Much Ado About NY-23

I've been watching this little dustup in Upstate NY for a bit now, wondering how it was all going to play out. The President--wily operator that he is--enticed the sitting Republican Congressman to take the job of Secretary of the Army (bi-partisanship!), necessitating a special election for the seat. NY Republicans decided to run someone named "Dede Scozzafava"--who is, by any fair measure, not much of a Republican. (pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, fan of government, etc). Much of the Republican establishment is behind her (including Newt), but a good number of Republicans and Conservatives have decided to support Doug Hoffman, currently running under the mantle of the Conservative Party. Hoffman is likely to gather more votes than Scozzafava, and may even win the seat.

This matter is of course, very interesting to the media, as it shows that Republicans are not "unified". For the New York Times, this race is as delicious as the story I recounted earlier in the week of the environmentalist fighting the "bat-killing" wind farm. Critics of the Republican Party and those interested in growing the party by any means necessary have united to criticize Hoffman's candidacy.

But a party has to stand for something. You don't get to call yourself a Republican and then disagree with just about everything the party stands for--without some penalty. The problem with Ms. Scozzafava isn't that she isn't conservative enough--it's that she isn't Republican enough. I'm all for the Republican Party having a pro-choice wing, or a gay-marriage wing, or a big government wing--I've said as much in my suggestions for growing the party. But you don't get to be ALL of those things and still be considered a serious Republican.