Democrats Blame Palin And Others
by Big Dog on Nov 4, 2009 at 21:40 Political
Democrats are giddy at the pick up of the New York Congressional seat in the 23rd District. The talking heads last night blamed it on Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Tim Pawlenty and other conservatives who endorsed the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.
The blame is going around and is discussed as evidence that the Republican Party is in disarray but that is not the case. Conservatives (not necessarily Republicans) are tired of RINOs who go to Congress and side with Democrats on the issues. If a person is going to side with them it might as well be a Democrat. The endorsements were from conservatives for a conservative and it was based on ideology over party which for conservatives is country over party.
But that has not stopped the talking heads from claiming that people like Palin endorsing Hoffman hurt him and the right.
This is a lot of bunk. The disarray on the right in the New York race came from the Republicans who shoved a liberal who happens to be registered as a Republican down our throats (actually the throats of the people in the District). Since there is no primary for these kinds of special elections in New York, the party is stuck with whom other politicians select and not necessarily who the people want. The Republicans pumped money in for Scozzafava instead of backing the conservative and then were rewarded when she dropped out and endorsed the Democrat. If the Republican Party had practiced values instead of the party first mentality then Hoffman might have won.
The fact that an unknown with no political experience and who is not particularly dynamic almost won should give pause to both parties.
Interestingly, the Democrats are dismissing the losses of the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey as having nothing to do with Obama. Today they actually threw Corzine under the bus as they trashed him in order to deflect the blame.
But, if the Democrats are going to say that Palin endorsing Hoffman hurt the party then they must apply the same standard to Obama.
Obama not only endorsed the Democrats, he went to New Jersey three times and held five campaign events for Corzine in a dark blue state and the result was a loss. Obama went to Virginia to campaign for Deeds and he lost. If Palin hurt the Right by endorsing Hoffman then Obama certainly hurt the governors by campaigning for them.
The next year is going to be interesting. The Republicans need to embrace their core values and stop being Democrats lite or they will be replaced with conservatives. Democrats need to stop their abuse of government or they will lose Independents.
For Republicans it will mean a shake up of party and for Democrats it might make for a long night during the next election. There are a lot of seats in red states that are held by Democrats who won office in the anti Bush sentiment of the last two elections. They might be in real trouble if they continue taking their marching orders from Pelosi instead of their bosses.
The next twelve months are going to be very interesting.
Related:
NY Daily News
[tip]If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.[/tip]
Tags: corzine, deeds, election, hoffman, Limbaugh, palin, pawlenty, Pelosi, scozzafava
Scozzafava is no more a liberal than I am a conservative.
This kind of ideological purity is for a party that has the luxury of a majority, not a party that has been crushed in the last 2 major elections.
If the GOP insists on conservative candidates in every district you can kiss the party goodbye. You need the party machinery to accomplish goals. You can’t just say, “We’re putting country over party,” as the party loses seats all over the country like NY-23 and ends up with no real power for change.
I guess you can wait around and hope the Democrats implode and “true conservatives” can coast in on the ashes but that’s not a very good bet.
Democrats are imploding now so it will not be long.
Scozzafava held nearly all liberal views. She does not believe in gun control and depending on who you listen to she either was for or against cap and trade. I will take her at her word when she says she is against it because she has been up front about her other beliefs.
The rest of her platform is more suited for a liberal. She is more liberal than the guy who won.
Also, she endorsed the Democrat which shows what she really is. If she believed in conservatism she would have endorsed Hoffman. She expected the Republican establishment to support her and it did. The people who did not were not in the RNC which spent nearly a million bucks on her.
She did not return that support when she decided to drop out. She did not give the same loyalty she wanted (and got) from the establishment.
Scozzafava is not less of a conservative just because she refused to endorse the 3rd party candidate the GOP had used to throw her under the bus with. Had she felt like she hadn’t been smeared on a national level by major GOP media players saying she is basically a liberal then maybe she might have been more likely to support Hoffman.
No one said she is less of a conservative because of who she endorsed. I said that she expected the party establishment to support her and she did not support the party.
What makes he less of a conservative is her pro choice stance, her support of the stimulus, her support of the health care debacle (not just reform but this mess) and who endorsed her. Kos said she was the most liberal of all running and endorsed her. ACORN and the unions endorsed her and she supports card check.
