Mike Flynn at Big Government tells us that, in the case of Dede Scozzafava and other DIABLOs and RINOs, it's not the social issues that were the problem. Rather, there also were no Republican/conservative principles as well in spending, governance, or taxation.
The media and the national Republicans who backed Dede are furiously spinning her withdrawal as meaning that pro-choice and pro-gay marriage candidates ‘need not apply’ for the GOP ticket. The media is warning that, unless the GOP nominates, ‘moderates’ the public will reject the party’s candidates and condemn it to perpetual minority status. Right, the media is worried about this. I find it is generally wise to be skeptical of advice given me by my opponents.
Both the media and national Republicans are overstating the relevance of social issues at a time when most voters are fearful about keeping their jobs. Many people may care about these issues, but they aren’t driving their political activism. An highly-energized large block of voters are actually really concerned that government has grown too big, too fast. They’re not clinging to ‘gods and guns’, as candidate Obama famously sneered opined; they’re clinging to their wallets.
Joust The Facts, November 1:
I'm quite sure that Mr. Rich would have been happy to have a stealth Democrat added to the Congress, but that wouldn't help Republicans as a party in Washington at all. There you do battle with votes, and hers was not clearly a vote upon which the GOP caucus could count. The key issues, I think, are the economic and limited government principles. Keep taxes low, work to reduce government's intrusiveness be reluctant to undermine the capitalist principles that made America's economy the envy of the world. It's clear that there were questions about Ms. Scozzafava on all of those fronts. I mean, card check? Whiile Mr. Hoffman has his own weaknesses, as all Congressfolk and candidates certainly do, at least that's not one of them.
As for the social issues, As the Wall Street Journal noted, "Conservative stands won't always fit in the Northeast the way they might in the South. Single-issue litmus tests can be self-defeating," so I think GOP conservatives would have understood, and supported, a fiscal conservative/social moderate running in upstate NY. But even more self-defeating is hand-picking candidates who don't represent Republicans in the least.
Mr. Flynn points out that, in an annual poll of CPAC attendees on protecting traditional values vs. limiting the size and scope of government, the activist cons this year voted 75% for the latter. This is Mr. Corzine's problem in New Jersey, and Mr. Deeds' problem in Virginia.
And Mr. Obama's problem in Washington as well.
