Was the NRCC Behind Dede Selection?
Well, it’s 2:30 PM (real time as opposed to Peoples Republik of Kalifornia time) and there’s has been little said about next Tuesday’s election, so here goes.
Apparently, there’s suspicion that one of the reasons that the NRCC isn’t wavering in it support of Dede is that the committee may have been involved in her selection.
Mike Long, chairman of the New York Conservative Party, said he had not seen Dan Riehl’s report, but in a brief telephone interview said he would not be surprised by Tom Reynold’s involvement in the Scozzafava pick.
Long said he had been told that at least one NRCC staffer was present at the meeting where Scozzafava was picked by NYGOP. As for the general bungling by which the ACORN-endorsed liberal was selected as the nominee, Chairman Long said of New York Republicans: “It they stood up for principles, [the Conservative Party] would have been out of business a long time ago.”
PREVIOUSLY: Dan says he’s got the lowdown on who screwed the pooch in this key New York congressional election. He quotes Michael Patrick Leahey’s excellent account of the role played by New York Republicans, including Assemblywoman Janet Duprey. However, Dan kept digging and says it goes further up the ladder:
Duprey certainly deserves plenty of blame according to my sources, [but] the more important claim is not that the NRCC delegated the decision to local Republicans like Duprey, as Newt [Gingrich] would insist, instead they deferred to an old line power broker, former NRCC Chair and former NY Representative Tom Reynolds. They insist NRCC Executive Director, Guy Harrison, or his aides, were on the ground to sheppard [Dede] Scozzafava through the allegedly open process from selection to finish, regardless of polls, or how local Republicans felt. The NRCC in the person of Reynolds thought they knew better than that and them. . . .Read the whole thing. It took three ballots for Scozzafava to secure the nomination, and I’d heard rumors of favor-swapping and arm-twisting. The suggestion that NRCC staff — the hired help, as it were — were involved in putting the fix in for Dede will enrage people, although it shouldn’t really be surprising.
Like the designer of the Titanic, it appears the NRCC and Michael Steele are prepared to go down with the ship.
Hat tip: The Other McCain
Speaking of the Titanic ….
It appears that the Virginia race will be a runaway, but there’s lots of conflicting polls on NJ. Quinnipiac University shows Corzine with a five point lead. Were Christie not a RINO, I’d send a donation. But, he would probably invest it on Big Macs any way.
Jon Corzine (D-inc) 43%
Chris Christie (R) 38%
Chris Daggett (I) 13%
[1]
This is very credible to me. The GOP powers are all to keep things as they are, even if it means no principles and losing elections.
Dan Riehl has done a great favor to the Republican party by bringing this story out. It’s far better for this to come out now, then say next year!
[2]
I’ll demand that my contribution made in August be immediately returned if I discover that the NRCC pushed this liberal woman forward.
I also wonder, is there some misogynist tinted thought process going on here? Could it be that the NRCC looked at the popularity of Sarah Palin and thought it would be a good idea to advance a woman as the GOP candidate? After all, isn’t one woman the same as any other as long as she is hanging an R after her name? My internal voice says “Oh no Judy, they would not do that” but, you know, somewhere deep inside of me a bell is ringing. Okay, I will call it my feminine intuition, or we could just call it the accumulation of my life experiences. Shame on them! I oppose Obama because of his socialist ideology and agenda. I support Sarah Palin because of her conservative principles and her strong push to develop our own natural resources (Drill! Baby! Drill!) I am not looking at color or gender when I make my decision.
I think I am going to be demanding a refund if this story starts to stink more.
[3]
From the Atlantic——
As high-profile Republicans (other than Newt Gingrich) flock to endorse Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in New York’s 23rd district special election over the Republican in the three-way race, Dede Scozzafava (R) still has one prominent supporter besides the former Speaker: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
“I support the republican nominee as the republican party chairman, and that’s the way it should go, right?” Steele told NBC’s Chuck Todd this morning during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe
[4]
If this alligation is proven to be true, Michael Steele should resign immediately as RNC chairman and Pete Sessions should step down as NRCC chairman. Both the country and the RNC selected a leader based on race and neither seems to be working out.
[5]
judy,
I’ve read your posts here and I share your feelings.
However, it is not worth getting so upset you get sick over it.
[6]
We need to take control of the GOP. I was going to say re-take until I realized we never had any control.
If this is true, Bachmann, Palin, DeMint, Pawlenty will look all the stronger and Pete Sessions, Steele and Gingrich look like fools.
[7]
Wall Street Journal-By JOHN FUND
“New polls in the New Jersey governor’s race are as muddy as the state’s machine politics. A survey by the Public Policy Institute, a Democratic firm, has GOP candidate Chris Christie leading Democratic Governor Jon Corzine by four points. A Rasmussen poll has the Christie lead at three points. Those surveys are contradicted, however, by a new Quinnipiac poll showing Mr. Corzine taking the lead for the first time by 43% to 38%, with independent Christopher Daggett at 13%.”