Those things make her less conservative and more fit to be a Democrat.
“Democrats are imploding now so it will not be long.”
This is wishful thinking. What do you base that idea on?
Sarah Palin’s book has sold a million copies.
Al Franken’s book sold 30,000.
“This kind of ideological purity is for a party that has the luxury of a majority.”
You guys have been repeating that for so long that you actually think you know what you are talking about. And it is the stupid ones in the stupid party that listen to Democrats telling them how to run things that have taken this country so far to the left that any normal person is considered an extremist.
Why do I need to pretend I know what I’m talking about when we just saw a current example of what I’m saying? We saw the price of purity in NY-23. Yes, the RINO was defeated…by a Democrat. Hooray for conservatism!
You know very well that had nothing to do with it. Purity had nothing to do with it.
It was the process.
It was the media.
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying vote party over everything else every time. I’m just saying a smart movement is going to pick it’s battles. What did the GOP get by smearing a moderate Republican running in moderate Republican district inside a blue state? Another Democratic victory.
The idea that the GOP might as well have a real Democrat win instead of a RINO is insanity. Do you want a member that votes with you some of the time or none of the time? That was the choice in NY-23. This all or nothing mentality will not help the GOP aside from a total Democratic meltdown which I still feel is wishful thinking to suggest.
The Democrat is more fiscally responsible, from what I read he is a Blue Dog. He is less liberal than she is so he might vote with our side on some issues.
You call her a moderate but she is far from that.
If the Dems are not melting why have they not passed anything in Cap and Trade and Health Care? They could do it without Republican support but they are not one voice. There are a lot of nervous Democrats after Tuesday.
http://viralfootage.com/?p=3997
This is funny.
You saw nothing in the NY 23 except a major screw up by the stupid establishment Republicans.
Dead on? That’s not even close. Had someone not said who he was impersonating I might not have known. Ben Affleck’s impression is much better and I think it still sucked.
You may be right about NY-23. We maybe shouldn’t take anything from any of the elections considering how low turnout was and general interest.
Except that turnout in Maine was greater than 50% and they defeated gay marriage. What should we take from that?
That Maine takes it’s offseason elections serious.
The Democrats are a big tent party with conservatives and liberals so they could have a 100% majority and still have trouble passing liberal agenda items.
Just because the Democrats aren’t together on how to pass major parts of their agenda is not a sign of meltdown. I don’t know why you relate the two.
I’m not necessary arguing the party is strong but I’m want to hear more of your reasoning for why they are “melting down.”
They were never anything but a melt-down. Sometimes the melties have a majority, but they certainly don’t have a solid platform other than, “Anyone, anytime, any place and any sex! Be gay today!”
By almost everything I’ve read about Scozzafava and her voting record she was generally fiscally conservative but socially liberal. It felt like gay marriage and abortion were the deciding factors and everything else was just fixed to fit the smear. This is what makes me nervous about the direction of the GOP in 2010 and beyond. Which set of core values are going to determine the platform?
The GOP is a party in the wilderness and they can feel good about 2009 results but they have a lot of work to do for 2010. The Democrats aren’t handing it to them the way you say they are.
I’m not really sure yet what the Dems will need to be doing between now and then to try and maintain their majority.
Plenty of Democrats are nervous about 2010 after Tuesday.
I don’t think it was only those two issues with the others thrown in. They were just part of a bigger package. If there were one or two, regardles of what they were, she would have had a better chance depending on what people’s hot button issues are.
Big Tent party? Really? Ask Lieberman about that. They went after him for supporting the troops. Look at how the guy who was their VP nominee was treated and then tell me about big tent.
This happens a lot. Pelosi can’t stand Blue Dogs and any person who is pro life is excluded from everything. Dems do not take kindly to a person who is pro life and will try to keep them out of that big tent.
As for maine. I think the turnout was much higher than in other off year elections.
You have 1 example out of thousands of Democrats in public office. I’m not saying the Democrats handled Lieberman perfect but he is an exception, not a rule.
The Democratic party is not just a party of liberals. It is made up of far more ethnic groups, regions, women and conservatives than the Republican party by far.
