My Problem With NY-23 Is Money And DC

Eric at RedState has updated a posting with a somewhat softer take on Newt due to his support for Dede Scozzafava. Full disclosure – I created a bit of a kerfuffle on a GOP listserve today because of a posting there supporting the Conservative Party candidate. I did that because, among other reasons, it was an exploitation of the list. It isn't meant to be political, but technical in nature.

Full, full disclosure: creating kerfuffles isn't exactly unheard of for me, as I always speak my mind. Sometimes, perhaps when others, or even many, I suspect, would not and prefer I didn't either.

So here's my take on the race. There is money flowing in DC and elsewhere to influence this race. From my observations of DC, without actually becoming a part of it, when money flows people talk. And I often can't trust where they are coming from, whether it's from principle, or … well, let's say, some other motivation. I am in no way suggesting that's the case with Eric btw. But one never knows who one is talking to, either.

So, bottom line. I am no expert on NY-23. Someone who attempted to convince me that they might be better informed didn't impress me very much. (insert louder kerfuffle noises on my part here).

In short, I stop trusting the info flow down here when the money starts to flow. The stuff I could have given you on Palin I never bought … well, never mind. I simply do not want another issue dividing the base from the GOP right now over a mostly inconsequential race. She could be primaried in a year if she's a bust.

Consequently, I'm not buying the worst or best I'm hearing out of DC about anything when the money is flowing. I didn't care about NY-23 a week ago. I doubt I will, again. Unlike some high profile cases, Rubio/Crist for example, where there's more time to know the players, I'm more willing to take a stand. But when my best info is coming out of DC second hand, I always take it fwiw. Unfortunately, apart from what someone might be being paid to spread it, it just isn't always worth that much. I pass along only reliable info from some select sources I really, really trust. And most of those aren't even on the net, or in media at all.

Unlike Eric, who I like and respect it just isn't the hill I personally want to die on right now. As for some of the better known pundits I've seen weigh in, some might embrace a pure hawk if it ran the deficit around the moon and back imo. And one particular challenger's site didn't have enough meat on it to convince me I really knew anything but platitudes about him after reading it through.