Sarah's Plot Thickens

Doug Hoffman, now within about 3,000 votes of Democrat Bill Owens in the New York 23rd, "unconcedes."

Hat tip to Greg Larkin

Showed Her Impact? That She Did

As predicted, the rogue Alaskan's apologists argue that delivering an historically safe Republican House seat in New York into Democratic hands was a great victory for Sarah Palin and the conservative movement. The Los Angeles Times, covering her new book:

[Pro-life activist Marjorie] Dannenfelser said Palin proved she is in tune with the disaffected wing of the GOP when she campaigned this month in New York for a Conservative Party congressional candidate, forcing a moderate Republican candidate to drop out. Conservative Doug Hoffman lost, but Palin showed her impact on the GOP.

Hoffman's Fault!

Glenn Beck:

And you win by three points? That's a victory? You've double‑teamed an accountant and you only won by three points. Boy, you guys are good... That's like the Yankees playing a high school team and winning by three runs. Oh, wow!

Hoffman's Fault!

One of Ann Althouse's correspondents blames Sarah Palin, the great hope of the Reaganites weird-looking Doug Hoffman and all his annoying references to Reagan:

On TV, Hoffman comes across as exceedingly weird, skinny and overeager with googly eyes, bright yellow teeth, and an odd, halting way of speaking. He kept repeating a slogan that he was a common-sense Reagan conservative and common sense isn't so common any more. It got annoying. Owens, by contrast, is big and rugged-looking. He's an Air Force veteran and he has that military solidity, calm and self-possession.

Hat tip to Mike Cheever

Liberal Media's Fault!

Last night I speculated about the pro-Palin spin that would follow her disastrous meddling in New York's 23rd congressional district, which resulted in an historically Republican district going Democratic:

-- Big win for Palin! She puts principle ahead of politics.

-- Scozzafava's fault! How dare she pry the GOP's knife out of her back and plunge it into Hoffman?

-- Hoffman's fault! We all knew he was a milquetoast carpetbagger who didn't have a chance. And yet look how close he came to winning.

-- Liberal media's fault. Why? Just because.

I actually wasn't sure about the last one. Who would dare? But here you go.

Club For Moderates

John Judis on yesterday's results, beginning with Sarah Palin's historic move to hand New York 23 to the Democrats by second-guessing the decisions of the local Republicans who really knew the type of candidate who could hold the seat:

[Doug] Hoffman and his [national] supporters misjudged the district. When Scozzafava endorsed Owens, many of those who would have voted for her backed Owens, and he won the race. Upstate New York, which used to be solidly Republican, now boasts a single conservative congressman. New York, like New England, has become solidly Democratic.

If the results of New York’s 23rd are placed alongside those of New Jersey and Virginia, there is a clear lesson for the Republicans. In New Jersey and Virginia, the gubernatorial candidates ran to the center. Christie is a moderate, and McDonnell at least pretended to be. And as a result, they got the swing vote of independents and moderates. In New York-23, a diehard conservative backed by rightwing groups repudiated the center and lost to a neophyte Democratic candidate who probably could not have beaten Scozzafava in a one-to-one contest.

Win? That's Just What They EXPECT Us To Do

According to "Politico," in a story filed early Tuesday morning, GOP conservatives like Sarah Palin have  chosen an additional ten moderate or liberal Republican candidates to target in 2010 primaries -- all thanks to Doug Hoffman's impending victory in the New York 23rd. So will that be ten more general election victories for Democrats like Bill Owens, who defeated Hoffman tonight? At this rate, with Sarah's help, by 2020 all Republicans will be just like she: Out of office.

Well Done, Sarah! One Less House Republican

Fox News just halfheartedly called New York's 23nd congressional district for the Democrat, Bill Owens. It's been a safe GOP seat for years. Then Sarah Palin decided that local party officials had erred in nominating a liberal Republican, Dede Scozzafava, and threw her support beyond the Conservative Party's candidate for the seat, carpetbagger Doug Hoffman. Scozzafava returned the favor by dropping out and endorsing Owens.

