Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Campaigning for Integrity (How Doug Hoffman seeks to right the Republican ship)
National Review ^ | 10/26/2009 | Kathryn Jean Lopez

Posted on 10/26/2009 7:14:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

I do not live in New York’s 23rd congressional district, and I’ve never hiked the Adirondacks, which run through it. I’ve never met Doug Hoffman, who is running for Congress there, and hadn’t heard his name until fairly recently. But he’s my guy this November. Since I’m not a constituent, my support for a candidate is about integrity, as it is in a few other races I’m following closely.

Doug Hoffman is the Conservative-party candidate running for the seat vacated by John McHugh, a Republican who’s now secretary of the Army in the Obama administration. Hoffman, a CPA and newbie to electoral politics, worries about runaway spending and the bailout culture in Washington, both of which the Republican party has been a willing party to. His message: “Washington is stifling businesses and individuals with taxes. It is the ‘tea party’ people and the 9/12 people that are standing up and saying, ‘We’re fed up, and it’s time to do something about this.’ We need to take this country back from career politicians.”

Hoffman is challenging not only Democrat Bill Owens, but also Dede Scozzafava, the Republican in the race. She is an advocate for legal abortion. She is a supporter of redefining marriage to include homosexuals. She approved of the president’s stimulus plan.

Her boosters, as well as her causes, are suspect. She is supported by the way-left Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas. She is supported by Big Labor and Big Education, as some of us are prone to call the lefty union politicos.

Anyone used to siding with the Republicans is supposed to be encouraged by her spokesman’s assurance that she will “vote for John Boehner to be speaker of the House of Representatives in 2010. That’s a whole year in office with no reason for a conservative to have voted for her.

Apparently the GOP thinks that, since the Right may be numb after too much disappointment from the Republican party on the stump and in office, we have gone dumb, too. Think again — and this is a message for the likes of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which endorsed the moderate, ineffectual Florida governor Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate next year instead of letting the primary play out and giving an actual, exciting conservative candidate, Marco Rubio, a chance. With the GOP putting forth candidates like these, don’t count on a House speaker with an “R” after his name anytime in the near future.

That the push for Hoffman on talk radio and in conservative publications is about integrity eludes some, because Newt Gingrich and other prominent GOP voices have made a different call. The former Republican speaker of the House supports Scozzafava, arguing, “If you seek to be a perfect minority, you’ll remain a minority.”

But those who oppose Scozzafava aren’t demanding perfection; they’re merely asking for a Republican candidate who represents their values. What is currently going on with the Right is something older than the tea-party movement, older than Dick Armey’s political career. It’s what Ronald Reagan was talking about in his famous “Time for Choosing” speech, in which he supported Barry Goldwater as the Republican presidential candidate in the 1964 race. Reagan said, “This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”

“But, Kathryn, Barry Goldwater lost!” you may be yelling at your paper or screen. (Though I suspect you’re not shouting: “You want to lose a vote for Boehner, you fool!?”) Is Newt right? Is a vote for Hoffman a throwaway vote?

Not necessarily. As I write, public polls show Scozzafava “fading.” Democrat Owens is in the lead, but not by much. Internal campaign polls show odds even better for Hoffman. Hoffman could lose. But there’s also a substantial chance that he could win. And what a game-changer that would be.

And if conservatism doesn’t move you, how about another c-word: competence. A Weekly Standard reporter asked Scozzafava some questions at a campaign event recently. And Scozzafava’s staff called the cops. As my colleague Mark Steyn put it: “At this stage in the nation’s affairs, Washington doesn’t need another incoherent buffoon insulated by a phalanx of thin-skinned twerps already guarding her like a 30-year incumbent for whom routine questions are an outrageous form of lèse-majesté. By any reasonable measure, this candidate is unworthy of a seat in the national legislature.”

Now that’s an ideology-free assessment we can all agree with.

