Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
If you'd been convinced that Tea and GOP are on a planet-straddling, Highlander-style collision course, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Upstate New York Tea Party would champion RINO-slaying Doug Hoffman in his continuing quest for NY-23. As you'll recall, Hoffman ran as a Conservative -- bucking the establishment GOP and last year's make and model of Newt Gingrich -- only to lose in the general, when a jilted Dede Scozzafava endorsed his Democratic opponent. Little surprise, then, that Hoffman mounted a comeback in this year's Republican primary. But look what happened!
Hoffman lost the Republican primary for 2010 to local businessman Matt Doheny, who will challenge Owens for the seat in November.
Yes, "Hoffman is rumored to be considering another independent or third-party run." But, rumor-mongers, take note: Upstate Tea is set to "throw its support behind the Republican nominee." NR's Stephen Spruiell observes
a hard-to-define yet very real line separating the Republicans that tea partiers will back with reservations from those they won’t support at all. Castle and Scozzafava clearly fell on the wrong side of that line. Doheny, on the other hand, while not the most conservative candidate in the race for NY-23, is conservative enough, so his electability will most likely earn him the tea party’s endorsement.
Here's the kicker, straight from the mouth of UNYTEA Chairman Mark Barie:
he’s a fiscal conservative, and that’s our priority right now.
Amid all the talk of national realignments and countrywide sea changes -- real as those may be -- it's essential to recognize and honor the particularities of place and people behind these high-profile races. Sometimes, location- and personality-driven campaign quirks will feed the narrative of a grand internecine conflict on the right. Other times, they'll make that narrative sound like a talking point that should've been left on the cutting-room floor. Th-th-th-that's federalism, folks!
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Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
If you removed all the libertarians (the ones that don't get too excited over social issues) from the Tea Party, the crowd would thin out quite a bit. So for them, if a candidate is budget hawk, what's not to like?
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
I'm a conservative who, like many others, has some social goals (e.g., I'm a pro-lifer, for example). BUT this year I have decided that, in the absence of a major and immediate effort to stop the Democrats' effort to destroy the economy through "drunken sailor" spending and to infantilize the population through expanded entitlements, my social concerns will be collateral damage.
Thus, the single greatest priority this year is to elect people who will help halt the massive drift to statist solutions. The first step will be to kill the health care bill (or slow it down until we can kill it). That is why the Tea Party movement's anti-big government theme has been so valuable. It has united those of us, no matter what our other issues may be, who hate big government and bureaucracy. That issue should remain the Tea Party's defining principle.
We can fight about these other issues later, but let's deal with the clear and present danger first.
Edited on Sep 18, 2010 at 11:23amJun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Maybe, RINOs are the least of the GOP's concerns. It appears that the GOP has nominated a practicing witch.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/09/027251.php
Aug '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Wow. Too bad. A cryin' shame. I just checked the witchcraft story, and it's hard to think of anything to say that will mitigate the damage. It's possible she was acting merely to entertain the audience on Maher's show, but that doesn't help much. Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer seem to be proved right; that she has serious problems in her background.
We're all in a foundry, being forged into something pretty great, but a lot of the process is going to hurt.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Hey, River, how about a Samantha Stevens angle. Maybe she could come onto the Sunday chats and wiggle her nose?
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
tabula rasa: We can fight about these other issues later, but let's deal with the clear and present danger first. · Sep 18 at 11:18am
Edited on Sep 18 at 11:23 am
That's exactly right. If Mike Castle had supported ObamaCare repeal from the outset and opposed cap 'n' trade, he would have won easily, despite being just as moderate on everything else.
We need to restore fiscal sanity and a measure of constitutionalism. We can resume arguing over the other important issues once we are no longer heading towards an economic abyss.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
George Savage
tabula rasa: We can fight about these other issues later, but let's deal with the clear and present danger first. · Sep 18 at 11:18am
Edited on Sep 18 at 11:23 am
That's exactly right. If Mike Castle had supported ObamaCare repeal from the outset and opposed cap 'n' trade, he would have won easily, despite being just as moderate on everything else.
We need to restore fiscal sanity and a measure of constitutionalism. We can resume arguing over the other important issues once we are no longer heading towards an economic abyss. · Sep 18 at 12:21pm
Agreed, George, but the problem is when does a 'moderate" become our moderate?
Aug '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Cas Balicki: Maybe, RINOs are the least of the GOP's concerns. It appears that the GOP has nominated a practicing witch.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/09/027251.php · Sep 18 at 11:35am
Ah, la. That just shows how open and tolerant the GOP has become.
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Cas Balicki: Maybe, RINOs are the least of the GOP's concerns. It appears that the GOP has nominated a practicing witch.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/09/027251.php · Sep 18 at 11:35am
Cas, I've figured out a way for O'Donnell to place herself squarely back in the mainstream: prove that at the time of her witchcraft dabbling she was also a registered Democrat.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Midget, it's still early and it takes time to gather a load of fagots together, stack them up, buy the marshmellows,and fix the stake.
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Bob Hope supports my last point:
Jul '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Hey, anyone know what the polling in DE tell us about witchcraft? Has Gallup done a fav/unfav on that lately? In MA I know she'd be in trouble....
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
George Savage
Cas Balicki: Maybe, RINOs are the least of the GOP's concerns. It appears that the GOP has nominated a practicing witch.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/09/027251.php · Sep 18 at 11:35am
Cas, I've figured out a way for O'Donnell to place herself squarely back in the mainstream: prove that at the time of her witchcraft dabbling she was also a registered Democrat. · Sep 18 at 12:43pm
I get it, The Congeressional Black Coven.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Holy triscadecaphobia, Batman, I just made the 13th comment. Does that mean that O'Donnell has put the hex on me?
Edited on Sep 18, 2010 at 12:57pmAug '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
George Savage: Bob Hope supports my last point: · Sep 18 at 12:45pm
LOL! That's great. If that clip is from 1934, Upton Sinclair was running for California Governor on a straight up socialist agenda that scared the heck out of the movie studios. Democrats supported him enthusiastically. He lost only because of massive financial intervention from other states and private industries.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
Okay, so the Republicans have a witch on the ticket. But the Dems have Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, and Nancy Pelosi. Gnome say'n? As long as O'Donnell is a fiscally conservative witch, I can live with her. Unless, of course, she hangs with flying monkeys. That could be a problem.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
I doubt that her comment, about briefly having a boyfriend that was involved in witchcraft, will be a big problem, if that's all there is to the story. I imagine, one reason that she's not going on the Sunday shows is that she's trying to contact the boyfriend, and hear what he's going to say about it, if anything.
May '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
The most startling thing about the link for me was the self-satisfaction, almost glee of the Powerline folks.
Jul '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
etoiledunord
I doubt that her comment, about briefly having a boyfriend that was involved in witchcraft, will be a big problem, if that's all there is to the story. I imagine, one reason that she's not going on the Sunday shows is that she's trying to contact the boyfriend, and hear what he's going to say about it, if anything. · Sep 18 at 1:09pm
Sure, dating a nut isn't the same as being a nut. But when folks are looking a bit askance at you already, recalling romantic dinners at satanic altars might not be so helpful.
May '10
Re: Civil War on the Right! Or Not!
River and George - The Bob Hope clip is from a movie called Ghost Breakers (1940) and costarred Paulette Goddard.It's in the PD so's there's a lot of copies floating around, some of them not very good. Universal has released the best print.
Goddard made two movies with Hope and he loved it since, at the time, she was married to his boyhood idol, Charlie Chaplin.