His victory is a stunning defeat for Palin. Yet watch conservatives spin it as a win for their true-blue principles -- although the talking points have evidently not yet been delivered to the GOP's most reliable media friends. Before this evening, Fox had devoted considerable attention to New York 23 as a bellwether race, dramatic evidence that angry conservatives had a better sense of the electorate than the out-of-touch GOP bosses who'd nominated Scozzafava. Now that Owens has won -- demonstrating that local Republicans, unlike Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity, knew exactly what the district was looking for --  Fox's anchorpeople have suddenly lost interest.

Dede And Doug

Mark Halperin on New York's 23rd congressional district race:

While it is true that there is a tactical split in the Republican Party, the circumstances in this contest are unusual — and unlikely to be representative of a broader pattern. [Dede] Scozzafava is an exceedingly liberal Republican and [Doug] Hoffman is not as conservative as some are making him out to be. Still, there will be cases next year in which right-wing forces may be emboldened to support primary challenges to more moderate candidates, potentially dividing the GOP.

23 Scardoo

Joe Scarborough says NY 23 isn't about social issues:

The press will continue to make this race about abortion, gay marriage and Sarah Palin, but the fact is that Doug Hoffman has focused on his opponents' positions on the stimulus package, card check and higher taxes.

If you're a progressive, don't blame this race's outcome on Focus on the Family. Responsibility rests instead on Club for Growth. Tomorrow, the races in upstate New York as well as Virginia and New Jersey will be decided on one issue. The economy.

2012 GOP Debacle Watch

Via Andrew Sullivan, evidence that canny Democrats are rooting for Conservative Party carpetbagger Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd congressional district. If Democrat Bill Owens wins, then the rogue Alaskan and her minions will be humbled, helping the GOP come to its senses. But if Hoffman wins, she'll be emboldened to target other moderates, hastening the marginalization of the Republican Party as 2012 approaches.

I Almost Sent Him $100 Myself

Dede Scozzafava, the GOP candidate for the House in New York who was derailed by the rogue Alaskan, has endorsed the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens. Conservative pundits like Fred Barnes have been saying that it would be a big win for Sarah Palin and the right wing if independent carpetbagger Doug Hoffman won the once-safe Republican seat. What will they say if Palin has delivered it to the Democrats?

Frummery

In a column last week, Bush ex-speechwriter David Frum implied that Hugh Hewitt opposed a third-party candidacy in the New Jersey gubernatorial race while supporting one in a House race in New York:

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt this week offered a stern condemnation of this fratricide on his popular program, calling the third-party candidate:

.... a wrecker, a selfish "look at me" poser .... It takes an outsized ego to look at poll after poll that puts you behind not one but two candidates by more than 10 points and still declare yourself in the hunt.

Whoops! Sorry, rewind. Fzzzzwwwwvvvvwwwzzzp. That was an editing error. Hugh Hewitt was not blasting Doug Hoffman, the third-party candidate in New York. In fact, Hoffman is the darling of talk radio and Fox News, which have helped to spread Hoffman Fever for the past few weeks.

No, Hewitt was attacking the third-party candidate in New Jersey's gubernatorial race, an independent named Chris Daggett who has drawn votes from the official Republican standard-bearer, Chris Christie.

When Frum wrote that Hoffman is "the darling of talk radio" after having just quoted Hewitt, he left the reader with the impression that Hewitt was for Hoffman. Why drag him into the column otherwise? When an outraged Hewitt told Frum on his program yesterday that he doesn't support Hoffman, nor spoiler candidacies in general, Frum admitted that he didn't know Hewitt's position on the New York 23rd and hadn't bothered to check.

In a blog post describing the confrontation, Frum said that in retrospect, he should've been more careful. Whoops! Sorry, rewind. Fzzzzwwwwvvvvwwwzzzp. Frum called Hewitt a bully and impugned his manhood.

Hat tip to Mike Cheever