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The Purged Moderate Speaks
Todd Bissonette / AP Photo
How is Dede Scozzafava holding up after a conservative insurgent drove her from the New York House race? Michael Smerconish asks the former Republican candidate about the future of her party.
Republican New York State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava was considered a shoo-in to win the special election for the United States House seat in upstate New York this week—until conservative activists from outside the district attacked her for being too moderate and drove her from the race. After Scozzafava dropped out, the Democratic candidate ended up beating the third-party conservative challenger, and the district went blue for the first time in over 100 years. Michael Smerconish talked with Scozzafava about the ideological purification campaign against her—and the future of the Republican Party.
Click Below for Pt. 1 of Michael Smerconish's Interview with Dede Scozzafava
Do you recognize yourself? And by that I mean, given all the national attention and the things that have been said about you by pundits, do you recognize the Dede Scozzafava that they’ve been discussing?
Absolutely not. I know who I am. I’m not sure where they received a lot of the misinformation that they have on me. But I voted with my Republican leader [in the State Assembly] 95 percent of the time. I think that’s a pretty good percentage.
Over what time period?
This past year. I mean if you go back over 11 years, I still think my percentages have to be in the 90-95 percent ranges. I do the policy. I’ve been the head of the peer policy-review committee for the last four years for our Republican conference. We vet all issues through that. I’m the floor leader on the State Assembly and I lead debate for Republican positions. This whole thing became much more of a smoke-and mirrors-type race.
Click Below for Pt. 2 of Michael Smerconish's Interview with Dede Scozzafava
How do you characterize yourself? We live in such a label-induced society—oh that person’s a liberal and this is a conservative. If I was to say to Dede Scozzafava, so what are you? What applies, if anything?
I’m a Republican.
Defined as what?
• Benjy Sarlin: The Plot to Purge GOP Moderates When I look at the Republican Party of Lincoln and I look back at eight principles of being a Republican, I think I pretty much identify with each one of those principles. Whether it’s less government dependency, promoting self-sufficiency, believing in lower taxes, believing in fewer government regulations, believing in less government spending, or believing in individual liberty, individual freedom, and less government interference in the lives of people. Those are all positions that I’ve always held to, I’ve always articulated on behalf of, and those are the things I stand for. And I think those are Republican principles.
I went through an editorial board during this most recent race. And at the end, the gentleman, the lead editor just looked across the table at me and he said, “A moderate Republican? You’re a conservative Republican.” The social issues sometimes people might not agree with, but I really think I govern according to the Constitution and I live my personal life according to my faith, and I try very hard not to mix up the two.
Rush Limbaugh deemed you a "liberal woman." Michelle Malkin said you’re a "radical leftist." The New York Post: There’s "nothing Republican" about her, they scolded.
But they don’t know me. They haven’t taken the time to even accurately reflect on my record. I’ve been a state Republican committeewoman. I’ve been a Republican my entire political career. There were things out there in the press--I’m affiliated with ACORN. I have nothing to do with ACORN—
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Musharraf on Fixing Pakistan
Michael Smerconish is a nationally syndicated radio host. His latest book, Instinct: The Man Who Stopped the 20th Hijacker, was published last month.
Did Bubba's Tapes Break the Law?
Michael Smerconish is a nationally syndicated radio host. His latest book, Instinct: The Man Who Stopped the 20th Hijacker, was published last month.
Scuzzy the Skunk!
yeppers. She should cross over to the dems. She would fit right in with Pelosi and Boxer.
...and those statements, folks, shows exactly what's wrong with the Republican Party.
You guys are so petty and childish. It is amazing how reasoning with some republicans is like talking to a wall. I think independents and democrats care more about keeping the GOP alive that you extremists.
Roger37. and the hate coming out of the democratic party is ?? What's the 37 for? your IQ ?
...and that question, folks, simply confirms my earlier post.
Hey 37, the statement that Dede would fit in with Pelosi is backed up by Dede's voting record and the fact that not only is she married to a connected liberal, she backed the liberal candidate after she bowed out.
I don't think she is misunderstood as she claims, but she has been outed for the liberal she is.
By the way, TO HELL WITH THE GOP! They do not represent conservative values, they are just the other side of the coin that is our one party government that doesn't give a damn about the constitution or the American people.
Hey everyone,
I'm bored and pissed, so I exposed and flamed as many of you drooling liberal zombies as I could before I had to go to bed. Enjoy!
"It is adorable to watch the liberals preen as the Republican Party shows some infighting over who to back to lead the party.
As the Blue Dogs bite the tail off the Far Left Pelosi and Obama. Way funny. Nay, the libs have no infighting, other than...oh say this from Bob Obama Herbert in his paranoid 08 Seeds of Destruction back stab:
It wasn't just the pardons that sullied the Clintons' exit from the White House. They took furniture and rugs from the White House collection that had to be returned.
So class is not a Clinton forte."~FemiSex.com
What a good thing we have a centrist web site to remind liberals of their shoooort memories. of party strife over way left BHO vs. center HRC.
giggle
I love the "far left" rhetoric about the Dems. Truth is there is effectively no substantial left these days. Obama is a moderate, despite all the yelling about Marxism, etc from the right fringe. In the 1960's? Yes, then there was a strong left. Todays Dems are hard to distinguish from the traditional Repub. party. In the 1960's, extremism came from the left; extremism today and for most of the past 2 decades has come from the right. You can argue your false equivalency if you want, saying "oh, both sides have their extremists". But the left is not throwing bombs these days; the right talks violence on a daily basis.
