Wednesday, November 4, 2009

No backing down

From my American Spectator article today:
Even while the Hoffman campaign's early-evening "cautious optimism" gave way to concern -- with staffers huddling in the "war room" here at the Hotel Saranac -- one official of New York's Conservative Party was already in a celebratory mood, laughing as he yelled into his cell phone: "Guess who will not be representing the 23rd District? Dede Scozzafava!"
The liberal Republican Scozzafava suspended her campaign four days before Election Day, but still got about 7,000 votes -- a number greater than the margin of victory for the Democrat she endorsed, Bill Owens. Her defeat was victory enough for some conservatives, on a night when the GOP swept the off-off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. And the candidate who drove Scozzafava out of the race struck a defiant tone in conceding his narrow loss to Owens.
"This one was worth the fight . . . And this is only one fight in the battle," said Hoffman . . .
Read the rest. Also read Michelle Malkin's post about her determination to keep fighting.

Like I said, "This isn't over."

15 comments:

  1. You are so right. I was very hopeful that Mr. Hoffman would pull off a victory, but the real victory was that he forced the establishment Repubs to wake up and smell the coffee, he got Dede to withdraw (and then we all got to see what snakes-in-the-grass those RINOS are), and he gave so much hope to all of us Tea Party Conservatives. There ARE good candidates out there, we CAN force the establishment to listen to us, and honestly, if he'd had two more weeks and Dede's name off the ballot, he could have won!

    So this is just the beginning. I'm glad I made my donations to his campaign and I would do it again, even with the same outcome. Money well spent.

    And ditto about the little bit I was able to contribute to the Shoe Leather campaign: worth every penny and wish I could have done more. You, sir, are a true reporter. It was this blog I came to over and over last night, because I knew that a real reporter would be the first to have the latest news. You did. Thank you.

    My preview word verification: "nother" ... "There's always a nother chance to defeat the lefties."

    Homeschool mom

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  2. Thank you Doug for getting rid of Dede.

    And for showing Newt's true colors. Which ultimately proved to be yellow.

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  3. Why Hoffman did not win.

    You were boots on the ground Stacy. Any truth to that Althouse post above? Did Owens simply present a better image to voters (combined with a very strange series of events for Republicans and Conservatives in that race)?

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  4. It's over Stacy, okay.

    What don't you get about that ?

    The carpetbaggin' Teabagger lost, get over it.

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  5. I can't stop fighting. It is who I am...what I believe. None the less, I am extremely disappointed in Hoffman's loss. In a New York second would I trade even now Christie's victory in New Jersey for Hoffman in NY23. Jersey is solid Dem and will be for decades. Christie will have minimal effect there. Hoffman, well this position absolutely effects me immediately. Owens will march to Washington tomorrow and begin voting for nationalized health care, higher taxes, cap and trade, and all the Pandoric wet dreams of those that wish to be ruled. It makes me nauseous.

    I am impressed, however, by the positive outlook exhibited by RSM. Good job, Stacey. I will be hitting your tip jar for the first time.

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  6. Meanwhile your doppelganger Andrew Sullivan is gloating over the defeat of Palinapalooza in NY-23. So now the NY-23 race is a referendum on Beck and Palin?

    But in Maine where gay marriage failed? That is not a referendum on issues, but merely the result of those fierce Maine Mormons (all 150 of them) and Paelo Catholics fighting the natural trend?

    Then again, perhaps Maine voters simply followed the example of anti gay marriage proponent Barack Obama?

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  7. Doug Hoffman fought our fight with determination and tenacity against BOTH major political parties.

    The fight will go on.

    http://nygoe.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/a-victory-delayed/

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  8. David Corn also compares Palin support for Hoffman to Zombieland or some other nonsense. Corn is of course completely missing the point and Dede Scozzafava was no moderate. Owens is a moderate. Dede Scozzafava is left of the Democrat Mr. Owens.

    Not suprisingly, Andrew Sullivan liked Corn's analysis. Well, pigeons like picking corn out of crap too but that does not make it good to eat.

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  9. I certainly won't celebrate the election of a Democrat, but I won't lose any sleep over Hoffman's defeat.

    Immigration and the radical demographic transformation of this country are the central issues of the day, and Hoffman was on the wrong side of them.

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  10. Being a mole in the opposition is a time honored leftist trick. One wonders how many leftists have infiltrated the RNC and even the local committees to push their agendas.

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  11. cdor--Though it's been trending blue, New Jersey is far from solid, and an effective GOP governor could make a big difference. Our 13 member Congressional delegation has 5 Republicans (at least 2 of them real conservatives). That may not sound impressive, until you realize that New York (with four times our population) is now down to one GOP rep, and New England doesn't have any.

    If--and it's an important if--Christie is an effective governor, he could at least put NJ back in the swing state column. That's 15 electoral votes --which is worth more than one district in a state like NY, which really is solid blue.

    A Hopeful Garden State Resident

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  12. Hoffman did well. I wish he had won. Republicans were desperate for victories yesterday and we got a few. But Hoffman was still an open borders shill.

    Going into the 2010 elections I can still say that the GOP still has a long way to go to regain the faith of conservatives on matters like immigration. I still don't trust them, and I'll be more than happy to stay home or even vote for the Democrats if they fail to convince me of their sincerity on ending illegal immigration and bringing legal immigration down to rational levels. Low taxes won't be low for long if the demographic transformation of America is allowed to continue.

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  13. Joe - wrt the Althouse post you linked, I agree that Hoffman, if he's the candidate next year, needs to: (1) eat a sandwich and (2) take some public speaking lessons. Is that fair? Maybe not, but in modern times, appearance matters in a way it did not in times past. I only saw him on Hannity (on election night) and he came across like a robot, with a weird delay like he was broadcasting from the moon. I'm a conservative, and NY-23 was my only disappointment last night, and I don't mean this to be as snarky as it sounds. But the little things also matter, and he's going to need a bit of am image makeover in 12 months (purely appearance, I don't mean a tempring of his conservative beliefs).

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  14. "Anonymous said...
    cdor--Though it's been trending blue,..."

    I'll take your word on that and wish you luck. It is what it is and there is no going back, so I am happy for you if Christie can straighten a few things out in your state.

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  15. Bryan--effective presentation has always been an issue in American Politics. I mean who has the better image? Thomas Jefferson or John Adams? Jefferson definitely came off better, both while they were alive and long after they both died (on the same day, fifty years exactly after signing the Declaration of Independence).

    I did not see the NY-23 ads, not living there. And I saw very little of Hoffman on TV leading up to this (and nothing of Owens), so when I saw the Althouse post it surprised me since I had not heard that comparison between Owens and Hoffman on style issues before.

    Should I take Stacy's silence on the subject as a form of admission there might be something there?

    You are not being snarky, it matters. And the good thing is Hoffman can also fix it (or at least mitigate it) by working on it.

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