Wednesday, November 04, 2009

A Storyline for Robert Gibbs & MSNBC to Run With!   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

From "First Read":

Ideological Civil Wars Don’t Help You Win Elections: In NY-23, Republicans snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a district they’ve controlled since the 19^th century after prominent conservatives — Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Club for Growth, Tea Party organizers — backed the more conservative candidate (Hoffman), which eventually forced the moderate GOP nominee (Scozzafava) to withdraw from the race. That enabled the Democrat (Owens) to win, 49%-45%, with Scozzafava becoming the spoiler by getting 6%. Ponder this: Was it a better night to be a Republican running toward the middle, or a conservative running on base issues? Consider the NY 23 result and the fact that BOTH anti-tax initiatives on the ballot in Maine and Washington went down... Also consider that McDonnell and Christie didn't run AGAINST the president but hugged the middle; Christie's victory speech, in fact, was a page out of the Obama playbook. (Literally, he used the phrase "turn the page" and said hope and opportunity a few times). By the way, the GOP now controls just two out of New York's 29 congressional districts and it has lost six seats Upstate NY since 2006. It holds no seats in New England, just one in traditionally conservative Upstate New York, and one out in Long Island.

Scozzafava wasn't middle. I don't think the Right should be looking to run third-partiers everywhere. But I also don't think "R." at all costs should be modus operandi either. "R." within reason. And that can be a very prudential judgment based on where you are and what your options are and what the moment is. But it also can have some minimum standards, rather than the purging some so yearn to see.

P.S. What civil war? But more on that later.

11/04 09:20 AMShare