Avocado-
What freekin' world are you living in?
The 1960s radical left weren't in charge of anything! They were ANTI ESTABLISHMENT. Not a real danger to the country.
Now they have grown up and become the 2000s radicals and are the ESTABLISHMENT where they are as dangerous as any enemy of the United States, foreign and DOMESTIC.
You can't force a Government takeover of private institutions such as Health Insurance and Auto manufacturing. What Liberal Socialists will never understand is that big Government programs have the actual effect of robbing people of their freedom and their dignity.
Not to mention its unconstitutional.
The Constitutionality of anything has never stopped them before.
The truth is and what leftist Avocado can't comprehend is that the Democrat Party has been hijacked and the base is FAR LEFT!
How you can say that San Fransisco area Rep Nancy Pelosi is a moderate strains all credibility of your statement!
Thank you for putting this so clearly and correctly.
Where have you been avocado? The left is disgustingly militant, radical, arrogant and intolerant these days, spewing their filth every chance they get. Go sell crazy somewhere else , we're all stocked up here with these liberal pests!!
Have you ever seen a dog or cat with rabies?
That's what the extreme right-wing looks like.
Their so consumed with hatred and fear they've gone crazy.
They're attacking and biting everything, even themselves.
Oh well.
Obama is a moderate? If Karl Marx is your versions of moderate then yes, he is a moderate. Obama answered the question of where his beliefs put him with perfect clarity in his statement "If you want to know who I am, look at the people with whom I surround myself. Andy Stern the president of the SEIU has visited Obama at the white house 22 times so far this year, more than anyone else and he says things like "We took names. We watched how they voted. We know where they live."
There are opportunities in America to share better in the wealth, to rebalance the power, and unions and government are part of the solution.
"workers of the world unite, it's not just a slogan anymore. It's the way we're going to have to do our work."
Income redistribution is Marxist, taking names and WATCHING how people vote and saying you know where they live? Is that the kind of thug you want surrounding your president. The list of people who are self avowed like minded communists that Obama has surrounded himself with is massive. I think it is clear who he is. Unless you choose not to take him at his word because it is inconvenient. Classic liberal move - ignore the facts and lie so often people who don't pay attention or have short memories start to believe you.
By the way real conservatives DO NOT sympathize with blowing up abortion clinics or government buildings. Those people are facists and are more like an isomer to the hard left. Also, perhaps you haven't noticed but the in last twenty years most "extremism" has been coming from the muslims who are provoked by the weakness projected by the left, e.g. from the Uss Cole to Fort Hood. By the way you guys are the masters of false equivalency, and for you to make that accusation shows how blind and hypocritical you are. Sad, sad, sad. Brain-dead, brain-washed, liberal zombies like yourself are killing this nation and leaving us vulnerable to our enemies. You guys think that after you destroy what America was founded on you can make into something better. Hah!
escomments-
You said, "
Not to mention its unconstitutional.
The Constitutionality of anything has never stopped them before."
Please point to the section of the Constitution where a government takeover of a specific company and/or industry is unconstitutional.
The health care bill has nothing in it about government taking over health care, despite your mindless rhetoric. Yet you scream about it being unconstitutional. Please back up your statements. Or you can shut the hell up.
What ever happened to the "Big Tent" of the Republican Party? Looks more like a "Pup Tent." Word to you Wing Nuts, we moderate Republicans are not going anywhere. We will continue to vote in the primaries AGAINST the hard-right in order to get the Party back. If it means voting for democrats when our other choice would be a Sarah Palin, you betcha!
So you are a Moderate Republican?
Why don't you tell us about some principals that you think the Party should have.
It should have principals? Right?
Yes, escomments, moderate Republicans do have principals. We believe in limited government, who serves the economy best in a watchdog mode, enforcing regulations that provide benefits to the consumer while not endangering the basic viability of business.
We also believe in restricting the governments intrusion into our private lives. A fact that Bush and Cheney ignored when they decided that the specter of terrorism was worth trashing our civil liberties. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is spending its resources hating the fact that a black man became president.
As a moderate republican, which is pretty darned liberal in Texas, I am disgusted by the hate machine that the Republican Party has become. Where do I go now? Do I become a Democrat? Do I become a Libertarian? Where do I go?
escomments and lordastral: I never vote for Republicans anymore, so maybe you should take my comment with a grain of salt...but maybe one of the "principals", as you put it, of the R Party should be learning to spell. And yes, escomments, every party or organization should have principals. Hard not to, once it gets over a certain size.
I heard this interview with Scozzafava on the radio today. I'll bet no one will ever hear Beck say "We've asked Dede Scozzafava to come on the show but she declined." She won't be on because Beck won't ask. It's a good read but if you get a chance listen to the whole interview. And then watch for her, if she's willing she'll be on The TV soon. She's not going away anytime soon.
If she runs for office again, she'll win.
Not in our lifetime. She's finished on this ticket at least. Now she could do an Arlin Spector and come out ok.
