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The Mysterious Case Of The NY-23 Election



Nov 4, 2009 7 Comments ›› Erik Wong

doug-hoffman

Pajamas Media:

November 3, 2009, was a great day for the Republican Party with resounding wins in Virginia and, improbably, New Jersey where Bruce Springsteen blared as Chris Christie began his victory speech. (I wonder if Bruce will sue.) But in the midst of the welter of re-upped GOP glory only one year after ignominious defeat, there was one outlier – New York’s Twenty-Third Congressional District.

Now I realize that the surprise loser there, Doug Hoffman, ran as a Conservative, not a Republican. But I submit in this case that was a distinction without a significant difference because virtually all the Republican establishment had lined up behind Hoffman by the day of the election.

So why – in what was clearly a Republican year – did Hoffman lose? Well, there are several reasons and, yes, the Democratic victory was narrow, thinner than the five or so percent that went to withdrawn Republican nominee Scozzafava who herself endorsed the Democratic candidate. Still, the 23rd is a safely Republican, even conservative, district. In a year where the GOP racked up a 20% margin in Virginia and coasted easily in Jersey, a state in which Obama romped in ‘08 by 16%, what was the problem?

Well… I might as well say it… social conservatism. America is a fiscally conservative country – now perhaps more than ever, and with much justification – but not a socially conservative one. No, I don’t mean to say it’s socially liberal. It’s not. It’s socially laissez-faire (just as its mostly fiscally laissez-faire). Whether we’re pro-choice, pro-life or whatever we are, most of us want the government out of our bedrooms, just as we want it out of our wallets.

Hoffman’s capital-C Conservative campaign, however, tried to separate itself from the majority parties by making a big deal of the social issues. He was all upset that Scozzafava was pro-gay marriage, seemingly as upset as he was with her support for the stimulus plan. He projected the image of a bluenose in a world that increasingly doesn’t want to hear about these things. Hoffman’s is a selective vision of the nanny state – you can nanny about some things but not about others. I suspect America deeply dislikes nannying about anything.

There is, of course, a message in this for the Republican Party going forward. You can choose to emphasize the social issues or not. Today may show the former is a losing proposition.


  • ROF

    Well I know Im socially conservative, and I care, as I suspect many like me are socially conservative, and care as well. The idea that social conservatism and fiscal conservatism are somehow seperate is ridiculous. Social customs dictate how you behave and determine whether you live in excess or in want. Socially conservative values promote modesty, responsibility, and living within your means. Maintaining conservative social values are, in my opinion, the best way to maintain conservative fiscal values. To divorce the two, and to focus on just one, weakens the conservative argument in its totality.

    • MinneSoCold

      BINGO! :beer: :beer: :beer:

  • http://patdollard.com Average Joe

    Ask I asked on of of the other items…

    Has anyone bothered to investigate how many OUTSIDE OF NY-23 DEMS AND FRAUD BALLOTS were trucked into NY-23 and used to beat Hoffman???????

    We absolutely know that some voter fraud was committed by Dems. This race was the real “bellweather” for Congress to claim there was no “tide of Ant-Obamaism”.

    THEY ABSOLUTELY HAD TO PREVENT HOFFMAN FROM WINNING.

    • Desert Rat

      Indeed! I’d like to see an accounting of the mysterious 5 point swing against Hoffman between final polls (including exit polls) which was over and above the 5% for Scozzafava… Looks strange anyway.

  • copperpeony

    I posted this before, but will again and I hope to God this is the holy truth, but the source is impeccable (under Mirage Media):

    “New information coming out of New York’s 23rd reveals a judge has now seized voting machines which apparently were not counting votes correctly.
    Alas, it appears the Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson voting scenarios to gain victories in South Dakota have showed up in New York too to have another Democrat win in an entirely, overwhelming Republican district.
    Perhaps it was not so much idiots voting for a traitor not on the ballot, but Al Franken creative vote manufacturing in New York……….now word yet if more people voted there than there were voters as in Minnesota.”

    http://lamecherry.blogspot.com/

  • lastconservativeblackmanonearth

    … this is the deal: “I hail from the school of “you break it, you buy it”, or “you breed ‘em, you feed ‘em”, and “you pay for your own f-ups”.

    now, does that kind of thinking classify me as a social, or fiscal conservative?

    let me apply some good ‘pl common sense here: a conservative is a person who believes the job comes *before* the benefits.

    … a socialist believes the other way around.

  • Double Tap

    I agree with the comment above. This election result stinks of fraud. There is no way I believe this one was not stolen by absentee votes or voting machine rigging.