Post-NY23, What's The Strategy? Try Scorched Earth

(Jim Lewis/NPS.gov)

A lot has been made of the potential for a breach within the Republican Party between the mandarins who steer national policy and an increasingly impatient group of conservative activists. At this point, that may more reflect wishful thinking among Democrats. The folks who identify with the likes of Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement are drawing very different conclusions from the results in New York's Congressional 23rd district.

Yes, their candidate lost the battle to the Democrats but the grassroots activists around the country who supported Bill Hoffman's candidacy remain convinced they're on the right side of history. And in writing down their morning-after election analyses on Wednesday, they also delivered a hard-edged message to the Republican establishment: Get behind us or get out of the way.

Erick Erickson of RedState.com, one of the blog sites that strongly supported Hoffman's candidacy, put it bluntly: The conservatives still won. How? By defeating the phony Republican (Dede Scozzafava) who was originally chosen by the party. Erickson's declaration deserves being quoted at length:

"First, the GOP now must recognize it will either lose without conservatives or will win with conservatives. In 2008, many conservatives sat home instead of voting for John McCain. Now, in NY-23, conservatives rallied and destroyed the Republican candidate the establishment chose.

"I have said all along that the goal of activists must be to defeat Scozzafava. Doug Hoffman winning would just be gravy. A Hoffman win is not in the cards, but we did exactly what we set out to do — crush the establishment backed GOP candidate.

"And make no mistake, despite the Beltway spin, we know for certain based on statements from the local Republican parties, that they chose Scozzafava based on advice from the Washington crowd.

"So we have demonstrated to the GOP that it must not take conservatives for granted. The GOP spent $900,000.00 on a Republican who dropped out and endorsed the Democrat. Were we to combine Scozzafava and Hoffman's votes, Hoffman would have won.

"Secondly, and just as importantly, there has all of a sudden been a huge movement among some activists to go the third party route. We see in NY-23 that this is not possible as third parties are not viable.

"Third parties lack funding and ability for a host of reasons. Conservatives are going to have to work from within the GOP. The GOP had better pay attention.

"For all intents and purposes, NY-23 is a trial run for Florida. And in Florida, the conservative candidate is operating inside the GOP. If John Cornyn and the NRSC do not want to see Florida go the way of NY-23, they better stand down."

That's quite a mouthful. But that was nothing compared to the fury which still consumes Michelle Malkin.

"Hoffman's candidacy illuminated the stark difference between GOP political opportunists willing to pimp out their endorsements to any old ACORN-embracing, Working Families Party-consorting, Big Labor crony who puts an "R" by her name — and movement conservatives who refuse to "mooooderate" for the politically expedient sake of mooooderation as dictated by out-of-touch Beltway party leaders. The NRCC/RNC's $1 million debacle will cost much more than that."

What Erickson, Malkin and their ideological fellow travelers are really pushing for is a scorched earth policy. Dump anyone who believes in carving out a middle ground to "expand the base" and purify a party that they view as too often resembling a carbon copy of the Democrats.

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele promptly rejected that advice, suggesting today that it's a mistake to think a smaller, more ideologically correct cadre constitutes a victory. "I don't see a victory in losing seats," Steele said during a press conference. "I'm in the business of multiplication and addition. I want more Republicans. I don't buy that we somehow find victory in defeat."

CBSNews.com Election Coverage:

Results
All Election Night 2009 Results
Republicans Sweep N.J., Va. Gov. Races
N.Y. Democrat Owens Wins House Seat
Maine Voters Reject Gay Marriage
Breckenridge, Colo., Votes to Legalize Pot
Atlanta's Race For Mayor Heads To Runoff

David Weigel, whose excellent work in the Washington Independent is a must-read for anyone following this story, was at Hoffman headquarters as the results came in, writes that as the electorate's verdict became clear, the Hoffman backers shifted their spin from this being a referendum on President Obama to an earlier message heard in some quarters. It was not about showing Republicans that conservatives could win but that Republicans would not win without the help of conservatives

He closed with an Orwellian quote from one of the locals who hung around until the end.

"People are fed up," said Saranac Lake activist Russ Finley. "The Tea Party people are serious. The 9/12 people are serious. I'd hate to say that a loss is a good thing, but this is a good thing."

I understand his frustration but losing is winning?

[doc_holliday76]

by wdrussell1:
"Some day in the future a teacher will ask her class, 'what was a republican'?"
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Yeah, it seems as if these extremists constituting a miNOrity within the miNOrity republican't party, are just purging the GOP of any moderates willing to work in a bi-partisan fashion for the good of America.

Just voting 'NO' against any legislation for the American people like health care reform, reduced greenhouse emissions, or building a RENEWABLE ENERGY ECONOMY for creating jobs right here in America, is just anti-American and only pro-fascist corporatism. Trying to make America fail is just plain treasonous by the republican'ts!

[wdrussell1]

Some day in the future a teacher will ask her class, 'what was a republican'?

[annoyedguy]

Someday in the future a teacher will ask her class of democrats "what was an American?"

[doc_holliday76]

by aburr:
"And in the worst case scenario, we unhitch our states from the Social Marxist Crazy Train and go our own way."
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GEEZ......that can't happen fast enough, since all the RED states that have been pushing secession, take much more than they give -- actually the RED states are welfare states!

Go ahead, push the GOP so far to the right it falls off the cliff or just facture it so badly that nobody recognizes it any longer.

[nearl451]

Yeah, I've been sponging off you "productive people" while working 60-80 hours a week for the company since March.

Aaron Burr, get over yourself. Should have been charged with sedition like your buddy Blennerhasset. [Really a silly hero to have, o Rowdeth.]

[doc_holliday76]

by aburr:
"You read some slanted report from a commentator sharing your political bias and think yourself informed. You aren't, you're propagandized."
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Hey -- pot meet kettle -- shouldn't you be out teabaggin'?

Seems as if the foxnewsus propagandus homosapien subspecies 'thinks' their far-right propaganda to be far superior, since it conforms with their highly-partisan political bias.

[gamblewl]

I am an Independent, centrist voter in Western NY. I was a life-long moderate Republican until the born-again religious conservatives' extremism drove me out. The Terry Schiavo case was the last straw - in fact it was the whole reign of King George and his regent, Prince Richard. After 9/11, we had the sympathy of the whole world, but we managed to squander that advantage and alienate many of our friends and potential friends and allies.

I was a supporter of G.H.W. Bush, but voted for Clinton for his second term and pretty much the Democratic line since then, except for an occasional local race. I am against extremism from both ends of the political spectrum, and believe in the importance of compromise and diplomacy (while carrying T.R.'s "big stick" internationally). With the rising number of "independent" voters, I'm cautiously hopeful that my view will become more mainstream.

[doc_holliday76]

by gamblewl:
"With the rising number of 'independent' voters, I'm cautiously hopeful that my view will become more mainstream."
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I also hope that compromise and diplomacy wins out, and that these extremists are not successful on moving the GOP further to the right!

[doc_holliday76]

by aburr:
"Hey Doc Holeinmyhead"
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Sorry, but there is no need to get nasty and make personal attacks!

Don't you have a dictionary, so that others don't have to do your homework for you, since lazy teabaggers seem to just have a need to label everyone that disagrees with their miNOrity ideology?

I have no agenda, and belong to no party, but see the need for REAL health care reform, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the worst of the corporate America offenders, create jobs right here in America and lessen our dependence on foreign fossil fuels through a RENEWABLE ENERGY ECONOMY, and let the moronic bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans sunset as required by law since it has been proven that "trickle-down" economic lunacy only reduces federal revenue and increases federal deficits.

The far-right teabagger platform of pushing social issues in order to divide America farther is assinine; smaller government and less spending is much more fiscally responsible but an impossibility IMHO as 80 million baby boomers get set to retire over the next 2 decades; and low taxes is something that everyone wants but is hardly realistic in the 21st century as we fight 2 bushevik WARS with an overly-bloated "defense" budget, see a much more hostile environment as we progress in the 21st century, and have watched the GREED from Wall Street and corporate America destroy our economy through lack of regulation, lack of oversight and lack of accountability!

[chipsgrl]

I'd say it is a mixed bag for conservatives. When the conservative candidate nudges out a moderate Republican in a politically moderate state, it becomes as close to official as you can get that the Republican party no longer makes a home for moderates. The Republican party is pretty much on the far right now. They will lose people who might like a conservative fiscal policy but who do not embrace the extremist social agenda of the conservatives. Yet, at the same time, they now have a fairly cohesive group that can define itself consistently, even though it will always be a minority in terms of actual numbers. There are tremendous political advantages to consistency. Frankly, I'd want no part of the conservatives myself; they are too emotional, too averse to rational thought, too pro-theocracy and anti-democracy, too racist, too bigoted in general, too prone to conspiracy theories passed off as fact, too prone to fear-mongering and distortion of the truth, too anti-intellectual, too anti-science, too geared toward following cult figures like Beck and Limbaugh rather than thinking for themselves, too stuck on economic policy that makes the rich richer and gives breaks to big corporations while those same corporations thumb their noses and send American jobs overseas, too morally hypocritical, too prone to destructive behavior that pits Americans against one another when their side doesn't win an election, too flimsy in their patriotism, leading them to openly want the country to fail when they aren't in control and who have perhaps permanently helped to kill the idea of "loyal opposition" in this country, etc., etc. Yet their consistency, no matter how disturbing the conservatives might be to the intelligent and rational majority, can be an incredible advantage politically for them, especially when the majority of people who think critically are bound to be of many different minds about things. Maybe a viable third party (the Libertarians are not, after they chose a member of the religious right to be their candidate in 2008) will emerge to promote fiscal conservatism and social moderation. In the meantime, the only place that moderates have to go is to the "Blue Dog" wing of the Democratic Party.

[doc_holliday76]

by briannorwood:
Man oh man, these guys are sounding more and more like the "American Taliban." Hannity said he was coming out with a loyalty paper that "any Republican candidate would have to sign in order to get support." And it seems like they are entrenching themselves deeper and deeper into the political abyss.
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Yep.....further and further into the political abyss, while the miNOrity republican't party continues to look for grownups to lead them out of the wilderness!

[doc_holliday76]

by aburr:
"All of the whistling past the graveyard from the neo-marxist crowd doesnt change the fact that something new was born in American politics this year."
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Nah.....nothing new, just more of the same from the neoconservitards, pushing the same far-right social issues, and labeling anything towards the moderate center of American politics where the majority resides, "socialistic," "marxist" and even "fascist," which is much more in tune with the rabid far-right teabagger extremists!

Nothing new was born in American politics this year, just more of the same hatred and anger by a miNOrity within the miNOrity republican't party, fueled by loss of power in Washington, and just showing their lack of respect towards our president during tough economic times in the bush/cheney Great Recession of 2007-2009. At a time when all Americans need to come together in a bi-partisan fashion to turn the corner from this economic tsunami, these far-right extremist neoCONS are trying to divide the GOP and our great nation even farther!