abuse royalties, and financial regulations are DOA. Corporate Dems are better than Republicans, but until we have publicly financed campaigns, corporate dems are still more interested in oligarchy than democracy
Elie the Amateur
timb
It has to come from the grassroots — the changes that you seek — that many of us would support.
I will never be top down by the decree of some elected leader.
Until the average Joe feels that he/she has the reigns of empowered politics in their hands, the people we elect will not provide the change you seek. They will have to be made to do it and we will have to groom and bring about the leaders that have those values.
No easy way, not way to do it by decree. Only by having the people bring it about.
inkadu
@Elie the Amateur: We have all, right and left, become so distorted by me,me,me politics, social darwinism and the consumer/market culture that it will take a while to even start really talking to each other again. All over the blogs, both left and right scream, show off and tout their own view of reality.
One of the parties is bat-shit insane, denying reality, ethics, international law, science, the Enlightenment, not to mention torturing (remember when that was considered a bad thing?) and lying us into a disastrous war.
The only thing worse than neoconservative philosophy is blind idiots who pine for undeserved comity.
Save your concern trolling for a column in Time magazine where it would be welcome.
ChrisB
@Tim F.:
One year term, right? It’s a special election and the winner’s up for election next year, no?
rikyrah
I want the teabagger to win, and let the fun begin.
Robertdsc-iphone
IOKIYATB, I think. It’s OK if you’re a Tea Bagger.
mcc
@Brachiator:
I don’t think this makes sense. Newsom and Brown are both far-left liberals. The differences between them don’t really have to do with ideology. And I don’t think I ever saw any evidence Newsom was the “liberal fave”, most progressive commentators I saw in the state seemed to like Newsom’s recent endorsement of a constitutional convention but seemed fairly unenthused about both people as candidates.
As far as a lack of other options, it sorta seems to me like the field would have been cleared fairly early on by the simultaneous known presence of Brown, Newsom, and Villaraigosa in the race. But then Villaraigosa dropped out due to among several other things an affair, and Newsom dropped out… well, maybe sort of arguably for the same reason. I can’t help but suspect Newsom dropping out creates space for some other candidate to jump in (though for all I know it may just plain be too late for that).
Paul L.
Lets see if Doug J.’s predict comes true or if he got teabagged.
<blockquoteWell, there’s a pretty good chance now that the Republicans will have tebagged away what should have been an easy win in NY-23.
ET
I feel ZERO sympathy with Frum and Gingrichh and their ilk.
The GOP of today with it’s birthers, teabagger, christiansts, and xenophobes all shouting to be heard is the party they wraught both in tone and in content. The GOP of today is a direct outgrowth of the tactics, strategy, and volume from the 1980’s-1990’s.
This situation is a definitely an illustration of the old adage “be careful what you wish for” with a bit of Frakensteins monster thown in. They let this loose and it grew into something they couldn’t control and don’re totally recoginze (though I am not sure why they don’t – the GOP of today is their child or grandchild).
Elie the Amateur
inkadu
I would like to flick you off, but then, that would just mean I am no better than you
Part of any successful political awareness comes with honesty and accountability…
I AM questioning our side — because we nominally care about truth telling and sharing information — and LEARNING.
People who learn, actually grow, believe it or not, and tend to prevent making the same mistakes over and over
BTW — its not YOUR job to tell me where my ideas should and should not be heard. Who the F do you think YOU are?
You wanna police other’s ideas and opinions, maybe YOU should go somewhere else
bobbo
I don’t think Gavin Newsom dropped out despite the fact that Arnold f’d everything up in California, but because of it. You’ve got the combination of a horrible economy and an absolutely ungovernable mess. Who in his right mind would want that job? And as for Newsom being a liberal fave, I have heard that he is actually pretty pro-corporate when it comes to economic stuff. And I will never forgive him for gay-marrying everyone just because he thought it was cool, knowing full well the law had not caught up to him. His “whether you like it or not” speech was an absolute gift to the Yes on Prop H8 crowd.