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In the now-infamous NY-23 race, the GOP establishment (thanks, Newt Gingrich) unsurprisingly endorsed a RINO Republican in Dede Scozzafava. I haven’t covered it much here because it absolutely saturated the blogosphere. Her challenger, Doug Hoffman, is an actual conservative who yet again didn’t receive the support of the GOP establishment. The blogosphere erupted, along with Republicans across the country, who were indignant about the Republican party abandoning its principles yet again.
The polling reflected the anger of the voters. With the news that she was likely going to lose badly to either conservative Hoffman or Democrat Bill Owens, she quit.
Just confirmed that Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has quit the race. Speaking to supporters, Scozzafava broke down in tears.
UPDATE: Scozzafava, the hand-picked choice of the New York state GOP in the key 23rd District special election, reportedly will throw her support to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.
Scozzafava’s withdrawal came shortly after a new Siena College poll was released this morning, showing her in third place, with Hoffman neck-and-neck with Democrat Bill Owens.
The better known Scozzafava became, the more negatively she was viewed. Hoffman, on the other hand, has gained more and more support. Perhaps the GOP will finally start to understand that Republicans want to go back to their conservative roots, and that they’re done with RINOs like John McCain, Charlie Crist, and Dede Scozzafava. The sooner the GOP gets that into its thick skull, the better off the party will be.
sgtdmski says: I have been following this campaign quite closely. It got interesting when all the controversy started with Republicans and Conservatives. There are some points that need to be made, Hoffman, the Conservative does not live in the district in which he is running.
I have no problem with getting the Republican party back to its conservative roots, however, is this the way to do it??? Yes the Republican establishment supported the Republican candidate. Four different times, Republicans within the state met and selected Scozzafava as Newt pointed out.
While I enjoy the fact that she now dropped out, and the Conservative has a great chance at winning, we need to be careful how we do things. It may come back to smack us in the face. It seemed to me that this became more of a national issue than local issue.
I find that troubling. Who’s is next???? Leave the election to the local voters. They will make the right choice for them, whether we like it or not. But when we act nationally to impose our will on people locally, we may not like what happens.
Newt is a Republican, he may be conservative and may be a leader, but ultimately he is a politician, and his concern is seeing the Republican take back the Congress.
If the people of the NY 23 want a conservative as their representative they had the choice to vote for him, but all this attention and attack on Scozzafava is uncalled for, when all she did was answer the call.
Bob says: “Ms. Scozzafava had been under siege from conservative leaders because she supports gay rights and abortion rights and was considered too liberal on various fiscal issues.”
Those are going to be bigger issues than we think. It’s time for the Republican party to simmer down on the religious aspect of things, for it’s only turning younger people off. Gay rights are not a bad thing. Gay people really make up a small percentage of the American population, but have considerable financial influence. So once you take the Bible stuff out of the argument, what’s the big issue?
And abortion. Ugh. Again, the religious arguments take hold….
If the Republican party wants to make any headway in 2010, they should really tread lightly when it comes to those issues. Keep the Bible out of it, because that’s what’s causing a lot of people to resist the Republican party. We want it like it was during the party’s roots? Even Lincoln didn’t force his Bible beliefs on other Americans, and neither should we.
Andrew says: Thats all we been hearing since McCain’s loss. The Republicans are turning people off by being too religious. However, the religous right in America has steadily lost influence since the 1980s. After all this decline, why in 2008 did the republican party become too religous depite nominating a relatively non-religous candidate in McCain.
Most top religous conservatives today, tend to be more like pro-life libertarians. I did not hear Sarah Palin forcing her religous beliefs down people’s throats. But just because he is an Evangelical Christian who takes her beliefs seriously, a parade of hate came down on her. If anyone is forcing any views down throats, it is the gay community through the public schools. The gay marriage agenda is not about the government staying out of private lives (it actually is the complete opposite)
Bob says: Sarah Palin also got a lot of hate from the hypocritical feminists as well. “Oh, wait.. she doesn’t agree with us, so she should just go back home and stay in the kitchen!” Feminists have been bitching that more women need to be in positions of power for ages and when one almost makes it there, they’re unhappy about that because she’s not a man hating feminist but is a woman with what are considered to be traditional values.
I do tend to agree that the gay community is often intolerant at the same time that they preach tolerance. But the issue really is an overblown issue. But really, when people think “Republicans” they often think “bible thumping intolerant group.” I know Cassy doesn’t like Meghan McCain, but I can at least see where she’s coming from by trying to attract younger folks into the party. It’s trying to find a happy medium that isn’t easy.
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