10/21: Is Dede Doomed?

Yesterday we noted that conservative bloggers were mocking NY-23 candidate Dede Scozzafava (R) for calling the police on Weekly Standard blogger John McCormack after he persistently questioned her during a campaign event. After a Scozzafava aide told Politico that McCormack had "repeatedly screamed questions" at Scozzafava, McCormack played an audiotape of the incident to the AP in order to prove that he hadn't raised his voice. The Scozzafava camp subsequently retracted its accusation, drawing further ridicule from righty bloggers (as well as from lefty blogger Markos Moulitsas). The Scozzafava camp's decision to leak its email exchange with McCormack to the liberal blog Talking Points Memo further disgusted conservatives, who called the move "telling for a campaign that is trying to establish its GOP bona fides."

Although the rightroots have been attacking Scozzafava for weeks, this incident has clearly emboldened them, and they're now going all out for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman (who is rumored to have moved past Scozzafava in the latest polls). Many righty bloggers are explicitly urging the RNC and NRCC to abandon Scozzafava -- either by "concentrating their fire" on Dem candidate Bill Owens, or by going even further and "cut[ting] their ties" to Scozzafava.

NY-23: What An Embarrassment!

Conservative bloggers are hammering Scozzafava for her camp's handling of the McCormack incident:

• Michelle Malkin: "As if there weren't enough reasons to oppose radical leftist Dede Scozzafava's GOP candidacy in the NY-23 special election, add one more to the list: She's a liar."
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "What an embarrassment, especially for those national Republicans who went out of their way to endorse Scozzofava like [ex-Speaker] Newt Gingrich. Hopefully, Douglas Hoffman can take advantage of the situation."
• NRO's Mark Steyn: "Since the cop-calling and its aftermath, the candidate has demonstrated that there is no case for her whatsoever. At this stage in the nation's affairs, Washington doesn't need another incoherent buffoon insulated by a phalanx of thin-skinned twerps already guarding her like a 30-year incumbent for whom routine questions are an outrageous form of lèse-majesté. By any reasonable measure, this candidate is unworthy of a seat in the national legislature."
• AmSpec Blog's Quin Hillyer: "Just as a simple, objective observation having nothing to do with who should or should not win that special election, it's safe and fair to say that Ms. Scozzafava has had two extremely, amazingly, incontrovertibly awful days. For that matter, so have [NRCC Chair] Pete Sessions and the NRCC gang who can't shoot straight and who have wasted tens of thousands of dollars of ad money attacking the Conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman, rather than attacking the Democrat, whatshisname Owens, all on behalf of a candidate so far out of the Republican mainstream that she is to the left of Owens and whose dealings with respected conservative media are decidedly gauche."
• Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "How Beltway dumb does the RNC and NRCC have to be to set up a situation where everyone from the Weekly Standard to Michelle Malkin to Redstate are bombing not only Dede Scozzafava, but the RNC and NRCC?"

NY-23 II: Time To Abandon Ship, NRCC

Many righty bloggers are now urging the RNC and NRCC to abandon Scozzafava -- either by "concentrating their fire" on Owens, or by going even further and "cut[ting] their ties" to Scozzafava:

• RedState's Erick Erickson: "The GOP does deserve to wander in the wilderness for another few generations if Scozzafava wins. The NRCC and House Republican leadership needs to focus on crushing the Democrat now instead of building up Scozzafava. Sinking with the ship is not a viable option."
• NRO's Jim Geraghty: "Earlier this week, I was noting that it was unrealistic for conservatives to expect national Republican committees, like the RNC and National Republican Congressional Committee, to do anything but back the Republican in New York's special congressional election. But the situation has changed. It's not just the inanity of Dede Scozzafava's campaign calling the cops on a reporter; it's doubling down and calling McCormack a liar. With audiotape now exposing the Scozzafava campaign as the liar in their account of the candidate's interaction with John McCormack, it's a different ballgame. [...] It's time for the NRCC and RNC to cut their ties, and more. It's embarrassing enough when a candidate won't answer reasonable questions from reasonable press and her campaign attempts to smear them in order to cover up their mess. Forwarding McCormack's e-mails to Talking Points Memo just shows how upside-down the Scozzafava campaign is. The time has come for the RNC and NRCC to ask for their money back. This goes well beyond any reasonable difference on policy. There's room in the party for pro-choice Republicans and pro-gay-marriage Republicans and maybe even the odd pro-card-check Republican. But not this kind of arrogance, this kind of clumsy dishonesty, this kind of reckless hostility to a reporter and a publication that need not be an enemy."
• RedState's Moe Lane: "It's time for the national GOP to -- reluctantly, and I understand their reluctance! -- drop Dede Scozzafava and go with Doug Hoffman. This isn't a situation where the national party is overriding the will of local primary voters; it is a situation where a particular choice of candidate turned out to be the wrong one. Bad choices may be reversed. It's also time for Ms. Scozzafava to act in the best interests of first the voters of NY-23; and second, the Republican party; by dropping out of the race. As it stands she is helping the Democratic candidate, whose presence in Congress and support of the current ruling party would certainly hurt the former."

