If Scozzafava isn’t tough enough to handle a couple of questions from a Weekly Standard reporter at a fundraising dinner, how will she fare in standing up to Congressional Democrats?
Tonight, Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for the November 3 special election in the 23rd congressional district, spoke to about 100 Republicans at the Lewis County GOP dinner at the Elks Lodge 1605. After a dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, Scozzafava fended off criticism that she wasn’t as conservative as third-party candidate Doug Hoffman and urged her supporters to vote for her in order to keep her Democratic opponent Bill Owens from serving as a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama’s agenda in Washington. It was a fairly typical evening–until the speech ended and someone with Scozzafava’s campaign called the police. On me.
Earlier today Lindsay Beyerstein reported that Scozzafava responded to an AFL-CIO questionnaire by saying she would support card-check legislation that eliminates the secret ballot requirement for organizing unions. As Beyerstein notes, this contradict statements made by a Scozzafava spokesman in September.
So after the dinner, I asked Assemblywoman Scozzafava if she supports card check. “Yes, yes I do,” she replied.
At that point someone from her campaign placed himself between Scozzafava and me and told me I should direct all my inquires to the campaign’s spokesman. I nonetheless asked Scozzafava if her signing of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to vote to raise taxes means she would oppose any health care bill that raises taxes. “What kind of taxes?” she replied. Then another couple of gentlemen interposed themselves between Scozzafava and me as Scozzafava headed for the door.
I spotted Scozzafava later as she was walking to the parking lot, and asked her: ” Assemblywoman, do you believe that the health-care bill should exclude coverage for abortion?” She didn’t reply. I asked her twice more. Silence.
After she got into her car, I went to my car and fired up my laptop to report the evening’s events.
Minutes later a police car drove into the parking lot with its lights flashing. Officer Grolman informed me that she was called because “there was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation” and then took down my name, date of birth, and address.
“Maybe we do things a little differently here, but you know, persistence in that area, you scared the candidate a little bit,” Officer Grolman told me.
“[Scozzafava] got startled, that’s all,” Officer Grolman added. “It’s not like you’re in any trouble.”
So a vote for Scozzafava is, for sure, a vote for Card Check and (perhaps) a vote for a tax hike and tax payer funded abortions as well.
A tent which is big enough to include someone who supports Card Check, Cap and Trade (among other numerous apostasies) is a bit too roomy for the label of “conservative” to retain any meaning.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
But we need hurr! Superawesome moderate Dede!
October 20th, 2009 at 10:15 am
This should make everything perfectly clear. It does for me.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:24 am
How embarassing. As someone who spoke out (very reluctantly) on her behalf, I’m embarassed. Unless a new poll shows otherwise, I’m still convinced either she or Owens is going to win, but I’ll shed no tears if Hoffman manages to pull this off.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:26 am
3 – guessing this incident gives Hoffman enough bump to tie things up.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:56 am
What an amateurish mistake. I am not onlydisappointed in her, but I am also disappointed in the local Republican Party officials who selected her to run. I guess the Obama White House isn’t the only outfit that has problems with their vetting process.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:01 am
So after the dinner, I asked Assemblywoman Scozzafava if she supports card check. “Yes, yes I do,” she replied.
She isn’t even a RINO. In 2008 The New York Conservative Party ranked her to the left of 46 Assembly Democrats. She’s liberal on everything, except guns. So in other words she’s as liberal as David Obey, John Dingell, Russ Feingold.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Scozzafava’s response to the Weekly Standard
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1009/Scozzafavas_response_to_the_Weekly_Standard.html
October 20th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Scozzafava was the wrong pick for this fight. She’s not ready for prime time and polling is showing her losing support as voters get to know her better.
Hoffman can win and deserves our support.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:19 am
My response to Scozzafava’s statement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW6zDG-Qbm8
October 20th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Screaming, you say? Well, if McCormack was truly “screaming” at a campaign event with about 100 people, there should be tons of corroborating witnesses to back her up.
Right? Right?
October 20th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I’ve been pretty outspoken in saying that people should always support the Republican candidate over any independent or 3rd-party candidate of a right-wing persuasion, but if Dede supports card check she certainly doesn’t belong in the party, or the race. I would (with this piece of information) vote for Hoffman. Still, there’s absolutely no way Hoffman can win. It would be a protest vote.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Any polling on this race?
