Israel met secretly with Scozzafava

politico.com ^ | Nov. 1, 2009 | Glenn Thrush

[Free ThinkerNY]

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), who is in charge of new candidate recruitment for House Democrats, played a key role in getting Republican Dede Scozzafava to back Democrat Bill Owens -- just hours after she dropped out of the NY-23 race on Saturday, Dem sources tell me.

Former state Democratic chairwoman June O'Neill, a friend of Scozzafava's who brokered the Owens endorsement, arranged for Israel, who was already in western New York, to have coffee with the moderate Republican at 4 p.m. yesterday at Gouverneur, N.Y. eatery near Scozzafava's home.

Even though she had already spoken to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Scozzafava was apparently rattled and needed some face-to-race reassurance that backing a Democrat was a good idea, according to people familiar with the situation.

Plus her cellphone voice mailbox was overloaded with Democratic messages and stopped taking incoming calls. Scozzafava left the meeting more relaxed and clearly leaning towards endorsing Owens over Conservative Party hopeful Doug Hoffman, a person familiar with the exchange told me.

Israel declined to comment, saying he doesn't talk about private conversations.

[MestaMachine]

Yeah. I hit the tag quick myself. WTF? thought me.

[MestaMachine]

Too macho.
Rep. Kapo.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

lulz

[Brad from Tennessee]

The White House has been directing Scozzafava since at least July. The strategy was that the House Democrat leadership would have the vote of NY-23 on critical issues if either Scozzafava or Owens won the seat. Dede probably would have switched parties at some point after winning. Hoffman disrupted the plan when he began out-polling Scozzafava. After that Scozzafava could have been a bigger drag on Owens than on Hoffman so she was told to quit. She'll get a federal appointment with a fat salary as reward.

[maro]

How is she a “moderate Republican”? She’s a liberal!

[dennisw]

Yep she is going to jump parties and will whine about the Republican meanies. She’s an overstuffed kook and a blob

[Brad from Tennessee]

I think in the world view of Glenn Thrush, who wrote this farce, Dede is a “moderate” and Hoffman is a Neolithic.

[karnage]

To Joe Isuzu.

[MestaMachine]

PERFECT!!!

[Atchafalaya]

Me too! I went...What???

[DemforBush]

All the more reason I’m glad that no matter what happens on Tuesday, Scozzafava won’t be elected.

At worst, she’s an opportunistic political turncoat ala Arlen Specter. At best, she’s Fredo Corelone: a weak-minded pigeon who is getting duped into thinking she’s actually doing something that is noteworthy and helpful. Neither scenario is conducive to a trustworthy representative.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

How will the electorate respond to this? Will they simply get fed up and NOT go to the polls?

[Vendome]

For a minute there, I thought you meant the State of Israel.

Whew!!!

[Cicero]

Obviously Steve Israel made her a promise of some sort. My take on Scuzzy is that she isn’t just a flaming leftist. She’s also a greedy operative who goes where the power is.

[CurlyDave]

Obviously Steve Israel made her a promise of some sort.

Unless she has it in writing, collecting on that promise is going to be very difficult.

The long history of traitors is that they are never again trusted by either side and are shuffled into low or no-responsibility positions by their new masters.

I hope she lives a long and impoverished life, frequently treating herself to a can of cat food.

[Canadian Outrage]

LOL - The Title of the article gave me a start also. Was glad to read that it was a person. CO