RUSH: Let’s go to NY-23. This is an interesting piece here, Chris Cillizza, Washington Post blog, The Fix: ‘What NY-23 Means.’ I love it when the State-Controlled Media starts examining a political
Both political parties ‘are trying to adjust their spin to accommodate what a victory by the Conservative Party candidate would say about the national political field. An independent poll released on Thursday showed Hoffman in a statistical dead heat with Democrat Bill Owens with state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R) lagging badly. That survey, which was conducted for the liberal Daily Kos site by Research 2000 –‘ Fringe leftists doing the poll, ‘– jibes with other private polls done recently and a general sense among Democrats and Republicans that Hoffman is the momentum candidate and the race is his to lose in the final days. At the root of Hoffman’s strength, according to the Kos poll, are independents.’ I’ve been mentioning this all week, the number of independents in Gallup and in Pew which are moving to Republicans from independents, and they’re doing so fleeing what? Liberalism.
‘The bloc of voters most coveted by both major parties heading into the November midterms. While Hoffman is in a dead heat with Owens among all voters, he carries a wide 47 percent to 28 percent edge over the Democrat among self-identified independent voters. Among those same independents, Hoffman has a 53 percent favorable rating and a 14 percent unfavorable rating, far better than the 38 percent fav/23 percent unfav number he had with the electorate as a whole in the poll. How has Hoffman galvanized independents? His messaging has been focused almost entirely on the idea of him as a political outsider who wants to shake up the way things are being done in Washington. And, it’s clearly working.’
Now, you gotta go back to the third sentence. The second is that neither major party knows what to think about the Hoffman candidacy, and obviously neither does the media. See, these people in Washington are obsessed with the so-called centrists, the independents, the moderates. And they appear to be breaking for Hoffman. Who are these people? They’re conservatives who have been wandering aimlessly. They’ve been leaving the Republican Party because the Republican Party has abandoned them. I’d lay you dollars to doughnuts that ideologically most of these so-called independents are conservatives. So, yeah, Hoffman may be getting away and succeeding by portraying himself as a Washington outsider but he is a conservative, he is a Reagan conservative.
So writes Cillizza: ‘So, while Republicans will cast a Hoffman win as a victory for them (it shows an energized GOP base) and Democrats will tout it as victory for their side (it shows a deeply divided Republican party).’ See, the Beltway spin is that no matter who wins this both parties are going to spin it as a victory. If Hoffman wins, it’s a victory for the Republicans because it shows an energized GOP base. The Democrats will tout Hoffman’s victory as a victory for their side because it shows a deeply divided Republican Party. ‘The truth is that a Hoffman win should send shivers up the spine of anyone who carries ‘Representative,’ ‘Senator’ or ‘Governor’ before their name.’ That’s Cillizza. ‘Hoffman’s rise is a manifestation of a series of recent poll numbers that show Americans growing increasingly frustrated with and distrustful of the federal government. … The strong anti-incumbent sentiment may well hurt Democrats more in 2010 simply because they hold more seats in the House and the Senate. But, a Hoffman win is rightly understood not as a rejection of either party but rather a rejection of the political system as a whole.’
No, Chris, it’s not that. It means we want conservatism and that the GOP does not give us that so we need to get control of the GOP. That’s what this means, if this eventuates. Let’s go to the audio sound bites. WSYR TV-9 Eyeball News in Syracuse. The candidates for the 23rd District debated. The moderator Dan Cummings says to Doug Hoffman, ‘Why are you in this race?’
HOFFMAN: I’m in this race because it’s principle over party. I’m in this race because I’m giving the voters of the 23rd District an option between two liberal candidates and a conservative, Ronald Reagan Republican, common sense conservative. And basically if I wasn’t in this race, the voters would not have much of a choice.
RUSH: Exactly right. So, the Drive-Bys want to portray this guy as an outsider. He portrays himself as a Ronaldus Magnus conservative. Up next is Bill Owens. He’s the Democrat in the race.