October 20th, 2009 at 11:54 am
KWN,
Here’s what we need:
Hoffman to win 75-80% of the GOP vote
Dede to win 20-25% of the Democrat vote.
Hoffman needs at least a split with the indy vote.
At this point, I would run any ads against the Owens guy but frame her as the liberal/Democrat in the race and characterize her as the other option so that Democrats get confused. I’d trot out the Kos endorsement in ads.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
GOP House Candidate Would Co-Sponsor EFCA With Card Check
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5059/gop_house_candidate_would_co-sponsor_efca_with_card_check/
October 20th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Yeah this is embarrassing all right. Oh well. We’re soon going to be down to two seats out of 28 in New York’s congressional delegation. Pathetic.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
“Oh well. We’re soon going to be down to two seats out of 28 in New York’s congressional delegation. Pathetic.” And the other 49 states would be to blame for this?
October 20th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Who cares about New York? It’s gonna lose seats next census anyway. It’s also quiet obvious that the GOP can take back the House without New York.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Oprah Winfrey gets ‘world exclusive’ with Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin wants to sell some books. She is giving an interview to Oprah Winfrey that will air Monday, Nov. 16. It will be Palin’s first interview to promote her book, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” The interview will be Palin’s first appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2009/10/oprah-winfrey-gets-world-exclusive-with-sarah-palin.html
October 20th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Ohio Joe,
What are you even talking about?
Right,
I care about New York. I live here. That’s not a good attitude to have. There are plenty of marginal districts in New York – NY-23, NY-24, NY-29, NY-19, NY-20 that could easily be won by Republicans. You can’t say “We don’t need New York.” We have plenty of good representatives from California despite its overall liberal leanings and we’re not going to just give up there.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
“Ohio Joe,
What are you even talking about?”
No one ever really knows.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
19, CA (mah home state) is obviously a better bet. GOP seats stay GOP there and despite the incompetence of the CA GOP, they would never have selected a Dede. With 19 seats, there are 6x as many GOP house members in CA than in NY. Put this in perspective, if we win all NY marginal seats (unlikely), that would bump the number of GOP seats at…7, fewer than Ohio. NY is lost, people there, from upstate to the tip of Richmond Co. are useless to party building.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Of course you do not know Win, because you are concerned only about getting moderates elected.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
“NY is lost, people there, from upstate to the tip of Richmond Co. are useless to party building.” Unfortunately, NY and New England are pretty much lost, PA and NJ are still in the game, but unfortunately, the extreme Northeast part of the country is of little use to us. They blew it by choosing a Left-Wing fool to be the face of our party. It is time to draw the line.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Clearly New York is not “lost” when candidates like Giuliani and Pataki can lead in polls for statewide races.
Even if it were lost on a state-wide basis, it would still be important to win as many districts as possible. Whether that’s three or seven is irrelevant, we need the seats.
Saying “who cares about New York” is insanity. I care about every state and every district.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
We need to do better in New York at the state level. Staten Island has a Dem Congresman, but it went for McCain. There are at least 4, maybe 5 or 6 Congressional districts in New York that we can win. It would be stupid to write off the state because it is tough to win there. In New England 3 states have Republican Governors CT, RI, VT, none of which are current bastions of Republicanism.
