Newt Goes All In On NY - 23

Newt is making the case I made previously in my PJM piece, though I stopped well short of endorsing Scozzafava. In that sense, you could turn this back on Newt and say, why did you get involved? But that wouldn't be completely fair under the circumstances. The only real answer is conservatives getting more involved on the ground with the GOP to prevent a Scozzofava from getting the nod. But now that she has it, what the heck, we might as well have the debate.

Newt makes the case against what he calls a purge. It isn't fair to call it that and at the same time say people are acting based upon misinformation. Is it that when it comes to Scozzafava, or not? Some of the back story suggests she's well beyond what one might consider a moderate Republican. Whatever the truth is, Newt seems to be staking his political future, at least as concerns conservatives, on his being right. Is he? Or is he not?

VAN SUSTEREN: It's sort of interesting, the names, especially former governor Sarah Palin and current governor Tim Pawlenty are sort of names that are batted around for 2012. Is this sort of positioning or moving into position, or not?

GINGRICH: Look, I have no idea. I think in the case of Governor Palin, she's clearly part of the conservative movement in a very national kind of way. The conservative movement has gotten very excited about this race, I think largely on misinformation. I think if people looked at this issue of local leadership, local control, local involvement -- the money raised in the district is overwhelmingly going to Dede Scozzafava and is not going to the independent candidate. He's getting his money from outside the district and mostly outside the state.

The fact is that on local issues, she actually knows what she's doing. He's said publicly he doesn't know what he's doing. And so you have to ask a question. If we're going to have representative government, aren't the people of upstate New York allowed to pick their candidate? In the polling data, she's clearly carrying Republicans.

Comments

[John]

No really.

for Newt

"It is better to die on your feet than exist on your knees"

[Scott]

"He's getting his money from outside the district and mostly outside the state."

Except, you know, the $200,000-300,000 that the NRCC is giving Dede. But that's different outside money and support, don't you know?

Surely Gingrich is smart enough to know that his stupid remarks apply just as much to him.

[smitty]

This is the same point I was making over here. If you elect the Democrat or the Republican, the question becomes the path to destruction, not the destination.
There is no arguing with the malignant, aristocratic cancer. You're fighting it or succumbing.
Yeah, the binary argument seems just a little heavy, but "to every thing there is a season". I submit that this may be the season for digging in the heels for a little scorched earth action.
Newt & Co. have been party to the madness that brought us here. Now he wants us to lay by our dish. Boot Newt.

[smitty]

The argument I was making over here:
http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2009/10/not-really-dan.html

[mark l.]

world's grossest video?

newt and dede do a sequel,

"two republicans, one cup".

[mark l.]

"He's getting his money from outside the district and mostly outside the state."

didn't know newt was actually from new york.

[Bruce, NV]

Gingrich has taken the first step to irrelevence.

[Terrye]

He does have a point. I might well vote for Hoffman myself, but the truth is the Republican party on a national level is often stuck with whoever the locals put up. If this had not been a special election and if there had been a primary, it might well be that this lady would not have gotten the nod at all.

I say let the local people go to the polls and decide, it is really up to the people of that district. I do think that this has caused enough internal strife that it might cause some folks to stop and think about who they are nominating. A center right Republican could have carried this district easily without all this angst.

[Lala]

Dede is -
pro card-check
pro abortion - received Sanger award
pro gay marriage
pro cap and trade
only one good one and that's pro-gun

[davis,br]

"If you elect the Democrat or the Republican, the question becomes the path to destruction, not the destination."

Brilliant. AND well put, smitty. Kudos.

And as far as Newt asserting "I think if people looked at this issue of local leadership, local control, local involvement ..."

Uh, we have been looking, Newty. And not liking what we're seeing. So heere, maybe you can gain a little enlightenment by familiarizing YOURself with the "local issues", too: http://www.tcotreport.com/23ny1.html

[Ran / Si Vis Pacem]

Thanks for posting this, Dan.

Anyone know what misinformation Newt is calling-up? Clearly, either the Working Families/ACORN cluster are misinformed, or Conservatives are misinformed.

To Terrye's point, the real key is NOT got get stuck with whomever the local Repubes decide to run. We've got to show up at local Republican offices and meetings. Meet candidates, or run ourselves, and "make it happen." The battle is won or lost long before the engagement.

Another thing about Newt... A lot of people will join us under the tent IF we offer a genuine alternative. What's gotten to him? He showed us it can work, and now he's arguing with his own success? I truly don't understand the new Newt.

[mark l.]

"I think if people looked at this issue of local leadership, local control, local involvement -- the money raised in the district is overwhelmingly going to Dede Scozzafava and is not going to the independent candidate."

gee...
all this "support" and you'd think she'd have in sewn up.

the only relevant issue is who people will vote for, not who the party 'selects'. If the local leaders that made dede the choice, can't convince the voters, it is their own damn fault.

this race has crossed the rubicon of where it was about the candidates, and now has become an exercise in the local gop leaders trying to save face. If the matter is local politics, then surely her views that are discordant with national conservatives are merely feathers in her cap, which should have made the election a cakewalk.

[datechguy]

Well considering that Charles Johnson is backing up Newt on this I'd have to say yeah.

[Lala]

I have to correct something I said about Dede, she's not pro cap and trade, she's pro stimulus.

Here's Mark Steyn talking to Hugh Hewitt about her and calling her a DIABLO

MS: Well look, she’s not a moderate Republican. I’ve nothing against her, apart from the fact that she’s managed to demonstrate profound incompetence. But it’s not that she’s a moderate Republican in the sort of Christie Whitman or even the Arnold Schwarzenegger sense when Arnold first ran. She’s not running as socially liberal but fiscally conservative. It’s not just that she’s pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage, but she’s pro-card check and pro-stimulus and pro-cash for clunkers. So she’s not a RINO, Republican In Name Only. I said on National Review she was a DIABLO, a Democrat In All But Label Only.

[the bishop]

No, this is yet another example of local party picking the wrong candidate, ticking off every
conceivable part of the base, If we respond that's purging, it seems reverse of logic. They
did it with Crist over Rubio, Specter over Toomey, probably Whitman over Devore is the next one

[gary gulrud]

Per your earlier post, I understand Newt thinking we'd all be interested in his opinion. He did once upon a time teach history and was Speaker. But seriously, he hasn't faced the voters in more than a decade. He speaks for no one but unnamed apparatchiks like himself.

Stick a fork in him.

[Jabba the Tutt]

Newt's argument: "You're stupid", he explained.