Government take-over, huh escomments? You should say that out loud so you can hear how silly it sounds. Thanks to government takeover of elder healthcare both my parents have full coverage in their retirement years under the government-run, big budget, high budget item, and whatever else you non-thinkers want to say--Medicare. Keep your government paws off their government healthcare. But if private healthcare is taking advantage of citizens and not even giving many of them what their premiums paid for to line the pockets of a handful of ceo's you think somehow that is better than the government providing cheaper healthcare. Even if what the government provides is expensive, its better than the burgeoning costs we will fact in the next few years. But you just keep fighting that fight for the sake of calling yourself a conservative. If karma intervenes, when you get sick, there will be no help coming on those government roads, by people who benefit from government laws, and if you don't have insurance and you get treatment the government won't pay the hospital for your illness. You're so foolish.
Sonshine
First, I want to say that I'm glad your parents have been taken care of. But let's get our facts straight. Conservatives are not in love with private health care insurance. We just know that they are the lesser of two evils. Now if they would open up INTERSTATE COMPETITION between these insurance companies, inact TORT reform, stop giving health care to illegal aliens and tripple bypasses to murderers and rapists(I work in the health care industry and provide care to post op heart patients like these), and deport illegals who have babies in our country to get there toe in our country so they can MILK our health, welfare and education system dry, then health care, and school would be cheaper.
By the way, Medicare is freakin' BANKRUPT and denies TWICE as many claims as the average private insurance company you knuckle dragging zombie!
If Karma intervenes you will not be able to get emergency care in a hospital because the ER Docs and the surgeons are busy with all the
illegals and violent criminal inmates they have to treat! YOU ARE SO FOOLISH.
The interview presents Ms. Scozzafava just as I'd assumed: a very responsible, normal Northeastern Republican legislator. The trouble is, if she'd gone to Congress, she'd have to go along with the southerners who run the show and they are bad. My congressman was a very moderate Republican just like this one when he was in the state senate here in New Jersey until last year but now I expect him to oppose policies that he'd have supported here. He has to stay in line. So, I cannot vote for a Republican for Congress. They aren't going to allow any policy that is good for the American people, especially the healthcare bill. The national Republican party is all about war and bloated military spending and tax cuts for rich people.
Blah Blah Blah Blah, this was a puff piece made to order for liberal zombies like your self. Lap it up, doggie! She is liberal and the whole of her record is proof of that. By cherry picking the facts they made her look like some wonderful moderate Republican who has been taken down by rabid right wing baby eating extremists. All you liberals couldn't get enough of it. Hah! Wake up!
Oh yeah, Woodrow Wilson: Democrat WWI, FDR: Democrat WWII, Harry Truman: Democrat Korean war, J.F. Kennedy: Democrat Vietnam. Karen, you ignorant XXXX! Check your facts! ROTF LMAO at you!
Also, if you had a clue, it's the bankers who control both parties, most governments and they fund the wars to make money. If you control a nations' debt you control the country. You people who believe that elected officials have any real power are kidding yourselves. What happened to the last 2 presidents that want to shut down the FED? Kennedy got(surprise!) assassinated and Reagan got shot and missed death by inches.
The truth is scary but it's still the truth.
Why oh why didn't I take the blue pill like you guys?
~"When the governor of this state tried to have license plates for illegal immigrants, I rallied against that" ~ Dede Scozzafava
License plates for illegal immigrants...? That's a new one on me. I recall Eliot Spitzer supporting drivers licenses for illegal immigrants, which I strongly oppose, but I don't recall the plates thing. Seems to me you can't get the plates for a car if you don't have the license...
~"taking pro-choice, I think it's up to each individual.
"[you thought that the federal government had no business gatting involved in the Schiavo case?] Correct." ~ Dede Scozzafava
Apparently she is also for keeping the government out of our bedroom, treating homosexuals with equal protection under the law by allowing same-sex marriage. And this is what got certain conservatives up in arms...
Actually, the above stances would make her a libertarian. The conservatives that oppose all that? Well, they're more akin to fascists, certainly not libertarians.
Well, once upon a time, those stances would have been called Republican, but if the GOP wants to cede that ground, ok. It just makes them more like the far left, only with a different set of "thou shalts" to impose on the public.
Way to cherry pick the facts!!!!!
It's pretty clear that the extremes of both parties are making life difficult for those in the center. Why is it that TDB only is obsessed with the "intercine warfare" in the Republican Party? Why is it that the same thing happening on the Democratic side is seen as healthy debate?
Sorry; its too-late.
Extremes of both parties? You take away the "extremes" of what's left of the Repubs, and there's about 5 people shivering in their underwear. You're a Beck fringe party; the sane ones have fled to the center. Crist is next, and Romney better watch his a**.This rather ordinary woman has no future amongst the coocoo birds who think Obama is going to institute "Youth In Asia" or who demand that the guv'mint keep its filthy hands off their social security. What's the left wing mirror image of this, exactly? The only thing close is the 9-11 Truthers, and they have no presence in the Dem party. Sorry; you're drowning alone. Even Goldwater wouldn't put up with this nonsense.
Hilarious: the people who live in this rural District vote GOP without even thinking; with their eyes closed. Only the fundy-stalinists, the type of person who thought Terry Schiavo was a great idea, could have given such a gift to the Dems. First Dem elected since THE CIVIL WAR!
