Very interesting development since his departure from CNN.

Former CNN host Lou Dobbs is seriously considering running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey in 2012 as a stepping stone to a possible White House bid – a congressional matchup that would pit one of illegal immigration’s biggest critics against a champion for immigrant rights.

Dobbs spokesman Robert Dilenschneider told The Associated Press Wednesday that Dobbs may challenge Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, but is considering other offers he’s received since his abrupt exit from Time Warner Inc.-owned CNN on Nov. 11 after 29 years on the news network.

“A logical step for Lou, should he choose to go into public life, is to run for the next Senate seat in New Jersey, or to accept some kind of appointed position, nationally or in New Jersey,” Dilenschneider said.

A Dobbs candidacy in 2012 would set up a pitched battle over immigration against Menendez, the Senate’s only Hispanic member.

Dobbs, who owns a farm in rural northwestern New Jersey, flirted briefly this year with a run for governor. He later ripped Republican nominee Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor, over immigration enforcement and gave the independent candidate air time on CNN.

His attacks on Christie could complicate his entry into Republican politics, since Christie won.

Dobbs was once a Republican but is now an independent. He did not return requests for comment Wednesday. Dilenschneider said that Dobbs was in Florida and that no decision on his future was expected for at least two weeks.

On Monday, Dobbs said on former Sen. Fred Thompson’s radio program that he had been urged to run for president and would talk to some people about it. On Wednesday, Dilenschneider backed off that idea, telling The New York Times a presidential run was a “long way off.”

The spokesman said there would have to be an “intermediary step,” such as the seat held by Menendez.

Menendez downplayed any concern about the possible challenge.

“I’m concentrated on jobs, not Dobbs,” Menendez said after visiting a food bank in Hillside on Wednesday.

National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh also downplayed a potential Dobbs candidacy, saying, “2012 is not on our radar screen right now. There are 36 Senate seats up in 2010, and that is where the NRSC’s sole focus is right now.”

Dobbs, 64, was a CNN original who was one of the TV business’ leading financial journalists before taking on other topics post-9/11, and increasingly offering his own opinion. He caused controversy when he pressed President Barack Obama to prove he was born in the United States even after his own network’s reporting debunked the question. (Source: Ex-CNN host Lou Dobbs weighs Senate run in NJ – WBAY)

If I lived in NJ I think I’d vote for him if he ran.

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It appears that the former CNN anchor may be looking at a new career in politics.

From CNN:

A radio interviewer on WTOP joked Monday about the “crazy” idea that the former CNN host could mount a White House bid in 2012 – but Dobbs wasn’t laughing. “What’s so crazy about that?” he responded in the interview broadcast on the Washington, D.C. station.

“Well, I’ll tell you this much: it’s one of the discussions that we’re having,” Dobbs said. “For the first time, I’m actually listening to some people about politics.”

Dobbs, who amicably parted ways with the network earlier this month, also told former Sen. Fred Thompson that he was definitely weighing a run.

“I’m going to be talking some more with some folks who want me to listen to them in the next few weeks,” Dobbs said on the 2008 Republican presidential candidate’s radio show. “I just don’t even know even what to tell you in terms of where I’m leaning, because right now I’m fortunate to have just a number of wonderful options.”

This past weekend was one of the most exciting experiences I’ve had in quite some time. I had the honor of attending David Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, which included inspirational speeches from Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann as well as a delightfully sarcastic Ann Coulter.

While the program was held at the most beautiful resort I’ve ever seen (The Breakers,) there was little time to enjoy the surroundings.  The Freedom Center put together an impressive group of people, which provided an excellent networking experience that kept relaxation at a minimum. I am still having trouble believing the number of wonderful people I met from filmmakers and screenwriters to political junkies of all kinds including all of the great people from the Freedom Center.

We received the opportunity to listen to panels on issues surrounding politics in the Middle East, the radical nature of today’s Democrats in power, Hollywood, current free speech issues and the assault on academia. In addition, we also heard speeches from Fred Thompson, Phyllis Schlafly, Senator Jim DeMint and Congressman John Boehner.

Being a graduate student of film studies, my favorite experience was interacting with those who were on the “Is Hollywood Changing?” panel.  I was able to personally visit with writers Andrew Klavan and Eric Metaxas as well as filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh. I was humbled by how approachable these men were.  Continuing in academia, writing about film and being a conservative gives me a few things to be nervous about. However, seeing their success gives me hope for the future of conservatives writing for and about film. When on the panel, each one of them (including David Bossie) reminded us that there are many more conservatives in Hollywood than we might think.

In addition to the opportunity to network with some courageous Hollywood conservatives we were provided with a screening for Nowrasteh’s newest work, The Stoning of Soraya M. This film has not yet had a wide enough release and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to see it this past weekend.  It is a deeply moving and important picutre that should not be missed.

The most humbling experience of the weekend was when I first met Medal of Honor recipient and former senator from Washington Leo Thorsness.  I found myself talking to him and another woman (I didn’t know who he was at the time.) The three of us spoke for a little while before the woman realized I didn’t recognize who Thorsness was. This man is so modest that if the woman had not given me the “Cliff’s Notes” version of his war history right then and there I may not have known who he was until that night’s keynote address (we were all given a copy of Leo’s book, Surviving Hell, which I can’t wait to read!).

I was able to further speak with Leo throughout the day and was continually humbled with his interest in my aspirations.  While I remained inquisitive about his Medal of Honor story, he was much more interested in listening to what a young graduate student was doing at Restoration Weekend instead of enlightening another person with his own magnificent story.

