“But that lesson will be for naught if conservatives conclude that their victory is reason to challenge any candidate who doesn’t agree with them on every issue. The truth is that some conservatives are as bloody-minded and intolerant of all dissent as the hard left is at the Daily Kos. A majority political party requires a far more diverse coalition than the audience for your average right-wing blogger or talk show host. Some of those voices prefer having Democrats in power because it drives up their own ratings.

Democrats did themselves no favors by driving Joe Lieberman out of their party, and conservatives will do their cause no good by forcing GOP candidates in Illinois, California and Connecticut to sound like Tom DeLay. If conservatives now revolt against every GOP candidate who disagrees with them on trade, immigration or abortion, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will keep their majorities for a very long time.”

Dede’s endorsement of Owens most likely makes complete sense in the context of THAT campaign in THAT district. The conservatives within the Republican Party have made it abundantly clear that open warfare is appropriate, even if it hurts Republicans and helds Democrats: Witness Lincoln Chaffee in Rhode Island and congressional losses in Pennsylvania.

Totally understand that it is a NY issue, but this is interesting as Hoffman is now the RNC and RNCC endorsed candidate. Isn’t that like a Republican Presidential candidate from 08 endorsing Obama?

Little that has set blogs abuzz has been true.

Dede Scozzfava was elected multiple times as a Republican for the NYS Assembly.

Dede, by every measure, has a *more conservative* voting record than the average Republican in the NYS Assembly.

Local Republican leaders – 11 County leaders – chose this seasoned Republican to represent the party in a special election. The RNC did what the RNC *should* do: it aaccepted the *local* decision.

Then, in the space of a few weeks, weirdness ensued.

With little understanding of the candidate or the district, and armed with outright *lies* about her positions on multiple issues, national conservatives tripped over themselves trying to out-flank each other on the right. The reality is that Dede is NOT the Big Liberal Socialist she was painted as: in fact, her bigest crimes are the union card-check (and I disagree with her on this, but there is a local history that is important and lost on out of state leaders), and guess what: Marriage Equality and Abortion Rights. BINGO! The religious Right springs into action, the Eagle Forum weighs in, the National Organization for Marriage (a despicable group of disingenuous liars) weighs in, and Dede is re-imagined as the Wicked Witch of the North.

They flock their conservative Superhero…who doesnt even live in the district and who has managed to make a fool of himself in local press conferences due to his non-knowledge of the area. But no matter, the dice have been rolled. Dede is out.

I am honestly reminded of the townspeople in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” who listen uncritically to what Gaston has told them, pick up their pitchforks and torches, and march on the castle.

This is a no-win situation for our party. On one hand, the District could elect the first Democrat in 150 years. Or, more likely, Hoffman could win – thus emboldening the Purge of both “moderates” and true “libertarians” within the party in favor of a a Purer, Narrower, and ultimately Ineffective Social-Statist Southern Republican Party.