How do I contribute?
yep
40% of americans are conservative. 40% are moderate. 20% are LIBERAL. What are you talking about. In Va 66% of independents voted republican. If Obama is to be successful he must kick the SEIU out of his office (along with the remnants of ACORN), and govern from the middle. otherwise, your leftist renaissance will be a minor eclipse. As usual, you guys ignore the facts.
Look at the issues here:
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/caf_mm-20090526-6.pdf
When you break it down by issue, you find that we are far more "liberal" than our self-labeling indicates. I think the fact that more Americans say they are conservative than liberal has more to do with the job the Republicans have done in tarnishing our collective definition of liberalism and less to do with where most people actually stand on the issues.
And you seem to ignore your OWN facts......40% of americans considering themselves conservative does not constitute 40% considering themselves republican. And if you want to talk about Va, well lets talk about the fact that that race has been won by the opposition for twenty-some years straight.
Obama is actually more in the middle, just not your definition of the middle.
What appears to be this unfortunate candidates mistake is that she is not theologically aligned with the anti-abortion, apocalypse crowd.
When you read her responses, it appears that she has all the Goldwater credentials, and would very likely have vote along the party line once she got to DC.
The extreme right just dont understand that true democracy is based on ligitimate difference in opinion both progressive and conservative. Their inability to grasp that not all people see the political system as; we against them, black or white, but a competition/battle of ideas, to be articulated and presented in a rationale respective manner.
The reason people have moved to the center within the republican party is because they are tired of the non substantive rhetorical hate and fear tactics used by the extreme elements within the neo-republican party.
Did you know that for the last several presidential administrations VA voters have always voted for the party not in the White House? I'm not saying that the election of McDonnell is not significant but it isn't the blatant sign that you are trying to make it out to be. Sorry.
Bingo on this one, Cresttwo.
I think the pull-quote was a good choice to summarize this interview, because it reflects the heart of the Republican party's putch tactics -- once the "inclusive party," if you'll recall. It also shows the alienation that happens when people who are dedicated to a philosophy are spurned by their own group.
I used to be a Republican -- less government, lower burden of taxes. That was, until W. ran for office, and I started noticing a nastier "us vs. them" attitude, paired with a holier-than-thou viewpoint. Now, I vote Democrat most of the time, for the most part, because I fear for *our* country if Republicans gain too much control in government.
"I used to be a Republican -- less government, lower burden of taxes. ... Now, I vote Democrat most of the time, for the most part, because I fear for *our* country if Republicans gain too much control in government"
No Republican would ever say this. Liar.
I was a Republican for exactly 20 years, yet you dismiss me and call me a liar. You've proven my point. Thanks.
No, no, no. You must NOT leave the Repuglican party, as I call it now. These lunatics are the ones who need to leave, not you, and not I.
We made a pact with the Devil when we invited them in, and the Devil now has taken over the party of small government and low taxes. He needs to go, not us, and I would support any movement to purge the fringe right from the Party, before Republicans cease to exist as a political force. That must not happen, lest the Democrats, deprived of any serious restraining force, become a hegemony themselves. We need at least two vigorous parties, and the lunatic fringe is going to destroy one for sure, unless we stop them.
Exorcise the right wing demons. I want my party back!
Jim
Former Republican, now Obama supporter
You, me and countless others want our Party back, but there is no one brave enough to push back on Rush, Hannity, Beck and the rest of the Wing Nuts of the Fox News Party. Look at the havoc they have created...the fabricated "Tea Party," calling the President "Racist," Marxist and Socialist. They have seniors frothing at the mouth, scared of the future. Then they try to say that the Left is saying far worse things. Are they nuts? No. Demonic, yes.
I'm a Democrat and I agree with you.
We need at least two strong parties that disagree but at least respect each other. I even, to an extent, understand the value of a "party of no" - one party pushes for extreme change, the other party holds them up and reaches a moderate compromise that is, in the end, probably best for America.
I think a conservative split in the Republican party is bad for America - Democrats need a wise opposing voice in Congress to keep them in check but rather than being inside, working to create that wise opposing voice, Conservatives are starting up a civil war on the steps of the Capitol.
I hope to see some strong Republican candidates in 2010 and that they take back the party from the fringe-right. That's the only way to shut up Glenn and Rush.
urbancowgirl, you are way too rational for today's discourse. wassamadda with you girl? don't you know or are supposed to be yelling and screaming and trading in ad hominum attacks?
I want to see the Limbaugh-Beck ticket as soon as possible, Now that would be delicious to watch, if only see and hear those leftist Dems get physically sick in front of our very eyes!!!! This would, of course, make our day!!!!! Golf anyone?
Well put, urbancowgirl & topdocjim. I am a socially liberal, economically moderate, upper middle class white male from the northeast. If that doesn't put me in the traditional Northeastern Republican wheelhouse, I don't knwo what does. I grew up voting for Chris Shays, and still like him a lot. But I've cast about 5 votes for any Republican (and non in congressional or federal races) since about 1998 out of sheer hatred for the Relgious Right. I believe strongly in a strong 2 party system dominated by moderates for all of the reasons you lay out, urbancowgirl, but I just don't see it coming back any time soon.
Absolutely. I'm a liberal registered as an independent formerly as a democrat. I changed my registration in protest of the decisions by the democratic party in the early 2000's. I even considered switching to republican--only briefly and never again. But the issue is that we need two viable parties so that neither of them goes too far astray. The people around here taking pride and joy from calling Scozzafava names are not truly concerned about the viability of the republican party. They are religious zealots of the type that the republicans courted, worked with and are now being bludgeoned by. They made a pact with the devil and now they are burning. They need more reasonable voices among them to pry their party out of the grips of the small faction of extremists whose loud and disgusting screaming brings them attention. The few are leading the many and the religious zealots don't care whether the party survives. To them this is about the rapture and other such fantasies. They must not be heeded.
Hey everyone, it's the liberal AMEN corner! Oh yes, those extremist right wingers must go! They believe in the constitution and stuff. Don't they know that old document that gave so many hope and freedom, which many real Americans died to defend, is now just toilet paper in Obama-Mesiah's bathroom. Let's destroy everything the country was founded on, and adopt the failed and oppressive doctrine of Karl Marx as quickly as we can!
You are a bunch of freakin' LEMMINGS!
I think we need more than two parties, personally, but i agree we need to get the party back. I was a conservative extremist for so long and just burned out, mellowed out, and grew up. We need someone, anyone in Washington to stand up to "talking heads" of the fringe. We need a stand of people too large to be ignored, that cannot simply be marginalized and shuffled off to the side as "too liberal".
Perhaps if all the moderates allow themselves to be purged, and garner more support from the moderate republicans and independents, we can just make the old guard of blowhards obsolete and irrelevant.
Hey Jim,
You are not and never were a Republican, maybe in your mind you thought you were. But, you never understood conservatism, or the constitution. If you did you would never make your ignorant or more likely, completely false statements. Especially, since you can't even bring yourself to spell REPUBLICAN PROPERLY! The fringe you describe are people who believe in the constitution, moral values, self determination, personal responsibility, small government, low taxes, a secure border, the right to bear arms, a strong national defense, and not using abortion(which, if you ever saw a sonogram of a baby in-utero sucking its thumb or yawning, is obviously murder) for birth control. Your wonderful Obama-Mesiah hates the constitution, has no qualms about letting helpless babies die after a failed abortion attempt, and thinks terrorists released from GITMO should get to have a nice house and welfare with maybe an ankle bracelet, you know for security. You jackass! Wake up! Exorcise your liberal brainwashing demons! Go ahead and have the GOP if you want it. Anyone, with half a brain recognizes the GOP is as disinterested in serving the interests of Americans according to the constitution as the Democrats are.
boy! after reading your postings...you are so angry!
It's interesting to me when so-called conservatives try to link conservatism to the Constitution. Here's the one sentence Preamble to our Constitution: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." That doesn't sound like a libertarian or "conservative" document to me. It sounds like a laundry list for an involved, proactive gvt, especially the part about "promot[ing] the general welfare",.which is why we Liberals support the Constitution and you "conservatives" should be wary of referring to it.
The title "purged moderate" should tell you all you need to know about the article and you could save yourself a copule minutes of precious life from reading it. However when done ask yourself why she was not asked about her support for "Card Check"? You know, the ability of the union to take away the secret ballot when voting for unionization. Why did he not ask her why should union thugs be allowed to single out and intimidate people who are against unionization atheir workplace? Ask her if her husband, a AFL-CIO union head has any influence on that. When you go down her list she is very liberal and if her view were so in tune with her constituents then she would have won instead of polling at 20%. Even Owens was to the right of her and he'll have to be in order to stand a chance for re-election.
If liberals and democrats really thought the GOP party going moderate was making the party better and to help the GOP win elections they'd be dumber than they already are for encouraging it. They are just trying to create strife and take the spotlight off of their own failings in running this country into the ground.
So why did she endorse the liberal democrat? Hard to see how he is going to achieve those republican ideals she's spouting here.
While she was right to protest the outside meddling, that endorsement was nothing but immature and petty.
For the same reason, I voted for Obama. To have the wing nuts of the Party take over a local race is far worse than electing a one-term democrat. Palin, Pawlenty and Limbaugh represent the extreme right of the Republican Party. I will remain registered Republican and will vote AGAINST these hard-right candidates and I hope that other moderate Republicans will do the same so that we can take back our Party from the extremes.
Look in the mirror mclaubr1, you are not a conservative. Have you ever heard Palin or Limbaugh say anything extremist? Well, I guess that depends on what you call extremist. If family values, self reliance, low taxes, minimal government interference in your life and how you raise your family, if energy independence, strong national defense, legal orderly immigration policy that is enforced, moral values, supporting and praising excellence, and I don't know, BELIEVING that our forefathers gave us a good form of government is extremism. Then yeah, there extremists. But what does that make you? Not a conservative and definitely NOT a Reagan Republican. So look in the mirror, join ACORN and the democrat party, because it's people like you and the "Republicans" like you that need to go to the left where you belong. You are polluting the right and we don't need a tent so big that people who oppose our "extremist" views stinking it up.
mclaubr1, you should take jimayca's advice, (s)he's right. Look, both parties have moved far to the right in the last 30 years. Maybe you should come over to the Democratic Party. The R party you've been supporting doesn't exist anymore and neither does the D Party of the 70's and 80's.
Both parties have made it a practice to accept money and support from the people on the extremes of their party, only to deny them their wishes upon gaining power. Unfortunately for the R's they started letting those extremists RUN their party. Good luck setting that right in your lifetime.
Maybe because he lived in the district.
Read the part about the eigth principles of being a Republican. It's why I was a Republican a long time ago. I can't be a Republican today because I agree with those 8 principles but since I am pro-choice, pro-gun control and could care less about the sanctity of marriage (along with about 50% of people who get married and then divorced) that gay marriage would be okay, I would have to be purged. It's hard to believe that today Barry Goldwater would be a moderate.
Major Revisions,
You are another phony who claims to be an oppressed Republican, who is marginalized by the imaginary extreme right the left has concocted out of thin air. EVERY thinking person who understands history, knows that Governments throughout history, who seek to disarm their private citizens have turned out to be oppressive. Russia, China, Hitler's Germany... Goverments seek to preemptively disarm the public so that private citizens are afraid and powerless to revolt once they realize they have been duped and enslaved.
By the way, I wouldnt brag about being for the murder of helpless children, taking away people's right to defend themselves and their property, and having no respect for marriage, the second most important institution that holds society together. The first institution I'm sure you also could care less about is religion. Oh, by the way, the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE states our inalienable rights endowed by our CREATOR. No God, no rights, no freedom, no marriage (He created it you know), no value for life (abortion/murder). Does it make sense? They got rid of God, then made it ok to kill babies, and then divorce skyrocketed. Now our society is falling apart. Connect the dots, they spell the end of society, not just ours, but throughout history. Moral decline presages societal failure everytime.
Put down the coolaide and dummy up.
I think it is because she sees that right wing extremist religious zealots are taking over the republican party. It couldn't have been easy for her to do that but she can see what people like Newt Gingrich and Schmidt (I forget his first name) and other republicans can see--when you purge the moderates out of your party, you not only shrink what you have, you don't attract new members. How does that make sense for your party? You have to put aside strict ideology and focus on putting people in office. The pressure from constituents will make them vote the way the party wants. Look at the Blue Dogs. They are constantly being pulled to the right by their constituents. I disagree with them on health care reform and other issues but they provide a check on the democratic party and I voted for democrats. Focus on the goal not that warm feeling you get inside by espousing religious tenets.
Actually, the man that won is said to be a conservative democrat, not a liberal one. I think he will be considered more blue dog. The point is that people from outside the district put their power behind someone just because he was a conservative. They didn't really know anything about him, just that he was conservative. The fact that he couldn't answer questions about local projects indicates he hasn't been an involved citizen but then he wanted to represent people he knew nothing about. That evidently didn't sit well with voters in the district. A far a the endorsement, it wouldn't have made any difference to most folks if they didn't like the democrat. I'm not entirely sure that Sarah Palin being the first to endorse him helped either. She may have a following among the far right but many see as a divisive and her recommendation doesn't mean a whole lot and may actually hurt the candidate. He didn't win did he?
If you really believe in conservatism, you have to believe people will also eventually realize when they have made a mistake. mclaubr1 is right, she was thinking in the long term. Actually whether she was thinking that is irrelevant, its what we believe the outcome will be, and that's good enough for me.
This made for interesting reading. I'm pretty sure that I disagree with Scozzafava on many issues, but I've come away from this article with the impression that not only did the GOP lose a shoe-in candidate, it lost the kind of legislator that we want in Congress regardless of party affiliation.
This is what the name-callers are missing. They don't even want to have a conversation about whether she would have been a good legislator or even what she truly believes in. They just like that feeling they get when they wear their religious pedigree on their sleeves, even if it means undermining their own party and its power in the Congress. Notice how they are celebrating the two R wins for governor while the Dems sent 5 new members to Congress. Do governors vote on national legislation? Nooooooo. Do members of the House of Representatives? Yesssssss. So who really won here, conservatives? Ask yourself that and then rethink your position.
I find it odd that Rush, a strong proponent of Ronald Reagan, broke his first commandment. "Never speak ill of a fellow Republican". That stratergy (sic) has worked for 30 years but now they are leaving it behind in order to cleanse and purify.
Hmmm, cleanse and purify. Where have I heard that before?
Rush is a strong proponent of Rush.
Tee Hee,
you're so clever!
NOT!
Beachman
YOU are the one using the term cleanse and purify. Then, not so subtlely, you make a sophmoric rhetorical question. Anyone who has sat 5 minutes in a critical thinking class, or has the IQ of a gnat, can see through your idiotic statement.Gibbering liberal zombie!
I wouldn't call her a moderate. She's an ACORN-friendly, pro-abortion, union-pandering, tax-and-spend radical Republican. She's a RINO.
Did you read the article or not? You are demonstrating the intolerance of the 'purgers' vs. owing this woman a reading of the FACTS,
Your kind of branding and name calling, based on factfree brainwashed glenn beck authored fiction is what is giving the conservatives a bad name and destroying the Repub Pary.
fact free? Like Dan Rather's forged document to discredit President Bush weeks before his re-election bid? Which name did I call her that is not accurate? I await your response.
