Frank Rich: The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

[Me.]

The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

“BARACK OBAMA’S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.

The governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia were once billed as the marquee events of Election Day 2009 — a referendum on the Obama presidency and a possible Republican “comeback.” But preposterous as it sounds, the real action migrated to New York’s 23rd, a rural Congressional district abutting Canada. That this pastoral setting could become a G.O.P. killing field, attracting an all-star cast of combatants led by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, William Kristol and Newt Gingrich, is a premise out of a Depression-era screwball comedy. But such farces have become the norm for the conservative movement — whether the participants are dressing up in full “tea party” drag or not.

The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom have what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true.

The New York fracas was ignited by the routine decision of 11 local Republican county chairmen to anoint an assemblywoman, Dede Scozzafava, as their party’s nominee for the vacant seat. The 23rd is in safe Republican territory that hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress in decades. And Scozzafava is a mainstream conservative by New York standards; one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly. But she has occasionally strayed from orthodoxy on social issues (abortion, same-sex marriage) and endorsed the Obama stimulus package. To the right’s Jacobins, that’s cause to send her to the guillotine.”….Cont.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/opinion/01rich.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1257033786-19bcrhBEUwyIuHGSvkYk2Q.

[DainBramaged]

1. a Siberia of joblessness

Fucking stoopid corncobs are clueless and this Reich-winger is simply doing the bidding of the national assholes, to hell with the residents of the 23rd. It will serve them ALL right that the Dem is elected in this race.


Mark my words, during the FORCED recount, all kinds of nasty shit will be slung.


"in the early 1960s, radical-right hysteria carried some of the same traits we’re seeing now: seething rage, fear of minorities, maniacal contempt for government, and a Freudian tendency to mimic the excesses of political foes"

[sabrina 1]

2. That race has become the best political entertainment

ever. Dems have nothing to lose since it's a Republican district anyhow. It's like watching a 'Mad, Mad, Mad World' with all of them scrambling over each other, to install a guy they know nothing about. I get the impression that no one is more surprised than Hoffman at what is happening. The guy is a bland, clueless nobody. On the not so funny side, the Republicans seem to have lost control completely of their party. Bad as it was before, it's scary to think that Palin and Beck might actually have the power to send more incompetent morons to Congress.

For the first time, I'm wishing the Republican Party would get its act together before these loons gain any real power.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Palin has a remarkable history

of being divisive within her own party. That was always her MO up here as she advanced through the ranks. Her most vocal opponents during her semi-term as governor were other Republicans. If McCain had done his homework, he would have known that picking her as his running mate, bringing her to national attention, would be disastrous for Republican unity.

[Me.]

10. How Long Are We Going To Have To Wait Until Little Miss Hubris

Gets hers?

[Blue_In_AK]

15. I don't know...

She's starting to scare me a little bit. There's no reason in the world for her to have this much input into a New York election. It just boggles my mind. :crazy:

[grantcart]

3. If only he had used "Trotskyites" instead of "Stalinists". lol

[grantcart]

4. Reading the whole article it is the perfect win win matrix lol

[malaise]

5. The Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava,

has withdrawn from the election. She can't cope with the lunatic fringe.

[underpants]

7. and the money she partly blamed for withdrawing *poof* suddenly appeared

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6896799&mesg_id=6896799

[underpants]

6. I posted the same thing a few days ago but of course Rich's column is great

Always a good read. He and Taibbi are the only thing close to sanity going today in the op-ed world

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x491657

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. LOL!!

"To the uninitiated, the tea party crowd comes across like the barflies in “Star Wars.”"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. The New Republican Party:

:rofl:

[Captain Hilts]

16. Is that Bea Arthur? If so, use a different photograph!!!!! She's cool!

[Stevenmarc]

21. Oh don't toss it, Photoshop Palin in

[otohara]

12. The Gagle of State Legislators From CO

Gawd, the link to find out who these yahoos are took me to Michele Malkin's site.....

:grr: :grr:

[Cha]

13. Thanks! Come ON Bill Owens!

<snip>

"First Scozzafava supporter goes to…OwensOctober 31, 2009 at 2:31 pm by Irene Jay Liu
Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava noted in her announcement that she was suspending her campaign, “It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so.”

The first ones out of the gate: United Auto Workers CAP Region 9… endorsing Democrat Bill Owens."

<more>
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/19532/first-scozzafava-supporter-goes-to-owens/

http://www.billowensforcongress.com/

[Me.]

14. !

It would be beyond delicious if Owens won

[Cha]

20. I've seen some of

Owens' ads highlighting hoffman's negatives and his positives and I think they're Good!

[Me.]

17. K

[SpiralHawk]

18. A Sacred FRONTIER - a Native view of this region. Provocative.

The energetic valve between the Great Lakes and the sea...

"To answer my questions about the land, Kanentiio began telling of where he was born and raised, Akwesasne Mohawk Territory on the shores of Kaniatarowanenneh (St. Lawrence River) at the New York-Ontario frontier. The Mohawks are part of the Iroquois Confederacy, and the Keepers of the Eastern Door. Their confederacy is the oldest, active participatory democracy on Earth. With its Great Law of Peace, the Confederacy was a direct example and inspiration for the U.S. Constitution."

(snip) http://thecalloftheland.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/arising-from-sacred-land-aiming-to-the-future/

[Me.]

19. "Arising from Sacred Land, Aiming to the Future"