We can win in these areas with the right candidates, the right message, the right organization, and the proper enthusiasm of the base. We should be able to compete, fight, and yes win, even in places like Massachusetts, much less NY-23.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Here’s the leak from PPP(D):
New Poll: 48% Of Republicans Say Obama Does Not Love America — 27% Say He Does
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/new-poll-48-of-republicans-say-obama-does-not-love-america—-27-say-he-does.php?ref=fpb
October 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Romney to raise cash for DeMint
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/romney-raises-cash-for-demint.html?wprss=thefix
October 20th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Broader Implications of NY-23
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/10/broader-implications-of-ny-23.html
October 20th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
“Saying “who cares about New York” is insanity. I care about every state and every district.” That train has already left the station. If New York cared about itself, it would not have chosen what is essentially a Communist for our candidate in NY-23. If NY wants the other 49 states to care for it, it better grow up fast and get its act together.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
By the way, the Washington Post is reporting that internal polling from all camps in this race shows Scozzafava in third now, with Hoffman throttling quickly towards first place.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Ohio Joe,
You don’t have any idea what you are talking about. NY districts 1, 3, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 29 all are swing districts. To simplistically say that “New York is pretty much lost” suggests that you have a total lack of understanding of New York politics – and no sense of the national strategy needed to regain a house majority. You fight to win wherever you have a reasonable chance of success. Did the Democrats not fight for a House seat in Mississippi – even though have no prayer of statewide victory? Yes they did. Saying we should write off an entire state because party leaders didn’t pick a popular candidate for a single special election is just plain stupid.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I’m pretty vocal about having moderates around, and will gladly support having folks like Snowe in the party and what they contribute, but as much as I would like to defend this woman and have a little faith in the RNC, it’s pretty hard to at this point. As long as Hoffman isn’t totally out there in right field I would probably end up going for him, especially since he has a decent shot at actually winning. Scozzafava, not so much.
I think we need to put leaders in Congress, not people that just know how to beat the base’s drum. But Scozzafava just isn’t showing any caliber whatsoever. The party needs to just discreetly step away from this and start encouraging Hoffman to step up and take her place.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
MPC: I agree. I will support moderates (such as Snowe) in places where that’s the best we can hope for. But Scozzafava doesn’t appear to be very moderate.
On the other hand, Ohio Joe, calling her a Communist is … strange.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:50 am
Politico is picking up that Scozzafava lied about the “confrontation”, which as tapes prove was merely the reporter asking her the simple questions posted above:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1009/Reporter_never_yelled_at_Scozzafava.html?showall
October 21st, 2009 at 3:59 am
“On the other hand, Ohio Joe, calling her a Communist is … strange.” Well, she is a lot closer to the Communist party that a mainstream Conservative.
I was at a local fund-raising dinner last (I refuse to go to a national fund-raiser until this NY-23 fiasco is over.) Our state chairman gave a talk at the dinner and during the question and answer session, I asked him how such a NY-23 fiasco could be prevented in Ohio. He said that he really did not know too much about what was happening in NY-23. Many in the audience shock their heads in disbelief, many people thanked me for asking the question and many Republicans during dinner conversation said that they hope the GOP loses in NY-23 so that we learn our lesson before 2010. Oh, a long with a candidate for national office and a relative of a R42012 poster, there was a Romneyite, a Pawlentyite and even a Gingrichite at my table, so we were not all a bunch of Palinites. We were a diverse group of Republicans of which many of us think that our party missed the boat on this one.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:23 am
Ohio Joe,
You don’t have any idea what you are talking about. NY districts 1, 3, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 29 all are swing districts. Well, first of all, while NY-19 & NY-20 have been fertile Republican ground historically, let’s just say that unfortunately, we would need a rather large swing in our favor to get them back at this time. With respect it is almost like saying that Texas used to be an extremely reliable state for the Dems, after all, they voted for Mr. Carter. Yes we should be somewhat competitive (in various degrees) in the other 7 NY districts mentioned. However, proportionately we are in much better shape in terms of winning districts in the the liberal states of CA, IL, MI, PA and NJ. Thus, I do not favor throwing large sums of money to a state that does not have its act together.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:52 am
#34.MPC:“Politico is picking up that Scozzafava lied about the “confrontation”, which as tapes prove was merely the reporter asking her the simple questions posted above:”
I said in #5 that this is a very amateurish mistake. I was wrong. I should not insulted amateurs like that.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:04 am
A Republican lying about and smearing a respected conservative news outlet.
Now there’s a winning strategy!
October 21st, 2009 at 12:03 pm
What gang of incompetents picked this candidate? It’s not like we’re talking the Upper East Side here, people, there was no reason that a rural district like this one couldn’t have had a real GOP candidate.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:01 pm
#39 Fredo, my only guess as to why such a candidate would be selected by the establishment is because it’s a bunch of Southerners (and I’m one, so I can say that) who think the entire Northeast is a bunch of brainwashed liberals, so you need to run someone like that to have a chance. Almost nothing else makes sense.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
This lady’s a moderate without guts, a “RINO” without a horn. In our Republican zoo, she’s more akin to a zebra really – who have much more in common with donkeys, than rhinos or elephants