Comments on: Post-election ruminations

By: zilifant

zilifant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:04:24 +0000

I have a hard time seeing Palin or Bachmann or Limbaugh as “conservative” in any meaningful or principled sense. Retrograde populists, perhaps. Conservatives – not so much.

By: Cascadian

Cascadian — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:47:18 +0000

Good post E.D. The Republicans are going backward quickly. If they’re going to preach devolving National power in favor of the local, they’re going to have actually walk the talk. Not only would this give them credibility, which they completely lack at the moment, it might actually, you know, make for a better party.

By: Jaybird

Jaybird — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:36:26 +0000

So I asked her.

She told me that I should get a tattoo on my hand that said “no, you can’t have a divorce” so that next time something like this happened and I wanted to make some sort of demonstration against the government, I could just look at my hand.

By: NY-23 What Does it Mean? | Xenia Institute

NY-23 What Does it Mean? | Xenia Institute — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:03:15 +0000

[...] The League of Ordinary Gentlemen| First, what works for conservatives in Texas or Georgia might not work for conservatives in California or New York. One of the lovely things about conservative philosophy is its emphasis on local politics. Dede Scozzafada may not have been red enough meat for the likes of Sean Hannity or Michelle Malkin, but she might have been just the right shade for northern New Yorkers. Doug Hoffman, on the other hand, might have fit in better somewhere else. Really, it was a northern New York affair. The national Republican meddling distorted the issues on the ground. Left alone, Scozzafada may very well have beat Owens, giving the GOP a much-needed seat in the House – even if she wasn’t of purest stock. Remember, in Virginia, the Republican candidate campaigned on fiscal and economic issues – as a pragmatic leader, not as a red meat social conservative. And he won. [...]

By: Herb

Herb — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:51:50 +0000

“Malkin, Beck, Limbaugh, their cronies in politics – the whole gang is going to run the party into a corner and then hit the self-destruct button. ”

I agree. Which is why I wonder why all the conservatives I know are so in love with Malkin-Beck-Limbaugh type thinking. Maybe this is a sampling problem (ie, I know a lot of braindead conservatives), but I don’t think so. I keep waiting for the enlightened conservatism on display here at the League to trickle down to my conservative friends and family…

But the viral e-mails in my inbox tell a different story.

By: JosephFM

JosephFM — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:53:11 +0000

Totally agreed. I’ve always been registered as a Democrat, but I’m supporting a couple of Republicans for next year’s state legislative elections, for reasons that are almost entirely local and personal. Erik is 100% right to say that “politics is local – especially local politics,” and it’s honestly strange to me that people don’t get this. They represent your town, your home.

That said, part of me still hopes that the Senate race here goes the way of NY23, because while I don’t really like any of the candidates, and none are from my area, as is often the case at this level I dislike the Democrat least, but he doesn’t have much of a chance. Of course, neither does Marco Rubio, the Jeb Bush-backed movement candidate, barring something major severing the party leaders from Crist.

By: JosephFM

JosephFM — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:29:05 +0000

Winning more elections tends to actually be much harder when you already hold so much power. The Republicans only escaped it thanks to 9/11, if you recall.

By: Ian M.

Ian M. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:07:25 +0000

So we’ve learned that Democrats can win when they have the House, Senate and Presidency in an anti-incumbent down economy if there is no Republican opponent.

By: Reason60

Reason60 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:32:41 +0000

“Dede Scozzafada may not have been red enough meat for the likes of Sean Hannity or Michelle Malkin, but she might have been just the right shade for northern New Yorkers.”

My thoughts exactly- there is this enduring myth that if only a “true” conservative were to appear, the masses would lift him aloft and carry him to triumph against the moderate Republicans, who of course are only acceptable to corrupt party hacks.
The truth is it was the voters in NY-23 who were the moderates; they used to be represented by a moderately liberal Republican, and now will be represented by a conservatively liberal Democrat.
I would bet money that the voting record of Owens will be remarkably similar to what it would be with Scozzafava, or the one they both replaced (whose name escapes me at the moment).

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:35:19 +0000

Re: Hoffman. Have you seen him on TV? He puts the ‘un’ in uncharismatic. I’ve met a lot of politicians in my life, and I seriously think he’s the worst candidate I’ve seen. If you’re going to pick somebody to throw a lot of money at, pick somebody who has a chance…Owens was not a good candidate – mainly because the Dems thought they had no chance to beat a Republican – and they didn’t!

This was just poor politics by Palin and Armey and their ilk.