Needless to say, the weekend was full of the most dynamic group of conservatives I’ve ever seen. Spending four days with them and listening to a wide variety of ideas proves to me that the future of conservatism will be extremely hard for critics to pin down and typecast as simple rhetoric from the usual suspects.

I would like to thank David Horowitz, Michael Finch, and everyone else at the Freedom Center for putting on such a great event!

Editor’s Note: More posts from other NewsReal bloggers who attended Restoration Weekend are forthcoming.

By Conn Carroll

On his radio show yesterday, former Sen. Fred Thompson upped his criticism of President Barack Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan, predicting:

It really doesn’t matter how President Obama divides the Afghan baby, how he splits the difference between McChrystal and Biden. Because the war has been lost. I say this because of one sad and simple fact. The president does not have the will and determination to do what’s necessary to win it. His heart’s not in it, and never has been. The Taliban knows it. Al Qaeda knows it. Our allies know it. And the American people know it.

Our enemies are now emboldened and our friends are discouraged. We cannot prevail if the American people are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary for an extended effort. The case has not been made to them to justify this effort. The case can only be made by the president. This president is unable or unwilling to make that case.

Thompson is half right. If the Obama administration chooses to deny its field commander’s request for the troops and resources necessary to fully implement a counterinsurgency strategy, the results would likely be disastrous. Half measures are guaranteed to fail.

But all hope is not lost. On the campaign trail President Obama showed he has the leadership and the rhetorical skills necessary to inspire Americans. As a candidate last year, and even as recently as this August, President Obama acknowledged the centrality of defeating the Taliban to American security. That President Obama could win this war.

Victory is still possible. It all depends on whether the President’s heart is in it.

Conn Carroll is the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications at The Heritage Foundation and is also an Editor at The Foundry.

Read more from The Heritage Foundation at The Foundry

The Reid Doctrine™: The bold declaration of pre-emptive surrender made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in April 2007.

It was quickly echoed by both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Joe Biden, as well as Barack Obama, John Kerry (who served in Viet Nam), and a host of other Democrats.

At The Politico, Ben Smith reports that a Republican, Fred Thompson, has adopted the Reid Doctrine™ in his criticism of Obama’s handling of the “overseas contingency operation” in Afghanistan …

“It really doesn’t matter how President Obama divides the Afghan baby, how he splits the difference between McChrystal and Biden. Because the war has been lost,” Thompson said on his radio show today. “I say this because of one sad and simple fact. The president does not have the will and determination to do what’s necessary to win it. His heart’s not in it, and never has been. The Taliban knows it. Al Qaeda knows it. Our allies know it. And the American people know it. {snip}

“Take your time, Mr. President,” Thompson said. Unless you have a total change of heart and mind, it really doesn’t make any difference.”

Obviously, the irony of accusing Obama of delivering a half-hearted effort is lost on Big Fred.

Regardless, this rhetoric is no more acceptable coming from a Republican than it is from a Democrat.

Shame on you, Fred Thompson.

More at HotAir

The following is from Fred Thompson’s radio show, where he blames President Obama for everything wrong in Afghanistan  - Thompson was an early contender for the GOP nomination for President, and his best attribute is his wife.

AUDIO ONLY-

Exactly how long have we been in Afghanistan?  Maybe Thompson should realize the delay that has truly crippled our efforts in Afghanistan was they 7 YEAR delay from the GOP.  And listening to military leaders, lets see now, the GOP forced out a number of generals after they voiced disagreement with the plans to invade Iraq, saying that they could not secure Iraq with so few troops.  And that all worked out so well.

Audio from Thinkprogress1

Remember how when any Democrat pointed at the flaws in the plans for Iraq, and was said to hate the troops, or be on the terrorists side?  So this must mean that Thompson is pro-Taliban.

Why District 23 Might Spell Doom for the GOP

Last Tuesday, conservatives across the nation rejoiced as Republicans Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Chris Christie of New Jersey won their respective state’s gubernatorial elections.  Despite these significant victories for the GOP, it was a Democrat Cinderella who captured the media’s attention and dominated the headlines.

In a special election, Bill Owens became the first Democrat elected to New York’s 23^rd congressional district House seat in 140 years.  Owens, a once significant underdog, garnered momentum after the conservative-right opted to back third party candidate Doug Hoffman over the Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava.  Among those who threw their support to Hoffman were Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh–all heavy hitters from the far-right.

What prompted these political heavyweights to pick a dog in this amateur bout?  The congressional election in New York’s 23^rd was a microcosm of a larger war that could, if promulgated across the country, threaten the GOP’s prospects in next year’s mid-term elections.

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Boston anymore

Described as “the insurgent tea party candidate,” by New York Times columnist Frank Rich, Hoffman became the rallying point of despondent conservatives unhappy with the GOP’s recent centrist tone.  This group represents a rapidly growing minority within the Republican Party that intends to bring its agenda back to traditional conservatism.  The rift is growing as this group continues to appeal to more and more conservatives who love their God and hate big government.

Tea Party Demonstrators(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Conservatives have registered the Tea Party as an official third-party in Florida

Most pundits have argued that the gubernatorial losses spell trouble for the Democrats in the upcoming 2010 elections, suggesting the public now favors conservative candidates.  While it may be true that more people are becoming frustrated within the Democratic ranks, even more are aggravated within the Republican Party.

McDonnell and Christie both won elections in states that voted for Obama in 2008.  While Virginia has a long history of voting against the party in power in the White House, McDonnell and Christie both won because they forsook conservative ideological stances and adopted fiscally conservative platforms.  They knew that conservative social stances against abortion, gay rights, and affirmative action are still largely unpopular with most of the electorate.

Palin, Beck and the other prominent tea partiers don’t seem to understand this concept, and threaten to drive us into a three party system.  This could set up 2010 and 2012 elections that eerily resemble this year’s New York contest.  Republicans may find themselves struggling to choose between the moderate majority or the trendy extremists, splitting the votes and leaving the Democrats with a sizable advantage.

Palin, Romney and Huckabee

Bad news gets worse for the Republicans.  GOP pollster Bill McInturff has identified the three leading candidates for the 2012 presidential race: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney, all of whom have strong conservative social agendas.  The GOP has a great opportunity to take advantage of the economic crisis and advocate for conservative fiscal reforms.  These ideas are popular right now, and the public could well support a conservative economic agenda.  However, this is not the time to preach for social reform as the “tea party” does.

Christian Science monitor breaks down every U.S county into one of 12 distinctions.  Needless to say, it’s tough to key in on any specific group

Drinking and politics: Enjoy both in moderation

Conservatives need to realize that their social reform agenda is outdated and unpopular.  McDonnell and Christie understood this concept, and as a result, won the governorships of their states.  The Republican Party was most powerful when it unified in its fight against the Democrats (as I indicated in my first blog post), endorsing a unified message.  This is consistent with one of public relations most fundamental rules: always have a consistent message. Infighting threatens to tear the GOP apart, and as long as the Democrats can figure out a way to band together, they could be sitting pretty in 2010.

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s elections energized by victories in Virginia and New Jersey, but their leaders immediately began maneuvering to avoid a prolonged battle with conservative activists over what the party stands for and how to regain power.

The victories, in races for governor, were cast by the party’s national chairman, Michael Steele, as a sign of a “Republican renaissance.”

…snip…

Yet throughout the day Wednesday, Republicans grappled with the disappointing outcome of a special election for what had been a reliably Republican House seat in upstate New York. That contest became a battleground between the party establishment and a conservative insurgency demanding more ideological purity from candidates.

Original image
(Scary wingnuts, top, left to right:  Dick You and what Armey, Jim Demented DeMint, Michele Batshit Bachmann, Princess Sarah Palin.  Souring the milk in the bowl:  Rick Man on Dog Santorum, Glenn Blechhhh, Michelle Malevolence Malkin, RushBo, Mean Grampa Fred Thompson)

The race was won by a Democrat, Bill Owens, after the Republican nominee, Dede Scozzafava, a moderate, quit as conservative leaders and grass-roots organizations rallied around Douglas L. Hoffman, who ran on the Conservative Party line.

Despite Mr. Hoffman’s loss, many conservatives promised to press on with opposition to centrist Republican candidates. That vow intensified concerns among party leaders that the opportunities they see coming out of Tuesday’s results could be dimmed by intramural battles over whether to reach for the political center or do more to motivate the base on the party’s right.

…snip…

The debate has been fueled by a somewhat inchoate populist anger that has taken hold among grass-roots conservatives, encouraged in part by political leaders like Sarah Palin, the party’s vice-presidential nominee last year, and commentators like Glenn Beck of Fox News. In that sense, the divisions within the party extend beyond the traditional strains between the shrinking ranks of Republican moderates and the social and economic conservatives who have dominated the party in recent years.

The situation is all the more complicated because, after the party’s defeats in 2008, it has no dominant leaders or cohesive establishment to bridge the divides and help articulate a positive agenda. In that vacuum, the conservative activists and party leaders were both jockeying for advantage on Wednesday.

…snip…

Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a potential 2012 presidential candidate who backed Mr. Hoffman in the New York race, told reporters in Iowa that he would not get involved in an intraparty battle again. He said the New York contest, as a special election, had been unusual in that the nominee was chosen by party leaders rather than by primary.

Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who is also a possible 2012 contender, urged Republicans not to support third-party candidates, warning that doing so was a recipe for defeat.

…snip…

But Mr. Huckabee, eager not to alienate conservatives, made clear that he would support primary challenges to Republican candidates who he thought strayed from the party’s values. As one example, he said he was supporting a conservative challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, who is seeking the nomination for a Senate seat in a primary that is shaping up as the next big showdown between Republicans.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told ABC News that the committee would not spend money on behalf of candidates it is supporting in contested Republican primaries, like Mr. Crist in Florida.

…snip…

Ms. Palin, who had endorsed Mr. Hoffman in the upstate New York race, indicated that she had not been dissuaded by his loss.

…snip…

And Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, announced that he was endorsing Chuck DeVore, a conservative, in the California race for a Senate seat. Mr. DeVore is opposing Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, who was encouraged by party leaders to seek the nomination.

Other conservatives, too, were not deterred by the New York defeat. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a conservative organization that strongly supported Mr. Hoffman, said that conservative activists intended to play a role in Republican primary and general elections next year and that it was just as important to keep unacceptable politicians out of Congress as to help others win.

Chris Chocola, president of the Club for Growth, another conservative group that campaigned heavily on behalf of Mr. Hoffman, said the organization was now considering issuing endorsements in contested Senate and House Republican races in New Hampshire, Florida, Kentucky and California.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had endorsed the moderate Republican in the New York race, said the opportunity suggested by the results in New Jersey and Virginia should be an impetus to resolve tensions.

“I think the conservative movement and the Republican leadership can pretty rapidly come to an agreement that defeating Pelosi in 2010 and Obama in 2012 is worth sorting things out for,” Mr. Gingrich said.

Mr. Gingrich said that throughout history, political leaders had emerged to steer parties to power by reconciling competing factions. Asked which Republicans had the stature to do so now, he replied: “That will happen. Or it will not.”

Mr. Steele said he hoped that the party would be able to skirt further divisive battles.

by matttbastard

Ban-happy GOP purity gatekeeper Eric Erickson struggles with maintaining his already tenuous hold on reality as he gamely attempts to squeeze broken eggshells into lemonade (or something):

The race has now been called for Democrat Bill Owens.

This is a huge win for conservatives.

“Whaaaa. . . ?” you say.

There are two big victories at work in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.

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.

Yes, and if only Bill Owens had been kidnapped by bug-eyed extraterrestrials from Ganymede, Scozzafava and Hoffman’s votes could have combined to form a giant robot that would crush godless liberalism once and for all!

If only.

TBogg tickles the 800lb gorilla in a navy power suit/red tie combo:

And Erick and Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson and Rush Limbaugh and Tim Pawlenty and George Pataki and the New York Post all endorsed Doug Hoffman and now the Republican Party (that Erick wants purged of nonbelievers) should listen to  him because the teabaggers favorite son just lost a seat that Republicans have held for 140 years.

Right. This makes sense.

Pssh. Wevs. Pay no attention to the greaser in waterskis sporting a Palin 2012 button:

Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers

It’s a bright, bright day for America.

Schenectady NY where I live is about 100 miles to the south of the infamous NY-23rd Congressional district.  My TV market barely reaches it via cable and arrays that look like cell phone towers next to people’s houses.

But that’s enough to make it all the buzz around here.  In a way though it’s almost surreal with all the national attention this race is getting.  We’re talking about a part of New York that if it weren’t for the mountains to the south and the international boundary to the north you might think you were in Nebraska.  That’s how remote NY-23 is.

So to have Joe Biden show up to speak up for Democrat Bill Owens is a quite an oddity.  You just wouldn’t see that in a normal election year.  People don’t usually give a rip about how the vote is going in Plattsburg, Watertown and Massena.

From Capital News Nine-

“It wasn’t a packed house, but that didn’t derail any enthusiasm. State Democratic leaders and the Vice President of the United States found their way to Watertown to rally around the democratic candidate Bill Owens.

Owens and Biden tackled subjects like Fort Drum, health care and the economy.”

Meanwhile Doug Hoffman is getting help from Fred Thompson.  He’s got an ad running on cable endorsing the conservative independent.

Then there’s country star John Rich.  He’s stumping for Doug Hoffman too.

also from CS9-

“Country music star John Rich and Tennessee senator Fred Thompson are backing Hoffman in his race for the 23rd district congressional seat. Both men say they made the trip in the hours before Election Day because they believe Hoffman is the beginning of change for the country as a whole.”

However, everything else about this race is politics as usual.  The local media is blaming national celebrities like Rush Limbaugh for forcing GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava to pull out.

They’re making it sound like she was a victim.  It’s more like she was a victim of her own ignorance.  Scozzafava assumed people wouldn’t see her for what she really was, a shill for ACORN and Obama.”

Maybe John Rich and Fred Thompson are right.  Perhaps this is “The beginning of change for the country as a whole.”

Now that’s what I call REAL Change!

...Scozzafavan was attacked for straying from “core party principles” with her embrace of abortion rights, gay marriage and labor unions…

Doug Hoffman NY-23

ALBANY – The GOP scrambled Monday to hold onto New York’s 23rd Congressional District after moderate Republican Dierdre Scozzafava was shoved aside in favor of Conservative Doug Hoffman in a nasty internal fight.

On the eve of Tuesday’s vote, Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens wooed Scozzafava’s supporters with big names from their respective parties. In Watertown, Vice President Joe Biden spoke at an Owens rally while former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, a star of the “Law & Order” TV series, emceed a pro-Hoffman concert by country western singer John Rich.

Voters received recorded phone calls from President Barack Obama on behalf of Owens and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for Hoffman.

The last-minute push coincided with a new Siena College poll showing Hoffman over Owens, 41 percent to 36 percent. However, 18 percent were undecided, up from 9 percent last week.

“Hoffman continues to demonstrate momentum. . . . It appears, however, that the majority of Scozzafava’s supporters have gone to neither Hoffman nor Owens,” said pollster Steven Greenberg.

Only three of the state’s 29 House seats are held by Republicans.  (Continues after video.)

NY-23 VOTE DOUG HOFFMAN FOR CONGRESS

Scozzafava, a veteran State Assembly member, bowed out over the weekend and endorsed Owens, a Plattsburgh lawyer. Despite establishment backing, she had struggled under an avalanche of negative commercials from the conservative Club for Growth and others. She was attacked for straying from “core party principles” with her embrace of abortion rights, gay marriage and labor unions.

Complete article and source here.

###

Two political heavyweights are descending on New York's 23rd congressional district Monday,

(CNN) — Two political heavyweights are descending on New York’s 23rd congressional district Monday, 24 hours before voters in that closely-watched special House race head to the polls.

Vice President Joe Biden is set to hold a morning rally in Watertown with Democrat Bill Owens at 10 a.m. ET.  Biden’s visit comes two days after Republican Dede Scozzafava withdrew from the race — a seeming blow to Owens who had benefited from Sozzafava and conservative third-party candidate Dough Hoffman splitting the opposition vote.

Meanwhile former GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson is also heading to the upstate New York district, holding a campaign event with Hoffman Monday evening.

Thompson, among Hoffman’s earliest high-profile backers who was the recent star of a campaign commercial for the independent conservative, said in a statement “Dough is Target No. 1 for the Democrats’ political machine, they are desperate to win.”

A recent Siena College poll conducted before Socozzafava withdrew from the race suggests Owens and Hoffman were locked in a statistical dead heat, 36-35 percent, with Scozzafava far behind at 20 percent.  Political observers predict more than two-thirds of Scozzafava’s supporters are now likely to cast their vote for Hoffman.

Biden also campaigned with Owens in September while President Obama made an appearance at a fundraiser for Owens in New York City earlier this month.

Follow Alex Mooney on Twitter @awmooneycnn

The GOP is in a tangled mess with the ultra-conservative fringe lead by Sarah Palin battling the more moderate centerists for control of the Republican Party.

Barack Obama’s most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.

The governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia were once billed as the marquee events of Election Day 2009 — a referendum on the Obama presidency and a possible Republican “comeback.” But preposterous as it sounds, the real action migrated to New York’s 23rd, a rural Congressional district abutting Canada. That this pastoral setting could become a G.O.P. killing field, attracting an all-star cast of combatants led by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, William Kristol and Newt Gingrich, is a premise out of a Depression-era screwball comedy. But such farces have become the norm for the conservative movement — whether the participants are dressing up in full “tea party” drag or not.

The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom has what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true.

The New York fracas was ignited by the routine decision of 11 local Republican county chairmen to anoint an assemblywoman, Dede Scozzafava, as their party’s nominee for the vacant seat. The 23rd is in safe Republican territory that hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress in decades. And Scozzafava is a mainstream conservative by New York standards; one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly. But she has occasionally strayed from orthodoxy on social issues (abortion, same-sex marriage) and endorsed the Obama stimulus package. To the right’s Jacobins, that’s cause to send her to the guillotine.

Sure enough, bloggers trashed her as a radical leftist and ditched her for a third-party candidate they deem a “true” conservative, an accountant and businessman named Doug Hoffman. When Gingrich dared endorse Scozzafava anyway — as did other party potentates like John Boehner and Michael Steele — he too was slimed. Mocking Newt’s presumed 2012 presidential ambitions, Michelle Malkin imagined him appointing Al Sharpton as secretary of education and Al Gore as “global warming czar.” She’s quite the wit.

The wrecking crew of Kristol, Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and the government-bashing Club for Growth all joined the Hoffman putsch. Then came the big enchilada: a Hoffman endorsement from Palin on her Facebook page. Such is Palin’s clout that Steve Forbes, Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor (and presidential aspirant), promptly fell over one another in their Pavlovian rush to second her motion. They were joined by far-flung Republican congressmen from Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and California, not to mention a gaggle of state legislators from Colorado. On Fox News, Beck took up the charge, insinuating that Hoffman’s Republican opponent might be a fan of Karl Marx. Some $3 million has now been dumped into this race by outside groups.

Who exactly is the third-party maverick arousing such ardor? Hoffman doesn’t even live in the district. When he appeared before the editorial board of The Watertown Daily Times 10 days ago, he “showed no grasp” of local issues, as the subsequent editorial put it. Hoffman complained that he should have received the questions in advance — blissfully unaware that they had been asked by the paper in an editorial on the morning of his visit.

Last week it turned out that Hoffman’s prime attribute to the radical right — as a take-no-prisoners fiscal conservative — was bogus. In fact he’s on the finance committee of a hospital that happily helped itself to a $479,000 federal earmark. Then again, without the federal government largess that the tea party crowd so deplores, New York’s 23rd would be a Siberia of joblessness. The biggest local employer is the pork-dependent military base, Fort Drum.

The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. On Saturday, the battered Scozzafava suspended her campaign, further scrambling the race. It’s still conceivable that the Democratic candidate could capture a seat the Republicans should own. But it’s even better for Democrats if Hoffman wins. Punch-drunk with this triumph, the right will redouble its support of primary challengers to 2010 G.O.P. candidates they regard as impure. That’s bad news for even a Republican as conservative as Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose primary opponent in the Texas governor’s race, the incumbent Rick Perry, floated the possibility of secession at a teabagger rally in April and hastily endorsed Hoffman on Thursday.

The more rightists who win G.O.P. primaries, the greater the Democrats’ prospects next year. But the electoral math is less interesting than the pathology of this movement. Its antecedent can be found in the early 1960s, when radical-right hysteria carried some of the same traits we’re seeing now: seething rage, fear of minorities, maniacal contempt for government, and a Freudian tendency to mimic the excesses of political foes. Writing in 1964 of that era’s equivalent to today’s tea party cells, the historian Richard Hofstadter observed that the John Birch Society’s “ruthless prosecution” of its own ideological war often mimicked the tactics of its Communist enemies.

The same could be said of Beck, Palin and their acolytes. Though they constantly liken the president to various totalitarian dictators, it is they who are re-enacting Stalinism in full purge mode. They drove out Arlen Specter, and now want to “melt Snowe” (as the blog Red State put it). The same Republicans who once deplored Democrats for refusing to let an anti-abortion dissident, Gov. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, speak at the 1992 Clinton convention now routinely banish any dissenters in their own camp.

These conservatives’ whiny cries of victimization also parrot a tic they once condemned in liberals. After Rush Limbaugh was booted from an ownership group bidding on the St. Louis Rams, he moaned about being done in by the “race card.” What actually did him in, of course, was the free-market American capitalism he claims to champion. Limbaugh didn’t understand that in an increasingly diverse nation, profit-seeking N.F.L. franchises actually want to court black ticket buyers, not drive them away.

This same note of self-martyrdom was sounded in a much-noticed recent column by the former Nixon hand Pat Buchanan. Ol’ Pat sounded like the dispossessed antebellum grandees in “Gone With the Wind” when lamenting the plight of white working-class voters. “America was once their country,” he wrote. “They sense they are losing it. And they are right.”

They are right. That America was lost years ago, and no national political party can thrive if it lives in denial of that truth. The right still may want to believe, as Palin said during the campaign, that Alaska, with its small black and Hispanic populations, is a “microcosm of America.” (New York’s 23rd also has few blacks or Hispanics.) But most Americans like their country’s 21st-century profile.

That changing complexion is part of why the McCain-Palin ticket lost every demographic group by large margins in 2008 except white senior citizens and the dwindling fifth of America that’s still rural. It’s also why the G.O.P. has been in a nosedive since the inauguration, whatever Obama’s ups and downs. In the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, only 17 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans (as opposed to 30 percent for the Democrats, and 44 for independents).

No wonder even the very conservative Republican contenders in the two big gubernatorial contests this week have frantically tried to disguise their own convictions. The candidate in Virginia, Bob McDonnell, is a graduate of Pat Robertson’s university whose career has been devoted to curbing abortion rights, gay civil rights and even birth control. But in this campaign he ditched those issues, disinvited Palin for a campaign appearance, praised Obama’s Nobel Prize, and ran a closing campaign ad trumpeting “Hope.” Chris Christie, McDonnell’s counterpart in New Jersey, posted a campaign video celebrating “Change” in which Obama’s face and most stirring campaign sound bites so dominate you’d think the president had endorsed the Republican over his Democratic opponent, Jon Corzine.

Only in the alternative universe of the far right is Obama a pariah and Palin the great white hope. It’s become a Beltway truism that the White House’s (mild) spat with Fox News is counterproductive because it drives up the network’s numbers. But if curious moderate and independent voters are now tempted to surf there and encounter Beck’s histrionics for the first time, the president’s numbers will benefit as well. To the uninitiated, the tea party crowd comes across like the barflies in “Star Wars.”

There is only one political opponent whom Obama really has to worry about at this moment: Hamid Karzai. It’s Afghanistan and joblessness, not the Stalinists of the right, that have the power to bring this president down.

This column has been updated from the version that appears in print to reflect the fact that Ms. Scozzafava suspended her campaign on Saturday morning.

Frank Rich
The New York Times

The election for the NY-23 House race is this week.  With RINO Dede Scozzafava dropping out and backing the Democrat in the race it takes on even more importance.  As a reminder of the need to elect a conservative to this seat, here is the Doug Hoffman campaign ad done by Fred Thompson.

And let’s continue to send a message in the 2010 elections next year.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Pawlenty Backs Hoffman in NY-23 (politicalwire.com)
• Thompson offers grizzled support to Hoffman (timesunion.com)
• Scozzafava Drops Out (themoderatevoice.com)
• GOP Ex-Candidate Endorses Democrat in NY Race (abcnews.go.com)
• Scozzafava sinking, Hoffman rising, Newt erring (powerlineblog.com)

Oh, kids, there’s a fight abrewin’ in the Rethuglican tent! From Bill Pascoe (ex-press secretary at the RNC) at CQ Politics:

These days, whether you’re a conservative activist, or a Republican Party official, saying “New York 23″ out loud leads to a shortening of breath, a quickening of the pulse, and a tightening of the muscles. Heads whip around to see who said it, and in what context — friend, or foe?

…snip…

The official GOP nominee — Dede Scozzafava, a very liberal New York Assemblywoman — now trails her Democratic opponent, Bill Owens, and the Conservative Party nominee, Doug Hoffman, according to a survey released Monday by the Club for Growth.

Original movie poster

[...] the apparatchiks at the National Republican Congressional Committee continue to view Hoffman and his candidacy as some sort of flu-like disease [...]

For more than two months, Hoffman’s momentum has been building, as conservatives of all shapes and sizes and pedigrees — Old Right barons (Mike Long, chairman of New York’s Conservative Party; David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Ron Pearson, of the Conservative Victory Fund; Citizens for the Republic), new media conservatives (Erick Erickson of RedState; Michelle Malkin; Patrick Ruffini), social conservatives (Concerned Women for America; the Susan B. Anthony List; Eagle Forum; National Organization for Marriage) and fiscal conservatives (Club for Growth; Steve Forbes; Dick Armey), and political leaders like Rick Santorum, Fred Thompson, Sarah Palin, and Tim Pawlenty — have come together behind his candidacy.

Oops! He forgot Marilyn Musgrave, who lost in Colorado but who has yet to concede the race or congratulate Betsy Markey, who unseated her.

Those few GOP leaders who have dared speak out publicly in support of GOP nominee Scozzafava — like Newt Gingrich — have been roundly criticized by conservatives. (For Gingrich, in fact, the criticism has been especially brutal. Whatever plans he may have had about running for President in 2012 have taken a major shellacking since he dared stand up to the conservatives on this one.)

Not only Newtie, John Boehner has taken some of the time he usually devotes to tanning to endorse Scozzafava.

As the weeks have worn on, and the race has intensified, the campaign has become a proxy war for control of the center-right political apparatus in this country.

…snip…

But the truly stunning news was Hoffman’s endorsement by Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who is, to my knowledge, the only former political consultant currently serving in the Congress.

Before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2002, Cole served as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, as executive director of the NRCC, and as chief of staff of the Republican National Committee.

…snip…

But, more importantly, in the 2008 cycle, Cole served as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

…snip…

Other Republican members of Congress had endorsed Hoffman — Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas had previously endorsed Hoffman, while Dana Rohrabacher of California and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina joined Cole in endorsing Hoffman yesterday — but, frankly, I can think of few who look to them for political guidance in a matter like this. Each has established a reputation, to varying degrees, as a political maverick; no one confuses them with the Republican Leadership.

So Cole’s endorsement represents the first breach of the Hoffman Flu into GOP leadership circles.

…snip…

Pete Sessions [Chairman of the NRCC, who replaced Tom Cole] didn’t make the choice of Dede Scozzafava, 11 GOP county chairmen in upstate New York made the choice.

Oh, and there’s one other person involved in this farce who doesn’t live in the district for which a rep is going to be elected. That would be Conservative Party candidate himself, Doug Hoffman.

1. Get yourself a TV show, or at least get yourself famous, by pretending to—oops OMG, help! help!—accidentally send your six-year-old aloft in a homemade Jiffy-pop balloon.

2. Get Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson to endorse your candidacy for political office.

3. Actually seriously try to follow the tongue-in-cheek directions in Skiing magazine this month on how to make an emergency (tobacco) pipe out of a snowball.

Speaking of smoking, what are ski company executives thinking as they unveil a myriad new ski-related smartphone applications? Ski magazine, in an article on “essential gear,” says “Smartphones are becoming as critical a component of a ski day as snow.”

The head hurts. The heart sinks. The mind reels at the compounding evidence that mankind is going to hell in a hand basket.

No, really. They’re serious. Want to know where you are on the mountain at any given moment? Don’t look around, whip out your iPhone and fire up the global positioning system digital trail map, and it’ll tell you in just a few seconds. Yes, there you are, right there. That dot there on the liquid crystal display. Whew! For a minute there you thought you were lost!

Want to know what the weather is doing? Don’t look to the sky, don’t listen for the wind, just push a few buttons on your Blackberry (the gloves are a bother, aren’t they?) and get the latest from the national weather service! Or the resort’s own web site, updated regularly every morning!

Need to know what the snow is doing under your skis? Why bother relying on your own observations, punch up the avalanche information center nearest you (there are at least four or five of them across the western United States) and find out from the experts just how scary your situation really is!

I’m not making this up. The Ski article actually begins with some Salt Lake City braintrust “standing on a high peak in the Wasatch Range” dialing up the Utah Avalanche Center because he “wondered if the snow conditions had changed since he embarked on a daylong backcountry ski tour.”

The people pushing these wonderful new tools for skiers don’t mention the terrifying enfeeblement of the mind assumed by their technology. They must believe their audience is already a race of Pavlovian mice. “Customers expectations have fundamentally changed,” says Andy Wirth, a senior vice president for Intrawest, the resort giant that operates Whistler, B.C., and Steamboat, Colo., among others. “They want information on the fly, up to the minute, and on site. It’s our job to provide it.”

Crucial information like which base-area restaurant has sent you an e-coupon since you last unzipped for your ringing phone. Or who hit the top speed back there when you and your buddies were tuckin’ that awesome schuss down to the liftline. And who racked up the most vertical feet today, you or that a-hole Alan who’s always bragging about how many verts he scored when you know damn sure he’s lying through his teeth. And who doesn’t want to know exactly how many minutes you spent riding chairlifts on this awesomest day of your life? And then have your phone automatically upload all that stuff to your computer at home! Dude!

“This is how people live their lives today,” quoth the sage, Andy Wirth. “It should be seamless when they come to the mountains.”

Oh, really? Seamless? Yeah, that’s what I’m looking for when I travel, when I vacation. No change at all. No sentient challenges. No eyes wide listening for clues. No living jolt from having to figure out a new place, a new environment, new air, new gravity. Heaven forbid I take on responsibility for my own decisions. No, I don’t want to be without my cyber friends for even one minute. Don’t want to miss anything. Wonder where Marsha and them are at? Whoa! Fuck! Watch out, asshole! You almost ran me over! Shit! Yeah, well, I was just puttin’ mine away. You were fucking fixated on yours! You know you were!

Inside Business Report” show to feature New Series on
“Doing Business In A Global Economy”

The producers of “Inside Business Report” are pleased to announce a special series, Doing Business In A Global Economy, exploring the latest trends in technology, concepts and strategies for the diverse needs of 21st Century corporate and organizational structure. The show marries an unrivaled host, Fred Thompson, with a team of award-winning producers, and provides viewers new information that will impact their lives.

Complexity has become the somewhat troubled stepchild of modern entrepreneurial structures. In any country, in every business, and throughout all of industry, doing business in a global economy has brought with it a seemingly insurmountable number of logistical challenges. Conquering those challenges can mean the difference between organizational success and corporate failure. Inside Business Report is constantly searching for the newest and most innovative strategies designed to ensure personnel and resources reach the right place at the right time.

Topics for the “Business Management Solutions” series include:

• Supply Chain Management Solutions for the 21st Century
• Outsourcing Solutions in a Changing Economy
• Optimizing Workforce Performance through Effective HR Management and Technology
• Reducing/Managing the Rising Cost of Healthcare for Corporate America
• Streamlining (Healthcare/Medical) Management Solutions for the 21st Century
• Innovative Office Automation Solutions for the 21st Century
• Leading Developments in Employee Benefit Solutions for the 21st Century
• Leading Developments in Corporate Staffing Solutions
• Optimizing Employee Benefits in a Changing Economy
• Leading Developments in Employee Benefit Optimization
• Improving Productivity and Profitability through Effective Technology
• Improving Efficiency and Competitiveness in a Changing Business Climate
• Software Solutions for the Increasingly Complexity of Inventory Management
• Food Safety Series: “From the Field to the Fork” – Building a Healthy Food Supply System.

“Inside Business Report” identifies business-to-business stories for television and Internet content, and educates viewers on a wide-variety of emerging concepts. As a powerful engine of change, “Inside Business Report” broadens perspectives, erases boundaries and opens up new avenues for progress. With fresh content interlaced throughout each series, viewers will gain insight on opportunities for their families, businesses, lifestyles, and financial futures. For more information, please visit www.ibreport.com.

 10/27/09 8:29 PM EDT

Fred to Newt: We’re not ‘deaf, dumb’

By ANDY BARR |

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson brushed back former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Tuesday over Gingrich’s warning that the Republican Party is wrong to thrown in its lot with the Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman over Dede Scozzafava, the GOP’s candidate, in the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district.

Gingrich has called the many prominent national Republicans – including Thompson – who have endorsed Hoffman over Scozzafava in recent days “misguided,” arguing they are making a “mistake” to back a third-party candidate over the party’s nominee.

The conservatives who back Hoffman point to Scozzafava’s support for abortion right and ties to local union leaders.

via Fred to Newt: We’re not ‘deaf, dumb’ – Andy Barr – POLITICO.com.

via Red State

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2qxg0gLnKc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Doug Hoffmann (C-R-NY-23)

The North Shore Exponent is proud to endorse Doug Hoffman to become the next representative in Congress in a critical special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional district.

Conservatives across the nation have taken a call to action.  A call to action that was done by the endorsements of Senator Fred Thompson, Governor Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Steve Lonegan, and the Club for Growth to support his candidacy.  Hoffmann’s candidacy comes into response of incompetent leadership in the Republican Party of New York State who has endorsed a very liberal Republican candidate named Dede Scozzafava.  As New York allows for electoral fusion and prohibits primaries in special elections, this election can viewed as an opportunity to send a mega shock to the political establishment in Washington.  An election victory for the Conservative Party of New York will send a message to liberal Republican leaders in the Northeast to start recruiting more conservative candidates in 2010 or to resign so new conservative leadership takes over in these state party organizations.

Hoffman is a citizen and a concerned neighbor who like many everyday people across America are getting sick and tired of the bailouts, higher taxes, and bigger government which has become the standard accord in Washington.  Hoffman has a flat tax proposal at the federal level which makes sense for the American people when we need it the most.

The Exponent agrees with Hoffman’s flat tax proposal as progressive taxation in this nation and in a majority of states has  for many years has caused class warfare which is immoral.  The Exponent has argued in the past that if flat taxes are enacted in higher tax states, this would give low income and the middle class more purchasing power thanks to more take home pay in their paychecks.  If a flat tax or ten or fifteen percent was enacted at the federal level it would give the increasing amount of middle class households that are struggling more money in their paychecks.   New York is seeing people leave because of higher taxes enacted by Gov. David Paterson.  People are hurting in the Empire State and higher taxes is wrong way to go.  Hoffman’s proposal of a flat tax would give New Yorkers much needed breathing room until the state government gets its fiscal cards in order.  Hoffman’s plan will finally end this immoral class warfare in America.

Conservatives across the nation are donating money to Hoffman for a reason, because they are getting sick of the establishment party line.  They want to see ideology and principle first before party.  Hoffman who is running on the Conservative Party ticket will put conservative principles and ideology first before responding to party establishment bosses in Washington.  Any conservative across America who is concerned with the future of this nation should contribute what they can afford to his campaign.

A call to duty, honor, and country has came to all conservatives in America.  It is time that conservatives in NY-23 and across America do what it can in the last seven days to send Doug Hoffman to Washington as a voice for the conservative movement.

If you haven’t been following this race, it’s important you do so.  A very liberal Republican was nominated by the party in New York (Suprise Suprise), but the Conservative Party in NY has nominated Doug Hoffman and the latest polls show him ahead in the race.  He needs your help, send him $50 or more if you can.

Do you think that Newt Gingrich will pick up the phone to tell Fred Thompson that he’s “misinformed”?  I wouldn’t mind hearing that conversation.  Former Senator and presidential aspirant Thompson’s ad hit last night:

If you back Hoffman over Dede Scozzafava, Newt says you’re just not paying attention:

There’s more than a whiff of desperation in this attempt to paint Scozzafava as the true conservative in this race. Gingrich would do better to argue for party loyalty than to defend Scozzafava as a Reagan Republican.

Fred’s ad will play in NY-23, while Fred sends this out to his PAC to get more Hoffman contributions:

TO:     FredPAC Supporters

FROM:   Will Andrews

Exciting news!

As you know, Senator Thompson has been actively backing Conservative Republican candidate Doug Hoffman for Congress in a Special Election in New York.

Just moments ago, a TV commercial was released featuring Senator Thompson.  The Hoffman campaign is airing the spot throughout the district in the final days! …

This ad will help “seal the deal” – it sets out clearly what is at stake in this election.

Your support of Fred PAC is making it possible for real, conservatives dedicated to First Principles to advance throughout the country.  But there is still so much more to do.

Please, if at all possible, send the largest contribution you can to Fred PAC today.  You can donate by going to https://www.fredpac.com/contribute.php

A victory in New York next week will be a resounding call to arms for all conservatives in America.  Please do all you can to help spread the message to return our nation to the Founding Principles.

Newt’s talking about a 2012 run at the Presidency, but if he keeps defending Scozzafava, he may become a Party of One.