OWENS: I’m going to do things in the best interests of this district and I’m going to do things which are going to help to create jobs, to help to solve the farm crisis, I’m going to work towards maintaining and strengthening Fort Drum, and I want to move health care forward because I think that’s in the best interests of the majority of the people of this district.
RUSH: Now, here’s the second Democrat in the race, disguised as a Republican, Dede Scozzafava. She’s obsessed with special interest money that’s been donated to Doug Hoffman.
SCOZZAFAVA: When it all comes down to it, the most important people in this race are the voters. And I think in the end, they won’t be misled by all the money that’s coming in, special interest money from outside of the area, and they’ll make a decision based on who knows the issues best and who can best represent them in Washington.
RUSH: Scozzafava’s trailing there. She’s down in the high teens or low twenties, but special interest money from outside the area. Hoffman didn’t have any money up until two weeks ago. The special interest money, folks, is you! Those of you in this audience who have been sending money to Doug Hoffman, the Republican candidate has just charged you with being special interest money because she thinks that the voters will have a negative reaction to the phrase special interests, they’ll think Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Lobbyists, what have you.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The stimulus, as I said, has reared its ugly head in NY-23. Something like 200 jobs saved or created despite a hundred million dollars being poured into district. And there’s this story from the Times Union in Albany: ”Will Every Vote Count?’ — New voting machines in 23rd House race not fully certified in pilot program.’ (gasping) ‘What do Minnesota and New York’s 23rd Congressional District have in common, aside from their proximity to Canada and hard winters? Two additional correct answers: Hotly contested elections, and voters choosing their candidates with paper ballots scanned through optical counting machines. … But Tuesday’s vote will also mark one of the first large-scale uses of the state’s new digital devices, part of the long-awaited move from decades-old mechanical lever voting technology.’ (gasping). Headline: ‘Will Every Vote Count?’
I am telling you they’re already setting up the accusations of cheating and fraud if Hoffman wins. That’s what this is about. And maybe, in addition to that, they’re setting up the fraud and deceit, the cheating, so that what’s-his-face, Owens will win outright. But the voting machines (gasping) okay, let’s write a story and let’s get the news out there, let’s tell the voters in NY-23 (gasping) the election (gasping) next Tuesday (gasping) is not (gasping) going to be fair (gasping) because the machines are flawed. Let’s start a panic about that right now. That’s what they’re doing.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to go back to NY-23 for just a second and that comment that Dede Scozzafava made about special interest money coming in from outside the area to Doug Hoffman, that the voters need to be suspicious of that money. That money, special interest money is all you, those of you in the audience, around the country who are donating to Doug Hoffman. You see, here’s what I think few people, particularly inside the Beltway, understand. NY-23 is not about just and only NY-23. The winner, whoever it is, will have a say about health care and climate taxes that we all pay, and it is proof, or as Lanny Davis would say, it is ‘poof,’ that we all knew, all summer, during the tea parties that the Drive-Bys were too busy to cover, we know what’s going on.
The people of this country are looking at NY-23 and they’re saying, it’s my district, battleground district. You know, Sarah Palin way ahead of the curve on this. Here’s some lessons from NY-23. Hoffman, Christie in New Jersey, and McDonnell in Virginia are all the same lesson: Reagan Republicans win. Christie is not exactly Reagan Republican, but he’s a Republican, but Hoffman, Christie, Virginia, all teach the same lesson, that’s Reagan Republicans win. Sarah Palin is way ahead of the curve of the media and the party elites here. And Hoffman is a Republican! He’s not a third party guy. He is a Republican. Had there been a primary, we wouldn’t even be talking third party here.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I’ll tell you another reason why these elections next week are important. These elections are the first elections since people have begun to catch on to what Obama and the Democrats are really up to. And that’s why how they turn out is so important. And that’s why NY-23 is about all of us. NY-23 is the future of America. And that’s why money from outside the area is pouring in there.