Ozone 69 is the typical Right Wing nut who has no brains to think for themselves. They rely on the garbage spouted off from the likes of Glen, Sean, and Rush. I voted for Reagan twice, Bush1 and Bush 2 in 2000. I did not vote for Bush 2 in 2004 due to the lies about the Iraq war and did not vote for McCain since he gave in to the ultra Right by choosing Palin. I do not support all Democratic ideas but do support the Health care reform. I hear a lot from the Ultra right about how government will destroy the Healthcare system and bring in socialsm. How hypocritcal. The same republicans went to a socialistic public school system, probably graduated from a socialistic public college system and after age 65 will gladly get covered by Medicare. The same hypocritical right wingers will look to the "socialistic" government to help them during Hurricane, tonadoes and other major calamities. No problem there with relying on the "bad Government". I suppose if you think for yoursself and dont agree with everything that Rush, Sean or Gen sya you must be a "Liberal"
You have never watched Glenn Beck in your life, you just believe what the paid liberal bloggers tell you to believe, you medical marijuana smoking, cash for clunkering, Obama Care loving, coolaide drinking, late term aborting, white guilt feeling, free market hating, flag burning troglodyte!
How's that for name calling?
rjoshi52 you are another freakin pretend Republican. Shut your hole. Can't you liberals make your point without pretending that you are a recovering Republican who has had your purity trampled by the Evil Right Wing Extremists? By the way both Bushes are in the tank for the soon to be coming One World Order. Please don't group those dirtbags with Ronnie. Now go get in line for your RFID tag you poor zombie.
Ok, I'm starting to think that jimayca is actually a lib who's imitating the most ridiculous rightwing stereotype she can come up with. Sort of a Daily Beast comments Colbert. You had me fooled, jimayca, until you dropped "One World Order." But you wanted to reveal yourself, didn't you? I mean no joke's all that funny if you're the only one that gets it. Otherwise, pretty believable schtick, I must say.
Names you called Scuz that are fact free fiction and slander: "union-pandering", "tax and spend" "acorn friendly" - all complete fiction regarding her record. Read the article. And she is not "pro abortion" she is pro individual right to choose. "pro abortion" is the intolerant rightwingnut slogo in order to imply that the right to choose means people want to abort babies. I suggest you go to the library and read some books you just randomly take off the shelf and get some of these poison pen blogo spin doctor crazy notions out of your life for a few day so you can think for a change instead of robotic repeats of what these guys tell you. And regarding Dan Rather, when it was shown he was wrong, he lost his job and reputation and no one on the so called left mindlessly defended his poor judgement.
well said Maddy
You are such a child. Name-calling may make you feel good but it isn't going to save the republican party from marginalization. Get serious and get the religious and extremist cobwebs out of your brain.
It's a great show, embarrassing, but great entertainment. Sort of like slowing down to watch the wreck on the side of the highway.
If Dede Scozzafava is so Conservative and the rest of us just had her all wrong, why did she support the Liberal after dropping out?
I'll tell you why. It's because she is a typical freekin' lying politician.
At least they won't have to run a Republican in the primary against an incumbent Liberal Republican next primary season.
I would say that is as much as could be hoped for in the current situation.
If she had won, we'd be stuck with yet another RINO incumbent caucusing and voting with Nancy Pelosi that we would never be able to remove.
On the bright side, there will be an open primary next election season and the RIGHT Republican candidate will be selected by a vote of the people and then that person will kick Owen's ass.
The Dem was not a "liberal" by any stretch of the imagination. and he unlike the conserv, was not a carpet bagger from another district. The Dem is considered a conservative blue dog. Wingnuts just equate any dem with the word "liberal" as one and the same. All part of the vast right wing ignorance campaign of brain washing their followers with mindless branding and thinkfree slogans.
you my friend need to check into a mental health clinic; seriously. Do you watch anyone besides Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, et al? Do you have any relatives who do not agree with you? Would you send them to a detention camp? Guantanamo?
How were you with the Bush Cheney wars? How about the Republican Medicare part D givaway to big pharma? I assume you were danting against them as well...No?
Avocado
You my friend are a coolaide drinking zombie. seriously. Do you read anything but liberal blogs paid for by the liberals? Do you have any relatives that haven't had an abortion or smoked dope? Would you call them right wing extremists if they didn't. Will you ever stop looking at child porn?
Bush and Cheney, like most high level"elected" officials are servants of the banks who control everything. They make the money off the wars. They control debt. The whole Republican/Democrat thing is just a distraction for all you meatheads out there who believe what the talking heads tell you. That way you can point fingers back and forth while they take all the power, all the money, and all of your freedom. Hit the snooze alarm and cling to your shallow understanding of politics. Glenn Beck is the closest thing to a truth teller on telivision. Don't worry though, he will be removed or marginalized soon enough. I am digressing here, but 15 years ago my brother showed my a conspiracy theory website that said that the families that own the banks are working on a plan to create a one world government. Part of the plan included destroying America's wealth, breaking down America's moral values, flooding America with illegal's from South of the border, destroying the educational system, and getting America to give up it's sovreignty, just to name what I remember. So we have exported manufacturing and agriculture, created a hostile environment for business big and (even worse) small, artificially destroyed our economy with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, dependent on foreign oil inspite of the VAST quantities of gas, oil, and coal available to our country, Abondoned God and accepted moral equivalency, ignored the flood of poor and uneducated illegal aliens across our southern border, we spend more per student than any other country with the worst results, and on December 7th, Obama is going to Copenhagen to sign a world Cap and Trade treaty the will re-distribute wealth(ours) to poorer countries, and enact a global government that will be able to monitor and enforce the treaty. Is it still a conspiracy if it's happening?
