Posted by Bruce Carlisle in Opinion on November 4, 2009
I think it was the B word.
When Rush Limbaugh accused Dede Scozzafava of “bestiality with the RINOs,” we probably could have called the election right then and there.
As I said here yesterday, the North Country may not boast Sunbelt mansions and big city money, but they do take care of their own. And, don’t even bother trying to be an outsider and think you can tell them what to do.
Owens wins NY's 23rd.
New York’s 23rd, the Canadian Riviera that stretches from the eastern shores of Lake Ontario and follows the St. Lawrence River to the western shores of Lake Champlain is about to get it’s first brand new, shiny Democratic Congressman since the Civil war.
Thank you Rush. Thank you Sarah. Thank you Glenn. Thank you Fred Thompson.
The second that crowd stepped in, they were getting deep into something they just didn’t understand. Sarah Palin left robo messages indiscriminately on every voicemail box in the district firing up the opposition. Then when Rush went so far as to accuse the party’s candidate, a nice Republican mom with solid union ties of political bestiality you just knew they were stepping into a giant sinkhole of North Country mud they had no chance of ever waddling away from.
Plattsburgh attorney, Democrat, and ex-military guy, Bill Owens, losing in one poll by 17 points as late as Sunday, has won his race. Doug Hoffman, who snared the support of the Republican right wing only to see that support turn into a personal acid bath, can shuffle back to his home outside the 23rd. And, I’m thinking Dede is headed for martyred herodom, at least among Democrats.
Tomorrow, North Country denizens will erase the RoboPalin calls from their phones and hop in their pick-ups certain of one thing; that nobody, not even Sarah Palin’s Facebook page can tell them what to do.
Aided by anger over outside intrusions, indiscriminate robo calling and a redistricting plan that moved some relatively moderate outer suburbs of Syracuse into the district, the Republican voters of New York’s 23rd have sent a loud, clear message to the GOP’s right wing outsiders.
That message: “Mind your own damn business.”
The voters in the 23rd showed what we predicted here. They may be generally conservative, but they are proud and independent. They may not love “the Government”, although many of them feed from it’s trough, they care for uninformed, carpet bagging, national party types far, far less.
If you are looking for big implications out of tonight’s election results, I say pass over Virginia and New Jersey. In the out of the way, often frozen and almost Canadian North Country, it was the ‘Repiblican’ voters, of all people, who drew a big line in the snow and gave ‘Riush’ & company their very own well deserved Waterloo. Eh.
#1 by Nate on November 4, 2009 - 3:55 pm
Shucks! A lot of us here in the South predicted well ahead of time that the upstate "Noo Yock" Repub voters simply hadn't had time to notice that Ms. Scozzafava had dropped out of the race.
After hitting the "vote" button with her name on it—the only Repub in the race last week, when they last checked—they would walk out proud that they'd voted against BarackO in this much ballyhooed ballot.
Others, hearing that the Republican candidate HAD dropped out, would just stay home in dismay that they had no candidate to vote for now.
Yet others no doubt would be swayed against Hoffman by AmeriCorps rent-a-mob hirelings impersonating the well-known secret hoards of "Reblican activists" who love to loiter at the polls to intimidate union thugs, black panthers and the like into voting conservative.
Best of luck to Mr. Owens in reversing the overreaching tide in Washington, D.C. that is now "saving or creating" so many jobs that Americans are almost wishing for bygone "neocon days" again.
#2 by Wm Matthews on November 4, 2009 - 10:57 pm
Frankly the ppl I talk to were of two minds.. that Hoffman was not right but all that they had to vote for that was "not in Obamas pocket" OR that Owens was so much better then someone who was being run by out of towners that it was no contest to vote for Owens.
Then knowing Rep. Owens just a tad having run into him on and off for a few years I can tell you we have done very very well getting Rep. Owens for the job.
Up yours shouters from out of the district. we know who will take care of US.. not you.
#3 by Bryan Brooks on November 5, 2009 - 1:46 pm
As the dust now settles after this election there seem to be some still unanswered questions about not only the NY 23rd but for the nation as a whole. Firstly what is to become of DeDe? Will she switch parties, as the Republicans have basically said we do not want you? Was this just a test to see if the extreme right wing of the Republican Party (Conservatives) could win in a district that has been theirs since the Civil War? Was this seat sacrificed for the good of the party to set themselves up for next years election? Or was this just blatant arrogance on their part, thinking that their way was the only way? Who chooses the candidates for any party to run in any particular area in any election? After watching Michael Steele's interview one must wonder.