Hoffman, baby, Hoffman!?
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:15 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2009
What conservatives just don't get about NY-23's message
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The morning after, conservative idol Sarah Palin's message for the tribe was essentially: The sky IS red, conservatives.
A defiant Palin wrote on her Facebook page last night, "The race for New York’s 23rd District is not over, just postponed until 2010."
You betcha!
Those who thought a loss for the Conservative Party candidate,
Doug Hoffman, was a setback for the conservative movement are probably right, but that's no matter to Palin-ites. They'd argue they only lost because the stodgy Republican establishment didn't embrace Hoffman SOONER.
That's highly arguable, considering Hoffman's lack of knowledge of local issues, his carpetbagger status (he doesn't live in NY-23), and his just overall poor appearance as a candidate. He was always more of an idea. He wouldn't even meet with the Syracuse Post-Standard's editorial board, but who could blame him after his disastrous appearance before the local Watertown Daily Times.
It wrote on Oct. 23rd that Hoffman "showed no grasp of the bread-and-butter issues pertinent to district residents...." He spoke "generally" about national issues, with "no details."
It continued, "A flustered and ill-at-ease Mr. Hoffman objected to the heated questioning, saying he should have been provided a list of questions he might be asked. He was, if he had taken the time to read the Thursday morning Times editorial raising the very same questions."
Regardless of ideology, that is incredible and inexcusable for a candidate.
But that doesn't matter to the Tea Partiers. As the Watertown paper wrote in the same editorial, Tea Party chief Dick Armey "dismissed regional concerns as 'parochial' issues that would not determine the outcome of the election."
Last night proved otherwise. But don't tell that to conservatives.
Here's Palin's full post:
A Victory for Common Sense and Fiscal Sanity
Yesterday at 9:43pm
Congratulations to the new Governors-Elect of Virginia and New Jersey! I’d also like to offer a special word of support to the new Lieutenant Governor-Elect of New Jersey, Kim Guadagno, the first woman to hold that office.
Of course, the real victors in this election are the ordinary men and women who voted for positive change and a return to fiscal sanity. Your voices have been heard.
The race for New York’s 23rd District is not over, just postponed until 2010. The issues of this election have always centered on the economy – on the need for fiscal restraint, smaller government, and policies that encourage jobs. In 2010, these issues will be even more crucial to the electorate. I commend Doug Hoffman and all the other under-dog candidates who have the courage to put themselves out there and run against the odds.
To the tireless grassroots patriots who worked so hard in that race and to future citizen-candidates like Doug, please remember Reagan’s words of encouragement after his defeat in 1976:
“The cause goes on. Don't get cynical because look at yourselves and what you were willing to do, and recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there that want what you want, that want it to be that way, that want it to be a shining city on a hill.”
The cause goes on.
- Sarah Palin
