It Is Better to Have Teabagged and Lost, Than Never to Have Teabagged at All

Last week, I reported that teabagging candidate Doug Hoffman still had a chance of winning the NY-23 congressional seat away from Democrat Whatever His Name Is and thus averting the tragedy of surrendering that seat to a Democrat for the first time since it was legal in the country to own human beings.

Well, he's still got a chance, but it's not looking quite as chancerific as it was last week. Say la vee. (La vee.)

This leads us to wonder if Republicans — despite growing dissatisfaction with congressional Democrats — the the GOP could still be getting ready to Scozzafava away all of its moderate (reasonable) candidates for 2010 and still end up losing ground.

According to this poll from CNN, that seems to be a possibility…

The poll indicates that a slight majority, 51 percent, of Republicans would prefer to see the GOP in their area nominate candidates who agree with them on all the major the issues even if they have a poor chance of beating the Democratic candidate. Forty-three percent of Republicans say they would rather have candidates with whom they don't agree on all the important issues but who can beat the Democrats.

Democrats polled seemed to place a slightly higher priority on electoral victory: 58 percent say that they would like their party to nominate candidates who can beat Republicans, even if they don't agree with those candidates on all the issues. Fewer than 4 in 10 Democrats say they would rather see their party nominate candidates who agree with them on all major issues, but have a poor chance of beating the Republican candidate.

Translation: Republicans are obstinate and unrealistic, while Democrats are cowardly and accepting of mediocrity.

So, this poll gives us no new information.

Tags: Bill Owens, Dede Scozzafava, Democrats, Doug Hoffman, House of Representatives, New York, Polls, Republicans

"Scozzfavaed" Enters the Political Lexicon

Dede Scozzafava never got to  realize her goal of making it into the United States House of Representatives, which must be difficult. And I don't suppose that making it into the Urban Dictionary is much consolation…

Scozzafavaed
(Pronounced: /skoʊzəfavəd/)
-verb

1. Purged of moderation, e.g., within in a Congressional district
2. Inadvertently revealed internal chaos, e.g., within in a political party
3. Adj., Doomed due to popular support of the GOP electorate

"Dude, you see Glenn Beck talking about how our congressman supports indoctrinating us in the ways of socialism through paper money last night? We need to get him Scozzafavaed."

Could have been worse. Could have been much worse.

(via Talking Points Memo)

Tags: Dede Scozzafava, Glenn Beck, House of Representatives, New York, Tea Party

A Huge Win for Conservatives

RedState's Erick Erickson on the NY-23 race…

The race has now been called for Democrat Bill Owens. This is a huge win for conservatives.

That statement is a huge win for self-parody.

Tags: Bill Owens, Dede Scozzafava, Doug Hoffman, House of Representatives, New York, Red State

Conservative Candidate Achieves the Impossible in NY-23

When plucky arch-conservative Doug Hoffman — representing Glenn Beck's Tea Party Party –stepped into the race for New York's 23rd district, even though Republican Dede Scozzafava was already running, he was on his way to truly making history.

And, last night, he and all his supporters — including Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin — achieved what many thought could not be done: They delivered the NY-23 congressional seat into Democratic hands for the first time in more than a century…

Democrat Bill Owens Tuesday won New York's 23rd Congressional District, parts of which have been in Republican hands since the Civil War.

Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded shortly after midnight. With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Owens led Hoffman by nearly 4,300 votes.

What more proof do you need that the politics of divisiveness really does achieve results?

Tags: Bill Owens, Dede Scozzafava, Doug Hoffman, Glenn Beck, House of Representatives, Michelle Malkin, New York, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Tea Party

Jon Stewart Covers Indecision 2009

Sure everybody gets excited about the Presidential election years. And the midterms are fun too. But for the hardcore political junkie, there's nothing like the midmidterms. You can have your Senate contest, but nothing gets my blood pumping like a good old fashioned uncontested assistant district assemblyman race. Those are where the real action is.

But, if you're a casual wonk (I stopped having casual wonks after I got crabs), there are still a handful of high profile races today.

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

Tags: Bill Owens, Chris Christie, Dede Scozzafava, Doug Hoffman, Glenn Beck, Jon Corzine, Jon Stewart, New Jersey, New York, The Daily Show, Video, Virginia