[8]
just when poll after poll after poll is coming out showing the country moving TOWARDS Conservatism and AWAY from Liberalism/Progressivism the NRCC pushes a LEFTIST on us?
I was mystified and upset when the I thought it was just gross incompetance on the part of the Local Republican Party hacks who put her up. But the NRCC was behind it?
No wonder the Dems aren’t too worried about next year…the Repub Party seems determined to destroy itself.
p.s. remember, when Scuzzy was asked POINT-BLANK if she would run as a Republican NEXT year if she won as a Republican THIS year, her reply was: “I don’t want to discuss that now, I’m focused on this race”
I’m done giving to the NRCC
[9]
CQ Politics:
NY23 Hits Its Tipping Point
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/in_the_right/2009/10/ny23.html
[10]
MI… I have been sick about “all of this” since November (okay before November); however, my upset is being channeled into productive use.
If you are not angry then living in that cesspool of liberal failure, previously known as Michigan has numbed you beyond feeling.
Don’t worry about me… much of it is hyperbole.
[11]
oh, but I appreciate your concern…
[12]
I don’t think it had anything to do with her being a woman, because if it did, surely there are better looking conservative women out there. If they were doing this because they were trying to catch a ride on the Sarah express, clearly they missed the point of Sarah altogether, because she was/is far more than a pretty face- it was her words and values that attracted, her face was just a nice bonus. Scuzzy has absolutely NOTHING going for her, just an R attached to her name, even though it is only on there with the thinnest of strings. That is not a reason to push for her, as referenced by Snowe, Collins, and Sphincter.
[13]
I don’t remember the polls other than to know that Hoffman has made up a lot of ground in the last two weeks, and Scuzzy is dropping like a rock. It will be interesting to see what happens over the last weekend, and who can get the vote out.
I think Hoffman has money left and Scuzzy is broke and dependent on the NRCC.
[14]
I must have missed something, I thought all along that the RNC or RNCC were behind this woman, which is one reason everyone had been so upset, and why this is sort of being considered such a bellweather vote.
As leader of the R party, Steele is between a rock and a hard place. I believe he HAS to give his support to the named republican candidate, at least verbally. But I don’t think he gets it any way, so it’s sort of a moot point.
The O was out for Creigh (pronounced Cree, by the way) last night. I think it’s way too little way too late. Virginia, unlike NJ, won’t have the SEIU thugs to contend with, I don’t think, so although we may have some dead voters, and some double dippers, there might be less fraud, and no need for recounts.
[15]
JM -
Dede may quit and become a Democrat, in the unlikely chance she is elected. Snowe and Collins will vote against the GOP 80% – 90% of the time. The GOP hierarchy can live with that.
Sarah is a different story. No one owns or controls her. She has a national following. Now, they have seen the result of a single Facebook post. Sarah fights for what she believes in and she likes to play by her rules. Plus she will unexpectedly change the rules when necessary (e.g. resigning as governor).
They saw how she cleaned house in Alaska. They know that if she gains the upper hand, Alaska will look like a Sunday school picnic and it scares them sh!tless. For the entrenched GOP hierarchy, survival is a lot more important than principle or winning.
[16]
commie bastids
[17]
commies
[18]
JR -
“just when poll after poll after poll is coming out showing the country moving TOWARDS Conservatism and AWAY from Liberalism/Progressivism the NRCC pushes a LEFTIST on us?”
McCain and Lucy are working feverously to make the party more moderate, but it looks like Palin, Bachmann, DeMint and their pals have a different idea. Palin has her own personal army (Team Sarah and her Facebook followers).
Stock up on popcorn and beer.
[19]
This race could be a double-win for conservatives–a Hoffman win coupled with the resignation of Steele.
Enter Sarah Palin.
[20]
Chubby is not 5 points behind Scummy despite what Quin is showing.
[21]
Steele resign? hahaha I seriously doubt Palin would want to run for the RNC chairmanship uh …chairperson-ship.
[22]
KH,
I think just the opposite. Palin, sitting in the chair, would have a unique opportunity to influence who does and does not get support from the GOP. You force change when you are sitting at the top much easier than we you are sitting there as a peer. She could go stomp for that 40% of the country that identifies as conservative. Her in the chair, Sessions is toast as NRCC head.
No Steele won’t resign. Palin will have to force him out. Will she draw a lot of flack? Sure. Will she shake up the GOP? Damn right. She is the kick in the butt that the GOP needs.
[23]
The Ras poll is the accurate one, Christie is slightly ahead and will win. So will Hoffman and McDonell.
That might slow down some of the less communist Dems, but it might very well not, as well.