In the meantime, your silly extremism helped increase the Democratic majority in the House. I hope they push through so many liberal laws that your one extra RIGHT republican won't make a dent in the changes they have made. Two years is a long time on Capitol Hill. I hope it was worth the purge. Now you can sit back and hope while Owens goes to the Hill to make a difference. So sad when you don't focus on what works but what feels good. Sad.
"yet another RINO incumbent caucusing and voting with Nancy Pelosi" I'm not familiar with any R's that caucus and vote with Pelosi but would love to hear about some. Could you name some names please?
Political parties have always evolved over time because conditions for their members keep changing. But it may be speeding up, in fact it should be because conditions are.
But how often it is just people shooting themselves in the feet! In 2000 Clinton handed Gore peace and prosperity, but Gore moved left and abdicated the middle; a vacumn was formed there and Bush just got sucked into it. Now we see a true-blue Republican (Scozzafava) wiped out by a lunatic fringe-don't they know they are cutting off their nose to spite their face? Don't they know a Republican when they see one? Even the things they dispise, like her stance on abortion and same-sex marriage, don't they know her stance is the proper stance for a party that touts individual freedom over government intrusion? Idiots.
Repugs sound increasingly like McCarthy and his "purging" of communists and we all know how that turned out. Steele, the puppet, is doing the bidding of the Malkin/Limbaugh/Coulter clan who echo the same intolerance of McCarthy -- and they are doing the same damage to people's reputation based on superficial perceptions vs. facts. The fact that Repugs are throwing facts overboard to suit their intolerance will bite them as it bit McCarthy.
I think that Scuz is point on regarding what happened. The wingnuts wanted to make a stand and picked this nice lady who happens to be a moderate soley because of two social issues, right to choose, and gay marriage. So they pick this nerdy conserv who doesn't know or live in the district, sort of an unappealing candidate and they themselves went national on it. Now it makes me laugh to see all the self farrightiousness about their own media campaign blitz blooper bombing out and getting national attention.
So the Repulican hiearchy decides we should be like the left wing loonies to get people elected?
Worked so well with Spector, how many times does the republican insiders think we should pick up a hot horseshoe?
If what it takes to be a Republican means giving up your values to the likes of Pelosi....I'll pass, being an Independent works for me.
Man I like Michael Smerconish. The GOP needs more journalists like him.
Ask this cow about Seaway Valley Capital. She and her bro Thomas screwed many with this scam. Google "dede scozzafava & seaway valley" for the entire story.
The Republican Party has been making a political living selling issues that really don't matter for decades. Their anti-abortion or so called "pro-life" is a joke, as they ignore the real "pro-life" issue, which is getting healthcare out of the control of the private insurers, who allow over 40,000 real people to die each year - not zygotes.
Then there's their anti-gay agenda. Which is too stupid for words. Who cares what sexual preference people have? And how does denying gays their rights as human beings help us in the war on terror? It denies us Farsi linguists and others who could make a significant contribution in our armed forces.
Scozzafava is a sane, decent woman, who was over-run by a mob of fanatics, who want to take control of a failed and ineffective Republican Party.
One of the most intelligent things written here.
Upstate New York (except Albany) has been Republican since the Civil War. In general, that's meant being "conservative" on fiscal issues and "moderate" on social ones. Scozzafava was the victim of one of the worst cases of character assassination I've ever seen. The endless, crude anti-Scozzafava attack ads sponsored by the outside groups inundated my part of the world for weeks. I guess enough voters in NY23 were turned off to elect a Democrat (gasp!).
This is bizarre...easily the twight zone of the 1960's and Rod Serling fame.
A 68% approval rating from Business, most recently 75%? And these are the kinds of grades which we run home and show mommy and daddy, while cheering them in the Press and declaring ourselves PRO-BUSINESS? No wonder Franklin County is the poorest County in the State of New York. Under this woman's tutelage it has been made that way.
Certainly, performance should be some factor in our considerations. Did you want to talk now about test and achievement scores in the district? What kind of Education is this woman pumping out all these years to THE CHILDREN? And why is it that in this District thinking persons always prefer to send their CHILDREN to Parochial schools where the test and achievement scores are ALWAYS higher? So, let me see....in addition to paying for this Public Education through Property Tax and then an ADDITIONAL Parochial Tuition and Education, just to get away from the public one, I am to be treated to Fantasy Island cloaked in 'truth'...and somehow am not to notice what NUMBERS mean???
I don't know about you, but I don't gleefully tolerate 68's and 75's in my house...but I am glad to know that my local representative is giddy over her own scores, when none of the rest of us are impressed with very much of it...counting in the additional fact that we are paying FOR BOTH! and receiving nothing in return from her end.
My Religious beliefs are private, but I do suggest Dede Scozzafava read what is public about them, and has been for more than 2,000 years. It is called THE BIBLE within which lies the admonishment "first remove the LOG from your own eye, before Critiquing the splinter in the eye of another".
Magicman - you sound like the parent screaming at the teacher because your unmotivated, dullard child is doing poorly in school.
Thank you.
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