Posted on 11/04/2009 7:08:49 AM PST by Bob J
Same old GOP party line garbage. You should have barf alerted yourself here. Politics is, in fact, won by masses with the verbal equivalent of pitch forks and torches. It’s called passion.
But I guess we should have just laid down and enjoyed the ride, backing another liberal GOPer because our worthless “leaders” told us to. Yeah, right.
See my tag.
“But the same over vocalized minority that led us to disaster in NY-23”
So, Bob, the 23rd CD GOP, meets in a pizza parlor and picks a liberal (how many times can the msm call her moderate and not have their noses grow) that is more liberal than the Dem nominee.
Rank and file GOP locally protest the pick, as well as other nationally prominent conservatives....The National GOP and Newt et al. trashed the conservative Hoffman and doles out $900 Million which is used to trash Hoffman, the conservtive.
Then when the outrage is too much to ignore, the National GOP askes the liberal Scuzzafava to step down, whereyby she endoreses the other liberal...the Democrat.
But somehow that freaking mess made by 12 or so local GOPrs and the National GOP hierarchy...is the fault of the vocal rank and file Republican.
Puleeeze.
That would be great, if it wasn't for the fact that Republican "leaders" have a proven propensity for drawing the wrong conclusions from almost any "lesson."
I guess though that we can hope that a large portion of rank and file Republicans are learning the truth about what is actually taking place in what is allegedly "their" party.
But, mark my words, the very people who created this mess are going to find a thousand ways to blame conservatives for Hoffman's loss, and they are going to use that as the means to further suppress principled candidates and activists.
We went three for four last night (Maine, NJ, VA) and managed to kill a RINO in the process of a loss. IMHO, better to have a Dem, than a Republican consistently voting Dem.
My local elections very nearly went uniformly republican. There was one councilperson who'll need to get blown out of her seat with TNT (she's black, representing a black district, both are more corrupt than NJ ever dreamed of.....) but the rest of the elections pretty well went (R).
Last night was a good night. And, I'd imagine that Hoffman will be running again in 2010 and will win fairly handily, especially if he's on the (R) ticket, and not splitting the conservative vote.
1. Advancing liberalism at the expense of conservatism
2. For every heart and mind gained, you lose a principled supporter, because we have had enough of the GOP sellout.
The days of 'party before principle' are over for most conservatives. And it isn't because of pitchforks. Its because you do not advance conservatism by becoming more liberal.
I think the lesson learned was that grassroots ethusiasm cannot win w/o the GOP’s infrastructure (esp. GOTV apparatus) AND vice versa.
I also think SP may have really hurt her chances for being the nominee. (Anyone who wants to call me a Palin-hater can look at my previous posts to verify my Sarah-dentials) She made a high-risk move and will now have to deal with the whisper campaign that this is allegedly further proof that she is erratic. Plus, it will be noted that McDonnell and Christie won w/o her active support and Hoffman lost with, “Hoffman, baby, Hoffman.”
Well said. The answers to you last question (will they/he learn) is evidently “No.” That’s OK. They’ll end up in the dust bin of history if they don’t, and I’m OK with that.
i read. i sat back quietly and thought. i still think bob’s dead wrong on this. there are several good reasons why Hoffman lost here, the LEAST likely of which is because conservatives booted out the RINO.
I find it hard to believe, after the way the RINO behaved in this race, that they are back with the same old song & dance.
Why should anyone take them seriously?
Which is what you would expect in a district that has been solid Republican since the 1850s.
And yet the Democrat won. And probably would have won no matter what.
Had Scozzafava not been on the ballot, those votes would have gone to Hoffman.
They'd probably have split about evenly, I think. I seriously doubt they'd have made up the margin of victory.
All this shouting and blaming and hand-wringing is fine for the day after.
But at some point, soon, Republicans -- and conservatives in particular -- are going to have to start trying to figure out the underlying lesson of this loss -- because it's not an isolated phenomenon.
Conservatives are generally not winning at the ballot box these days. They're just not. In large part, it's because conservatives don't have a compelling message. We do shout a lot, though -- and some of us are extremely quick to toss out the RINO label.
Bob J is absolutely correct. Hopefully some of you guys will figure that out.
Some need undoing.
Disaster? What are you talking about?
Before Hoffman threw in, the race would have been won by either Owens, a Liberal Democrat, or Scuzzyfuzzy, essentially a Nancy Pelosi clone. A Scuzzy win would arguably have been worse than an Owens win.
With Hoffman, at least we had a chance of getting a decent rep.
The disaster -- for the GOP, not for us -- was that their perfidy was unmasked.
Those who follow the 'win at all cost' and 'a little conservative is better than none' philosophy will love it. The rest of us will see it as the same old business as usual bullsh!t that got us to where we are today.
If it were as simple as that, there wouldn't be such a thing as a political endorsements. Endorsements work because people typically won't think for themselves, so when you say "change hearts and minds", how many generations can we wait for that to occur? When the people who are leading the party, i.e, the endorsers, overtly work against traditional Republican values, yelling and screaming is the best option.
Quoting Reagan is ridiculous since he compromised as much as any politician, but his compromising led to victories. You think he wanted his political adversary, George H W Bush, as his running mate? Of course not, but he compromised "for expediency". Wrapping yourself in his mantle doesn't make you any less of a loser.
Sorry, it wasn't a disaster. The only better outcome would have been for Hoffman to win. But it showed the Republican establishment that they can't take conservatives for granted anymore if they want to hold on to their comfy jobs and lifestyles. Republican and not conservative? You lose. That's the lesson.
23 is not a super socially conservative district...they voted for Bro last year.
They likely did resent outsiders stirring it up.
The GOP gave us a crap candidate.
The Dem is actually more moderate than Dede which helped him.
She threw her girth behind him.
And she still got a pile of votes.
All that together elected Owens in a 50-50 conservative district.
That’s it. Local and National GOP powers that be now know they can be challenged. I don’t consider that a defeat.
The lesson is very clear. Running a "Republican" candidate who agrees with Nancy Pelosi on almost every issue, is not going to cut it anymore. People are fed up with being sold out time and time again by RINO's!
Ah - personal attacks - that gets your point across.
Reagan stood for something - thats why the country liked him.
Stand up and be counted - don’t be in the basement digging holes. Negativity will affect your mental state of mind. Get help!
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