I guess McCain-style liberal Republicanism doesn’t even sell in upstate New York:
Dede Scozzafava, the Republican and Independence parties candidate, announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign for the 23rd Congressional District and releasing all her supporters.
The state Assemblywoman has not thrown her support to either Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, or Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate.
One wonders if those that want the GOP to become just a watered-down version of the Democrats will learn the lesson.
When an independent candidate like Doug Hoffman is endorsed by leading conservatives, that should tell the Republican party something.
The voting hasn’t even started and people are already starting to question the reliability of the New York voting system [Article - Will every vote count?]. Are these the tactics that Hoffman’s opposition is choosing to employ or just a funny coincidence? I’ll leave the decision to the readers.
I suspect that the evangelical dominance in the Republican Party will result in the party being relegated to a third party. I wonder if we may see a shift from the two parties we have known? At any rate, if traditional republicans are leaving, it is not because they have suddenly become democrats. Rather, they are being pushed out. I have posted that this will hurt the GOP. See: (Link redacted by PhyCon)
You might be interested in this article: (Link redacted by PhyCon)
I’m just curious, are you really concerned for the future of the GOP, or are you just upset that a lefty Republican got pushed out of the race because she clearly couldn’t win?
euandus:
I have redacted the links in your comments. Your blog site is included with your user name when you comment.
Now, in response to your contention of “I suspect that the evangelical dominance in the Republican Party will result in the party being relegated to a third party.” –
This ‘evangelical dominance’ you somehow attribute to this situation is extremely one-dimensional of you.
1st: If this ‘dominance’ actually existed then Gov. Huckabee (generally referred to as “the Huckster” here) would have been the GOP nominee in 2008 instead of Sen. McCain (whom I generally refer to as “McRino”).
2nd: Scozzofava’s positions are anything but “Republican” – she supports: Card Check, Obama’s Stimulus, bailouts, Cap and Trade, Obamacare…etc – furthermore she supports abortion and gay marriage. Note I’ve put the last two at the end for good reason…the first set proves she holds no “GOP economic” policy position and the second set proves she holds no “GOP moral” policy position.
3rd: Scozzofava’s and Owens’ positions are the same on 95% of the issues. It is no surprise to me that she endorsed the “D” since, in this case, they are the same on so many issues. She pledge to caucus with the Rs is about the only difference between the two.
Many in the media (see Newt) have made the case (in many more words) that since she has an “R” after her name she deserves both GOP and Conservative support/votes. This position begs the voter to follow the invalid political axiom of “Party before Politics”. What is being shown to the GOP specifically and the nation in general in this race is Americans are sick of sending people to Washington who don’t do their jobs – represent their constituencies. Any candidate who wishes to bear the label of “R” for an election in the future had better pay attention to this race. If they don’t then they will find themselves in the same position.
The TEA party movement is on full display in this race and is the primary reason Mr. Hoffman is leading. RINOs beware as this is the first domino that will fall.
It is interesting to note that Hoffman, who according to New York public polls is reported to be in the lead, is running as a Conservative party candidate and not just as an independent, as I had previously stated [Article - Polls: Doug Hoffman leads in New York 23].
Quite a few conservative-leaning political figures (one of whom was ex-Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin) have endorsed Doug Hoffman, who claims to be a “Reagan conservative”.
If, and I say if Hoffman wins in New York, that would put a sizable dent in the Republican’s theory that if one votes for a third party candidate in a hotly-contested political race, one may as well vote for the Democrat candidate.