A lot of these tea-party gatherings, and a lot of the sudden popularity of the likes of Glenn Beck — who is more of a frustrated populist than an articulator of conservative principles — has to do with incompetence fatigue. Hoffman has earned the right to prove that he is capable of righting a sinking ship. And I wish him well.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: doughoffman; newyork; ny23
Of course we all know that Sarah Palin ENDORSED Doug Hoffman.
1 posted on 10/26/2009 7:14:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

SEND HOFFMAN A CHECK

AND

SEND A NASTY LETTER TO NEWT GINGRICH AND THE GOP FOR SUPPORTING THE TAX AND SPEND RINO


2 posted on 10/26/2009 7:17:23 AM PDT by Mr. K (My biggest fear is that one of my typos becomes a freeper catchphrase...I'm series!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’m pretty sure we’ll see Sarah in New York, campaigning for Doug within a week. IT’S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!!!!


3 posted on 10/26/2009 7:24:18 AM PDT by wk4bush2004 (PALIN-BACHMANN, 2012!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K
SEND A NASTY LETTER TO NEWT GINGRICH AND THE GOP FOR SUPPORTING THE TAX AND SPEND RINO

But good will you do in the name of compromise?

/sarc

4 posted on 10/26/2009 7:27:46 AM PDT by wastedyears (Clyde Shelton is my hero.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Good and we have a consevative candidate for mayor in Houston, Roy Morales. He appears to be real.


5 posted on 10/26/2009 7:29:42 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Have you seen a photo of Scozzafava ???

Well Scozz a Fava to you and me too.

That’s one reason right there not to vote for her -— and she calls the cops on a reporter?

Hey Scozzafava !!!!!!!! Wanna call the cops on someone???

Call em on your tailor, make-up artist, public relations expert, and whomever told you all your Ultra Lib ideas were good ones.

Mark Steyn for President!!!!

Or at least somehwere in the 2012 administration .......


6 posted on 10/26/2009 7:34:16 AM PDT by DontTreadOnMe2009 (So stop treading on me already!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DontTreadOnMe2009
Have you seen a photo of Scozzafava ???

Since you ask :



And here's Doug Hoffman :


7 posted on 10/26/2009 7:40:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (wH)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The problem isn’t Conservatives opposing the GOP it’s the GOP constantly supporting RINOs. The elections of 2006 and especially 2008 taught the GOP nothing, that’s what keeps them a minority party. I know I speak for a lot of conservatives when I say that I’m sick to death of the GOP attitude that says, “We need to compromise and reach out to moderates and especially the all important Hispanic vote.”. Their whole attitude is the same attitude the DNC has towards blacks. It’s always , well where are conservatives going to go if they don’t vote for us. I’ll tell you, conservatives won’t vote for liberals of either party, they’ll just stay home on election day. That’s what makes the GOP a minority party Newt, not having a conservative candidate!!!


8 posted on 10/26/2009 7:48:17 AM PDT by YankeeReb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Dede Scozzafava was a deal with the devil, made by Republicans who dine at the devil’s table. A Republican gets an appointment by Obamao in exchange for Republicans diluting the Republican Party with another socialist who will fight hard for Obamao’s commie agenda. We don’t need to be screwed by sleazy Republicans who deal with this corrupt administration. Support Hoffman.


9 posted on 10/26/2009 8:00:50 AM PDT by pallis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Your photo of Hoffman needs to be replaced.

He looks like he is ready to join Mikey Dukakis for a tank ride.


10 posted on 10/26/2009 8:12:10 AM PDT by staytrue
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Don’t forget Harmer in California’s 10th district.


11 posted on 10/26/2009 8:13:01 AM PDT by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com .... I am a rogue nobody. One of millions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DontTreadOnMe2009

I call her Scuzzy.


12 posted on 10/26/2009 8:13:50 AM PDT by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com .... I am a rogue nobody. One of millions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: wk4bush2004
I’m pretty sure we’ll see Sarah in New York, campaigning for Doug within a week.

How about a wager. I say Sarah will not go to NY to campaign for Doug (she may go for a book signing or other stuff). If she does, I donate 200 dollars to FR. If she does not, you donate 200 dollars to the RNC.

13 posted on 10/26/2009 8:15:01 AM PDT by staytrue
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

$25 sent from this Virginian.

PS. Screw you Newt


14 posted on 10/26/2009 5:34:05 PM PDT by Hammerhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson