It’s true. Conservatives are committing themselves to a profitable and margins-only future on television. There are millions of Fox fans- and many millions more who aren’t. By bringing all conservatives to Fox they will leave the other stations free to bring liberals on and influence millions of moderate and undecided voters and activists. This could be very bad for the conservative movement.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I agree that it is foolish for conservatives to put all their eggs in one basket.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:51 am
You guys better get on top of this story ASAP!!!!
Massive Election Fraud may have thrown vote count against Hoffman —
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/its_not_over_recanvassing_shows_ny23_race.html
November 12th, 2009 at 8:57 am
and read this re NY-23 breaking story —
http://thepostnemail.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/massive-election-fraud-threw-vote-count-against-hoffman/
November 12th, 2009 at 9:03 am
By what criteria is Dobbs a conservative, at least in the modern sense. He’s kind of like Pat Buchanan, right? I guess that’s a kind of conservative.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:07 am
And as far as Dobbs, read this about his entering politics:
http://thepostnemail.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/dobbs-to-run-for-office-in-2010/
November 12th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Interesting Jack, I do not know whether this will quite overturn the results, but it is funny that things are sure tightening up a bit.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Jack, that’s very interesting. Basically, Doug H may have actually won that race, though he’d have to pick up something like 65% of the absentee ballots in order to win. Narrow odds, that, especially in a 3-way race. Of course, that’s assuming they don’t uncover further problems with the vote count.
One thing I’ll take issue with from one of your links, however, is the idea that Doug H’s vote would have mattered in the healthcare bill. Had he been there to vote, Spkr Pelosi would just have beaten another Blue Dog into voting for it. She probably has 10-12 of them that she could count on to give her a vote if she demanded it.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Richard Murray:–
I absolutely agree with you as this relates (or really doesn’t relate) to ‘healthcare’ bill.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:14 am
If anything, it’s much more about Dem fears of Palin!!!
November 12th, 2009 at 9:16 am
“Had he been there to vote, Spkr Pelosi would just have beaten another Blue Dog into voting for it. She probably has 10-12 of them that she could count on to give her a vote if she demanded it.” That might be true which is what the Pro-Stupak people say (rightly or wrongly.)
November 12th, 2009 at 9:18 am
“If anything, it’s much more about Dem fears of Palin!!!” Haha, it would also take some wind out of the sails of at least one faction within the Romney camp.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:27 am
OHIO JOE:–
and even more than that, this really knocks out Romney because, as the story and news of this develops, Palin’s gonna be getting all this publicity, while Romney’s ’staying out’ is gonna make Romney look weak, too political, cautious…etc.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:28 am
12. Oh brother.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:29 am
I watched Dobbs one time because I wanted to see a guest. Wow, it was painful. We don’t need guys like him. AT ALL.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:34 am
IF Hoffman wins then the palin wing will recover some of it’s power.
Romney has nothing to do with this so please don’t attack him for no reason.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Richard,
#7. Agreed. I’ve made that case here before as well. The votes are often stage managed to balance passing the bill and protecting vulnerable members. But even if she truly had no cushion, their still would have been 219 yeas, or 218 without Cao. In any scenario, it still passes.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Clark, even if Hoffman doesn’t ultimately win, Romney loses — see my last comment (#12)
Moreover, you Romneybots were the ones who raised how great and smart it was for Romney to have stayed out of NY-23!
November 12th, 2009 at 9:46 am
…and Clark, Palin did NOT lose any power from NY-23 either way. At the very least, she pulled up the 3rd party candidate (Hoffman) who was way way behind to nearly win the election.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:51 am
“…and Clark, Palin did NOT lose any power from NY-23 either way.” Shhhhhhhh, let them keep their heads in the sand.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:02 am
People, Gov Romney’s position on NY-23 was a very reasonable position for a Republican to take. He doesn’t believe in going outside the party, but he wasn’t willing to support a candidate he found unacceptable. You think he should have endorsed? Fine, but it’s a point about which reasonable people can disagree. He doesn’t deserve grief over a position like that!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:04 am
My stand is regardless of whether Doug H ultimately wins this race or not. If he wins, it will be by a very narrow margin, and that’s hardly a ringing endorsement of, well, Gov Palin’s ringing endorsement.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I’m calling BS on all the, well, BS, about Romney and Palin
ANYBODY who seriously believes that an endorsement – or not – of an amazingly weak and ill-prepared candidate in a local, special election is going to weigh on voters in the 2012 Presidential election is on some VERY good drugs.
For every person turned off from Romney for not endorsing Hoffman, there could easily be a person turned off from Palin for meddling – for personal gain – in a local race, and potentially helping to “stick” voters in the NY 23rd with a candidate who knew zip about local issues.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:01 am
America, Here’s Your Change Candidate for 2012: http://bit.ly/1eyr1M
November 12th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Anytime I read the words “libertarian insurgency”, I immediately want to throw people off a tall cliff.
The last thing Ameirca needs is national policy set by a bunch of hippies who want to drain the international power of the US by pulling out military back to the lower 48, and to have the government start offering free pot to anyone who feels like getting stoned on their way to work.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Richard Murray:–
OK, have it your way.
But bottom line, Palin is a leader and ahead of the curve; she doesn’t wait to see and vary her position on the way the wind is blowing; whereas that PRECISELY is the hallmark of Romney’s political career.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Kristofer Lorelli, why have you turned against Palin? (“Richard Johnson” you say, why even consider him for POTUS 12 when we’ve got Palin?)
November 12th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I know it may sound funny coming from me Jack, but while I am not happy with Mr. Romney and his camp, I think it is probably a little harsh to say that seeing how the wind blows in a hallmark of his carreer. While I have some major differences with him, I think he is still a man of honor and I think he at least believes in what he does whether it is right or wrong. Yes, I question his judgement and so forth, but he himself is not a bad man and I assume that he is largely true to his principle even though I do not agree with all of his principles.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:49 am
“Kristofer Lorelli, why have you turned against Palin? (”Richard Johnson” you say, why even consider him for POTUS 12 when we’ve got Palin?)” Jack, while I have disagreements with Mr. Lorelli including his fondness for Mr. Johnson and company, Mr. Lorelli is loyal to the Palin camp and our party in general. Furthermore, while he may not be quite as Conservative as many of the rest of us, he does not use liberal talking point and he promotes Conservatism more than most people around here.
Meanwhile there is another one of our camp members who comes around here once in a blue moon or so who took major issue with our camp leader (Mrs. Palin) on his own blog and he spend more time trashing Conservatives than liberals. So with respect, if you want to turn on people like Kristofer, you are barking up the wrong tree. I for one am pround to be in the same camp as him despite a few disagreement. At least he stays on the reservation.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I doubt much will change in NY-23. Hoffman is still 3200 votes behind and there were 10,000 absentee ballots distributed — how many were returned?
Even if there are 10,000 absentee votes, he needs to take more than 65% of them — a bit unlikely.
I don’t see any proof of fraud, by the way.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:59 am
OHIO Joe:–
You’re right, I overstated the point on Romney for the sake of brevity. Yes, he is still a man of honor and great productivity (in fact SHOULD have been the GOP ‘08 nominee — and would have likely won — rather than McLame) — and he probably had to make a number of alterations in his political career to deal with Massachusetts. It’s just that at this point, Romney is not about the new future of the GOP, Palin is!
And, I don’t know that much about Lorelli, but I do know he’s conservative and I believe he used to be (maybe I’m wrong and stand corrected) a staunch Palin backer. I’m just wondering, if so, why his pull back from Palin?
November 12th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
“Even if there are 10,000 absentee votes, he needs to take more than 65% of them — a bit unlikely.”
Not sure about that. Primarily holders of the absentee ballots should be (particularly in this district) older people and military servicemen – two groups that should lean heavily to the right.
I agree however, that there is little evidence of intentional fraud.
Although it might be interesting to see what would happen with health care if Hoffman were to win.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Well Jack, I do not know whether Mr. Loreelli is pulling back from Mrs. Palin or not. He is free to do what he thinks is best. I believe that Kavon hired him to talk about a variety of people so if he talks about Mr. Johnson, Mr. Romney or Mr. Huckabee, he is not disloyal to our camp.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
“It’s just that at this point, Romney is not about the new future of the GOP, Palin is!”
And what is that new future? Shrill idolouges who offer little substantive policy soultions, while becoming weighed down in personal battles an a remarkable lack of experience?
That isn’t a future that gets the GOP very far.
If we want to talk about the future of the GOP, a far more prommising route is what you might call a “competent conservative” – someone who is clearly on the right, but who is results-oriented. Come 2012, I think people are going to be looking for answers – not talking points.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
It is fair enough that people are going to be looking for competence and answer, but Mr. Romney is not the one for me.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
which is acceptable.
But I don’t see Palin as the kind of competent, experienced leader the country is going to need to get back on track.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
That is also fair enough WSU, I guess we shall see how the cookie crumbles.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Lou Dobbs is a hysteric who makes the entire right look crazy. Thank God he’s no longer on TV, I was embarrassed to be associated with someone like him. Now all we need is to get Beck and Hannity off the air.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Dobbs a conservative?!? WTF?
November 12th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Scozzafavification
Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, R-NY, joins Rachel Maddow to talk about the 23rd District race in New York, and the political dynamics behind her dropping out of the race and endorsing her Democratic rival over the conservative candidate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/33872226#33872226
Scozzafava: GOP to remain a minority party if it purges moderates
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/67495-scozzafava-gop-to-remain-a-minority-if-it-purges-moderates
Scozzafava Interview
CNN’s exclusive interview with Dede Scozzafava, former Republican candidate for New York’s 23rd district.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2009/11/11/am.intv.scozzafava.cnn
November 12th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
“The Republican Party is slowly purging itself of moderates and independent thinkers and risks remaining a minority indefinitely, former GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava said Wednesday.” Ah no, we are slowly purging ourselves of liberals and gangsters.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
It will be interesting to see if Glenn Beck talks about Lou Dobbs leaving CNN. Perhaps Beck can empathize with Dobbs, since they both felt they were working in an environment that was not friendly to their core beliefs.
November 12th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Pawlenty, Then And Now On Health Care
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/11/12/pawlenty-then-and-now-on-health-care/
Another Stop For Pawlenty: Alabama
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/politics_nation/2009/11/another_stop_for_pawlenty_alab.html