I don’t know if Pelosi “can’t stand” Blue Dogs but the Blue Dogs are part of the party and even she knows that.
Still, my point is not that everything is fine with the Democrats and their ideologies but that when they lost out big time in 2004 they didn’t start making a comeback by purging their party of conservatives.
They did not have to purge. There are no conservatives there.
here are plenty of examples of your big tent folding. The only reason most groups stay on the plantation is that they are beholden to their masters who give them our money.
Bigd: “[T]here are plenty of examples of your big tent folding.”>>
DAR
Speaking of tents folding:
“In the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, only 17 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans (as opposed to 30 percent for the Democrats, and 44 for independents.”
–Frank Rich New York Times, October 31
But 40% identify as conservative while 20 identify as liberal.
And I wouldn’t put too much stock in that poll since more than 17% are registered as Republicans even if they do not identify as such. They could be conservatives who register as Republican to be able to vote in a primary, like me.
“But 40% identify as conservative while 20 identify as liberal.”
Well, then it’s a good thing the Democrats allow conservatives in their party. I’ve heard even being presumed as liberal is all it takes to get thrown under the bus by Republicans.
Oh, I’m very “conservative” btw. I like to conserve. I got 69.8 mpg today on a 15 mile drive. Usually I get about 54.
I don’t care what people call themselves. “Conservative” is a nearly meaningless term, like “right” and “left.” Just as long as enough folks keep voting against the wing nuts.
D.
Given that we have Graham. McCain, Snowe, and other RINOs who are closer to liberal than conservative I would say that bus theory is wrong.
Speaking of bus, did you like how Obama threw Corzine under that bus?
Democrats might allow conservatives in but no self respecting conservative would be one.
Not to mention that you worry about party label rather than ideology. I know plenty people registered as Democrats so they can vote for weak Democratic candidates in the Maryland primaries.
But I applaud you for being liberal. Without the stupidity of liberalism we would not know how great conservatism is.
The whole idea of a “RINO” still makes me laugh. What makes someone more than just a RINO? What is an example of somebody who is not a RINO?
For instance I can’t figure out what makes Graham a RINO. Are we talking Lindsey Graham?
Lindsey Graham is a RINO because he is working on this Cap and Rob bill with Herman the ketchup Munster- There is nothing, I repeat, nothing that helps the “climate” under this bill, andit will cost the taxpayers a bunch of money at a time when Obama’s unemployment numbers are tanking. Remember, these are HIS numbers, no one else’s- his fault, no one else’s, and he needs to realize this, quit trying to push through his artificial agenda, and put people back to work.
You cannot count, nor describe a “saved” job, and it is dishonest, and willfully so, to even try to put that figure out there.
He must think we are all as stupid as the people he used to work with in ACORN.
So how many ways do you have to buck the party before you’re just a RINO? Once? Twice?
I mean, Graham? Come on. We’re not talking about Joe Lieberman here. Graham is anti-gun control, anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-flag burning, pro-ANWR drilling, family values Republican, and has a long voting record backing up those stances.
But yet he’s for cap and trade so he’s a RINO? Get real. If this is the way the GOP is going to roll for 2010 then I’m looking forward to seeing the Democrats kick some more Palin/Beck Republicans back to the stone age.
But then he goes and votes for Sotomayor who is opposed to the things Graham reportedly supports.
So you’d toss out a hard core conservative because he voted for Sotomayor when his vote wasn’t even a decider? Again, I hope this is a national trend because I’d love to see the most powerful Republicans given walking papers because the nut right isn’t 100% satisfied anymore.
I cannot believe— no, wait- I CAN believe that you would feel that the Jello that is Graham is a “hard core” conservative-what a hoot!
Son, you have to be able to walk the walk also, and Graham has no boots-
All the “progressive” Reps- RINOS say we have to move to the left- no way- people will move to the right, indeed the progression has begun, as people have begun to awaken to the fact that BHO wants everyone to be “equally miserable”- his definition of “leveling the playing field”.
No Adam, there were other issues like immigration. You cannot possibly understand but interestingly you would not consider voting for McCain and he basically held the same positions as Obama with a few minor differences. You voted for Obama because he had a D and threw out McCain over a few small differences.