Dick Armey FAIL - New York's 23rd goes to Owens, Democrats
posted by: Aaron Pendell 24 days ago
Despite the fervent, high profile effort to prevent New York's Twenty-Third District (NY-23) from electing Democrat Bill Owens their Congressman, the conservative upstate enclave has officially shifted from red to blue. That the effort failed is nothing short of an embarrassment for the conservative movement.
Along with 2012 presidential hopefuls, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty, FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey fought hard to displace Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava. By clearing the way for Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman, they won the battle against their own party only to lose to their mutual opponent.
Armey, himself, lent his voice to a robo-call that rang the phones of "25,000 targeted households" in an attempt to get out the conservative vote. Armey and his "grassroots" organization are the same folks who rained on the libertarians' "tea parties" last April. FreedomWorks, bolstered by enthusiastic support from FOX News Channel, hijacked the anti-tax protests and perverted them into Obama-will-destroy-America hate fests.
Had Hoffman won the NY-23 seat, conservatives would have declared it a validation of their efforts to steer the GOP further right. With victory going to Bill Owens, the right wing of the Republican Party -- many of whom no longer associate themselves with the GOP -- will assign blame upon their centrists. Either way, they're marginalizing their moderates.
Progressive journalist David Corn summed it up hours before the polls closed in New York in less than 140 characters:
Good news if Hoffman wins in NY-23, GOP civil war will continue. Good news if Hoffman loses, GOP civil war will continue.
(more below the clip)
Frankly, I found it surprising that Hoffman came as close to winning as he did: 45 percent of the vote to Owens' 49. Armey, Palin, Pawlenty, and the campaign funds that came with them were outsiders. Hoffman, himself, didn't yet reside within the district he ran to represent.
The presence of Armey and his ilk exacerbated the perceived importance of this congressional contest. The spectacle of the GOP eating itself heightened the profile of the NY-23 special election among Tuesday's, already media-hyped contests. Considering those factors, I can't help but think that the residents of NY-23 resented the attention that tends to accompany Armey's traveling right-wing circus. That, at least in part, contributed to Owens' victory. Their objection to a moderate Republican candidate -- Scozzafava, incidentally, still got 5 percent of the vote -- helped turn a traditionally red congressional seat, blue.
See Also:
Jessica Pieklo, "The Conservative Canary in New York." Care2 Political Causes Blog, 2 November 2009.
Read more: democrat, election, politics, congress, voters, conservative, republican, right-wing, sarah palin, new york, freedomworks, district 23, ny-23, dick armey, doug hoffman, dede scozzafava, bill owens, tim pawlenty
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OK, an intelligent answer. Now, the non-profit running the public option should be instituted how without the help of the government? How can a brand new non-profit combat fraud better than the government can?
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The government does not need to run the public option. It can be run more efficiently by a non profit organization that specializes in health care. Our federal government has enough problems with Medicare and Medicaid fraud (between $250 and $300 billion dollars a year) that they need to stop before they can convince me that they are capable of administering a public option plan that could just give the opportunity to multiply government run health care fraud if money isn't directed for fraud prevention and prosecution of the abusers in all government run health care programs.
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Barack Obama wasn't "complaining" about Bush during the campaign, he was harnessing America's anger at the Bush administration's failed policies to get elected. It worked. If President Obama keeps reminding us of the horrors of the previous administration, it's because his critics have been whining about how he hasn't fixed the country yet, in less than a year.
Obama didn't just inherit "unfinished business and a deficit" as you put it, he inherited a deficit so monumental that it doubled our national debt in only 8 years. That's right, more spending than all the previous Presidents combined. He also inherited an economy on the verge of complete collapse (and like it or not, his methods have prevented that collapse), and not one, but two wars....... one which should have been finished years ago with Bin Laden either dead or in custody, and another one which never should have been foght in the first place.
You say you don't think the government should run the new public option, well then who should? Private corporations who take a full one third of your premiums as profit? Who?
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To me the question here, is not around the politicians, it doesn't meter to me if they are Republicans, or Democrats! I'm not American and I don't lives in the USA. To me, the important is if they are making the right thing! And in watt concerns the Ambient and the Energy, they are making the good choices. If they are using the other's good ideas, they are in the right way!
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Thomas S,
Obama campaigned long and hard to be President of the United States. He wanted the job. Like Presidents before him, he inherited "unfinished business" and a deficit. He campaigned complaining about GWB and took that dialogue into the White House. He brought it up at every opportunity. It has only been recently because he has been criticized heavily for whining and blaming that he has moved past it. However, his administration/czars never stop.
Continuing to look backwards prevents moving forward. And I will never buy the argument that we have to keep revisiting the mistakes of a previous president in order to take this country in extraordinary financial decline. The healthbill has been the main focus of this administration and I believe it will be Obama's waterloo. Yes, it passed the House but passing the Senate will be much tougher because many democrats will be thinking of re-election in 2010. We all know how politicians are. I agree completely that our country needs healthcare reform...republicans and democrats both agree on that issue. What we disagree on is the government running it.
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"This administration and the dems have been harping on one issue...the Iraq War....and have ignored the obvious. I'd take GWB's deficit back any day. Interesting that Obama kept many of GWB's policies in place when he took office."
People keep saying that, but from what I've seen, Obama has been admirably restrained in verbally throwing blame, short of brief acknowledgments of the burden he most obviously did inherit.
Given the enormity of the task of fixing the gargantuan budget deficit Bush created from a record surplus practically overnight, and that Obama had a more pressing issue at hand when he took the White House, that of preventing a total economic collapse of this country, it makes perfect sense that he might have to temporarily increase spending to prevent that collapse. Once our economy is on the mend, I have no doubt President Obama will successfully reduce our budget deficit.
Given the near disaster of a country President Obama did indeed inherit, it's reasonable to assume that he cannot possibly change all of the policies of the Bush administration in the brief time he has been at the reins.
There are so, so many horrible hunks of damage that were done to this country over the last 8 years, that President Obama may indeed be doomed to accomplish nothing during his presidency other that sweeping up after the mismanagement of the previous administration.
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Am I wrong or was the CBS network news wrong when they described Bill Owens as more conservative than his Republican opponent. Wouldn't that make him a "Blue Dog Democrat"? Just asking.
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Hi Ivan,
Those democratic voices are slowly falling by the wayside. The independents in our country now hold the magic for the next two elections. 2010 will give the republicans, independents and those with buyer's remorse an opportunity to rid the congress of far left leaning ideas. America is finally fully awake. Obama simply lost his ability to sell his agenda of "flatlining" our economy so that he can build A New World Order. Over...done....kaput! He should be researching foreign countries soon to see which one will elect him dictator.
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What wondeful news. We need strong Democratic voices, as we clear away the sad remains of GWB's administration.
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Thomas, thanks, it's my pleasure to entertain you LOL! I really do believe that by the time this administration gets its walking papers Americans will look back on GWB's presidency and recognize the many things he did right. This administration and the dems have been harping on one issue...the Iraq War....and have ignored the obvious. I'd take GWB's deficit back any day. Interesting that Obama kept many of GWB's policies in place when he took office. As Obama is waffling on Afghanistan he keeps digging a deeper hole for himself. Let's get real...when a nation elects a "community organizer" with radical affiliations and no real job experience to the highest office in the United States, well, you get what you ask for. I believe 2010 will be an historic year as the democrats who supported Obama's healthcare and cap and trade say bye bye to the White House. We need a strong leader. We don't have one. We need a moderate President in the White House. America will never accept a far left leaning leader. Hence....the polls.....and the recent election in New Jersey and Virginia. It's just the beginning....
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