Archive for October 22, 2009

Sarah Palin and the NY-23

Posted: October 22, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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Yesterday I wrote the following:

With Rush also mentioning the race I suspect that the question is fast becoming not if people can bring Hoffman over the top but will republicans be wise enough to get ahead of the curve to support the winner.

Followed by this:

Perhaps those who will be looking for the Grassroots support in 2012 might want to get in front while they can still take some credit?

and preceded by this:

if Palin is interested in making trouble for Romney and Paulenty she can come out for Hoffman. That will put them in the uncomfortable position of either joining her (and having them appear as followers) or supporting Dede (and making particularly Paulenty unacceptable to conservatives, Romney is already iffy) or not being willing to stand up for anything.

The party make a bad investment in NY and their stock is crashing. Apparently they’d rather lose their stake then re-invest in Doug Hoffman. What fools.

Today Jim Geraghty says this:

Is Somebody About to Make Doug Hoffman’s Day?

Don’t take this to the bank, at least not yet. But somebody who seems to be in a position to know what’s coming down the pike in New York’s special election tells me that he’s hearing Sarah Palin will publicly endorse Conservative Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava.

If this happens it will be a seismic shift and will change the dynamics of the race (and piss off David Frum but that’s an added bonus, I really shouldn’t say that he’s wrong lately but likely not a bad guy). It also puts the NRCC in a bad spot because they will need Palin in 2010 BADLY!

If it turns out to be true it’s a shame that there isn’t a shoe leather reporter/blogger on the scene to cover it. Oh Wait.

I guess I was wrong at first concerning holding back. Just goes to show you the difference a few days makes.

Vote Hoffman.

In order to aid he who peace is upon on the value of a balanced debate, lets link to a dissenting view by Elizabeth Payne.

Update: Speaking of reporting from the place where the news is being made:

While Scozzafava has the endorsement of Armey’s former congressional colleague Newt Gingrich and the support of the national GOP, grassroots volunteers from the Tea Party movement have bouyed the campaign of Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line.

“The Republican candidate can’t win,” Armey declared, saying that Gingrich “made the wrong choice” in backing Scozzafava, a New York state assemblywoman whose record puts her to the left of most Democrats here in this largely rural district, where Republican Rep. John McHugh routinely won re-election with 2-to-1 margins.

In the words of Jimmie expect more exclusive reporting

Windows 7 is out today

Posted: October 22, 2009 by datechguy in personal, tech
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If I was still working at HiWired I’d buy a new system to get up to speed on it at once, however since I’m not working I will wait.

If you have been stalling buying a new system till this moment I’d wait at least another month.

If you need it at once for work reasons then buy a new system if possible, upgrade only if necessary.

If you have limited funds and desperately need a new PC Vista systems will never be cheaper than right now.

Me, I’m ignoring the whole thing and making boneless chicken breasts with a slit in the top which will have slab bacon a new set of locally mixed spices and stuffing on that slit in that order, with baked potatoes and a salad. Sounds much more interesting.

I guess that’s 8 not counting the last one

Posted: October 22, 2009 by datechguy in Blame Bush, opinion/news
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Take a look at this USA today opinion piece on rancor in political debate:

It closes with this line about the author:

Sandy Grady, who has covered eight presidential campaigns, is a member of USA TODAY’s board of contributors.

Read the whole thing and see if you can find what is missing. It it’s too tough to do so then check out the comments, a particular one includes several links to help you out:

Do these people even pretend to know that the internet, video recording and audio recordings exist and have been invented?

LGF2 on NY-23: Updated with free speech lesson!

Posted: October 22, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
Tags: , , , , , ,

After touching on the WSJ piece they take the exact opposite view of Morning Joe concerning republicans:

Republicans just opened up their widest lead since 1994 on the generic Congressional ballot poll. Obama is in negative double-digits pretty consistently on Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll of political polarity. Only 43% say they’d vote to re-elect Obama. And – perhaps mosting damning of all for the Democrats – for the first time that I can ever remember at least, the GOP leads the Dems in ALL TEN of the “voters trust” issues – including “Democrat friendly” issues like health care, social security, and education. Also note, the GOP has a sizable trust advantage on abortion – so don’t tell me that social issues are a loser for the GOP. I’m not buying it.

If present trends hold, Republicans look set to take back Senate seats in Pennsylvania and Delaware (two bluish Northeastern states), and conservatives look like they’re going to be sweeping the big three races in Virginia handily (showing that conservative Republicans can definitely win in purple states). The Iowa governourship appears set to revert to conservative Republican hands (another purplish state), and in Ohio (another purple state), a relatively unknown Rob Portman has caught up with and is now virtually tied with each of the better-known, statewide Democrat elected officials that he is matched up against for the open Senate seat. How are Democrats faring in red states? Not good at all – if the news that Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas’s incumbent moderate Democrat Senator trails all four of her potential Republican opponents is any indication.

So please, don’t try to feed me this blithering nonsense about how the GOP needs to run to the centre to win, and is currently perceived as too right-wing to be viable. Quite the opposite is in fact true. The GOP is viewed by its own base as being full of squishes, and is viewed by independents as incapable of providing the leadership on the issues that they want. If that were to change, the GOP would win elections solidly, even in purplish and northeastern districts like NY-23. The reasonably conservative Jim Tedisco lost the special election in NY-20 by only a few hundred votes – and that is a district where the Dems had won handily in both the previous elections, and which Obama easily carried. If that special election were being held today, Tedisco would probably win it.

The question becomes what do they actually want? I’ve actually already answered that here:

If your primary interest as a feudal lord is getting back on the gravy train with the king you certainly don’t want to have the peasants revolt against that largess.

If people who actually plan on acting get elected they will try to act, that might spill the gravy train.

Unfortunately for the GOP establishment there is now too much attention to play the game they way they want.

Now we will see who is who and what is what.

Vote Hoffman!

Update: Dan Riehl makes an interesting point

If grassroots conservatives have dropped the ball in some way, especially in the Northeast, it is that we haven’t done the hard work to take back the Republican Party from the ground up. To truly prevail we must do that.

It disappointed me to hear the Club for Growth’s Andy Roth blame RNC Chairman Michael Steele and the D.C. Republicans for giving us a Dede Scozzafava. He knows better than that, and he shouldn’t play that game simply to get his message across. Scozzafava got the nod based upon a state and local decision. It’s important for conservatives to understand how that came about.

It is not the D.C. GOP’s job to stab a state or local organization in the back, no matter what you may think. Money and support flow up and flow back down. A national political organization capable of winning elections can not afford to function any other way. Let’s stop playing games.

His point about getting involved is well made but that doesn’t change the fact the Scozzafava is a lousy candidate and the national party should have been circumspect about offending the grass roots movement that is making the difference in their support nationally.

Oh and note to Charles Johnson (peace be upon him) this is how you respectfully disagree with someone on a subject without offense, particularly if you agree on so many other subjects and in that spirit let me remind you that there is still space of the statement of common principles for anyone who wants to sign.

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