NY-23 III: Newt Dooms His White House Chances

Several conservative bloggers are criticizing Gingrich for defending his endorsement of Scozzafava:

• Steyn: "Newt really needs to re-think his support for Dede Scozzafava. This isn't RINO but DIABLO -- Democrat In All But Label Only. It's not one of those 'socially liberal, fiscally conservative' bi-swinger deals -- not when you're pro-'stimulus', pro-cash-for-clunkers. And the reductive argument that her sole redeeming value -- a willingness to vote for [Min. Leader] John Boehner as Speaker -- is reason enough to support her is silly in a special election. If he's ever Speaker, Boehner won't be till January 2011, and it's 12 months premature for Newt to be telling voters they need to suck it up and accept that a handful of Jim-Jeffords-in-embryo-form are necessary for the Republican tide."
• Malkin: "So, Newt Gingrich is invoking Reagan to defend his endorsement of radical leftist Dede Scozzafava in the NY-23 special congressional election? Triple-gag. Perhaps it is time to go your own way, with [Rev.] Al Sharpton and [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi."
• Hot Air's Allahpundit: "[Gingrich is] treating this race as a litmus test to prove how big-tent the GOP can be. But...why? There's no good reason to make this district, which should be a safe Republican seat, into a bellwether. Get a conservative elected and then find some socially liberal libertarians in purple districts to champion next year. Like Ace says, Scozzafava is so questionable that it's not clear whether she'd be better than the Democrat, and since this is a special election, she's probably looking at another challenge from Doug Hoffman a year from now anyway. I don't get why Gingrich is digging in here: If he runs for president, this'll be used against him by [ex-MA Gov. Mitt] Romney et al., and if he doesn't run for president, it'll hurt his standing among conservatives as a senior statesman/spokesman for the party. Mystifying."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Perceptual Problems For Dems

Public Opinion Strategies' Glen Bolger sees bad signs for Dems in a recent Democracy Corps poll:

"These data put a dent in the conventional wisdom that individual Republican incumbents are not getting some bounce off the Democratic Party's problems. This is NOT a pox on both your houses of incumbents -- instead, there are very real concerns with the Democratic party. For their 40 key swing seats to be having perceptual problems on being too liberal, too likely to raise taxes and spend too much money, and putting their party in DC ahead of the local folks is a real opportunity for Republican challengers.

There is currently a debate on whether the GOP is well-positioned enough to take advantage of the Dem problems. It's a lot easier for the GOP to fix our fading problems than it is for the Dems to fix their growing problems. Elections aren't about the past, they are about the right now. And, right now, it is going to be difficult for Dems to beat many GOP incumbents. The key question regarding GOP pick-ups is -- what will 'right now' look like in a year? If it looks like this -- or better, the Dems will find that it isn't their birthright to win congressional elections."

LEST WE FORGET: Karzai Declared Winner Of Next Month's Runoff

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"KABUL (The Borowitz Report) -- In a stunning victory, Afghan president Hamid Karzai today was declared the winner of the runoff election scheduled to take place November 7.

Mr. Karzai's victory was particularly impressive since the runoff election is still three weeks away, aides to Mr. Karzai observed.

A jubilant Mr. Karzai thanked his supporters, saying, 'By voting for me so convincingly in an election that has yet to happen, the Afghan people have cast a vote for the future.'"