Excellent.

__________________
January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

Aren't they LINR's ( Libertarians In Name Really) ? Unless y'all are just trying to fool US yet again.

Seems to me it's a tossup where those who were supporting the republlican will end up. I actually hope the conservative wins this one. A continued move even further to the right in the republican party as a whole will just about guarantee larger dem majorities in congress and another term for obama. It also improves Paterson's re-election chances in NY and will probably increase dem majorities in both state houses.

__________________
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

What are you rambling on about?

You just keep telling yourself that, because in the last 20 years, when we have run "moderate" and "maverick" Republicans who supposedly are our only hope of appealing to the "center", we LOSE. Yet when we nominate the supposedly right-wing extremists who will turn off the center, we win. Go figure. The best thing the GOP can do is to stop listening to the advice of democrats and the media in who we should and should not run for the good of the party.

__________________
"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

There's a few million tea partiers in this country that would disagree with that comment.

Me being on of them.

But on Sunday, Scozzafava issued a written statement in which she backed Democrat Bill Owens.

"I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same," she said. "In Bill Owens, I see a sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship. He will be an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York. Bill understands this district and its people, and when he represents us in Congress he will put our interests first."


Interesting, the plot thickens.

That's just it. A few million people from the far right cannot deliver enough votes to win a presidential election or maintain the current number of republican seats in congress. As part of a coalition they have run this country for decades. But alone they cannot. By moving further to the right to embrace the teabaggers the party is abandoning the middle and the moderate right to the dems. And if the dems own everything from moderate right to far left it's game over.

__________________
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

That was before bush. And it was before the selection of Palin made moderates decide the ticket could no longer be taken seriously. The story of the last two national elections is the story of the right overreaching and of the republican brand being destroyed by association. The two leading repub candidates and the leaders of repub congresspeople and fox and right wing radio have been reduced to repeating nonsense like "death panels" and "socialism" as their only message. That kind of know nothing tactic won't work with most people..

__________________
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

Here is an excellent Frank Rich Article on the GOP Stalinists in upper New York statehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/op...sredirect=true
I especially like the first paragraph:
B

Pretty much any Republican ticket was doomed immediately after Bush, given his poor PR and the easy association with him. I think it says something about how weak BO was as a candidate that he didn't crush the blase and uninspiring McCain by double digits.

By the same token, you are correct, the "far right" alone cannot carry the day in an election. However, if Obama and the Democratic congress continue to try to shove programs which are fairly obviously unwanted by at least half the people down our collective throats, it won't really matter how far right the Republicans move. The pendulum will swing back and probably even pick up momentum.

__________________

He's come to save the day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVFdAJRVm94

What a joke. NY23 was just denied a choice, in such a blatant case of rightwing bullying that the former Republican candidate has just endorsed the Democrat. This will only cause the Republican party to get smaller, and even more irrelevant.

__________________

Health care reform is wanted by a large majority of Americans. Trouble is there is probably no one plan that commands a majority. That means any admin which implements it will anger at least a large minority. It's going to come down to ow the two sides spin it. If the dems can paint republicans as unconditional obstructionists whose only aim was to deny healthcare to many ameircans in order to benefit rich insurance companies then they can use health care reform in their favor even if its form does not please everyone. Republicans can obviously claim his plan is part of an economically reckless pattern. Their own record from 2000-2008 will expose thm to charges of only recently finding any respect for economic responsibility and they will have to buck the majority of economists from both sides who claimed that deficit spending used as stimulus was our only choice. But they will be out of power so they can put on the "outsider" mantle and lean on their old tactic of claiming dems are the effete elite.
They have to forget "death panels" and "socialism" or they simply will not be taken seriously by most voters. If they keep that up and if palin is still a leading candidate for the next pres election in november '10 then they will lose more seats.

__________________
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis

Geez, stupidity just abounds. How exactly is it "rightwing bullying" that "denied a choice" to have a REAL Republican run on a third party ticket (what kind of idiot considers MORE candidates a denial of choice?) after the actual republican voters of the district had a nominee foisted upon them NOT by choice (aka a primary) but by 11 local party bosses trading on favors.

Most real republicans who are concerned with the party's values and principles would rather have the democrat Owens than Scozzafava (with a more liberal record and platform than the democrat she was running against) any day. Putting party affiliation aside, this can't be seen as anything but a staggering loss for the left, as the most liberal of the three candidates was coming in a distant third.

All that said, I still think the real republican will win.

Also, it is truly amazing that people look at the current state of politics and think it is Republicans who are pushing the center away by embracing their extremist base. The democrats have solid majorities in both houses, enough to pass ANYTHING (except for a Constitutional Amendment) without a single Republican vote, and they are still having trouble passing their agenda because it is so pandering to their left wing extremist base.

__________________
"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Health care reform, yes. That is wanted by the vast majority. The argument is over implementation. Single payer is not wanted by the majority, and simply mandating that everyone get health care or be penalized will not solve the problem and will probably be seen as buckling to insurance company pressure. Mandating employer health coverage will most likely lead to layoffs and some business closures, which is easy to spin. In short, the Democratic leadership have worked themselves into a pickle on this one.

I'm short on time at the moment so I'll just say that as far as Palin, I tentatively agree with you.

__________________

He's come to save the day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVFdAJRVm94

You may have noticed that obama and the dems did not even whisper the words "single payer" during this whole legislative process. That's a good indicator that neither pres nor congress is particularly "left" on the issue. You're right they will be seen as buckling to the insurance companies. And rightly so. But it will be difficult for republicans to make hay on that since they have been carrying the spear for insurance companies themselves for years. As for layoffs, it will be difficult to say they come from mandated insurance and not from the economic catastrophe which dems will be able to blame on bush for at least the '10 election and probably the '12 too.

A lot will come down to execution of campaign strategies. But IMO the only way the republicans have a chance is if they tone down the extreme right and come back to the middle. So far I see no signs of that and if the conservative wins the NY 23 it may be even harder for them to do so.

__________________
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis