I don’t think the RNC / NRCC did anything wrong. The problem originated with NY23 Republicans. Once a candidate is endorsed by local organizing committee the RNC / NRCC had no choice be to support that candidate.

How would it work if the RNC endorsed and nominated a Presidential candidate, and then decided to support the Libertarian candidate?

From the NY Daily News…

Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, who did not formally endorse either of her rivals when she dropped her bid for former Rep. John McHugh’s seat in NY-23 yesterday, apparently has a favorite after all - and it’s not Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman.

According to the Watertown Times, which had endorsed Scozzafava and switched its support to Democratic candidate Bill Owens this morning, the Republican assemblywoman “began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters” to vote for Owens yesterday.

This occurred as she publicly declined to choose sides after her campaign and a Hoffman operative agreed giving him her nod would do more harm than good.

At 10 p.m. last night - right in the middle of the Halloween festivities - Scozzafava’s husband, Ron McDougall, president of the Jefferson/Lewis/St. Lawrence Central Labor Council issued a statement through the AFL-CIO that he is endorsing Owens against Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman.

Oh and mndasher, you are an idiot. You’ve obviously not followed the events involved in Dede’s “nomination”.

Anyone at the head of an organization that does something so stupid as endorsing Scozzafava, surely should step down, and remove themselves from any further candidate or campaign activities. Get that Sessions? But, I must ask, what about Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Calif. who is the GOP NRCC recruiting person? I don’t know how much truth there was to the stories involving the/some NRCC members interjecting themselves into who the Republican party there would choose to run in the 23rd. NRO reports that McCarthy attended fundraisers for Scozzafava, and donated to her campaign. That was before he yesterday decided to send the Hoffman campaign $5,000., which is way too little, way too late. Shouldn’t the entire NRCC membership be mentioned, and equally taken to task for the utter chaos they have caused with this race? Everyone needs to know all the names that make of the team of nincompoops, so that when/if they talk in the future about candidates, we know what to expect from them.

Dede is EXACTLY what the GOP has been saying is needed for years. A ‘moderate’ that can appeal to the left..er..independents.

As far as the Leadership is concerned, they didn’t do anything wrong. Palin and the ‘conservative fringe’ came in and disrupted a perfectly good GOP race. They will continue to push the liberal side of the GOP as the ONLY way to win back the Congress and the White House.

I am not asking you to abandon the GOP, but any suggestion that the current GOP leadership would be recognizable to Reagan as such, is blind faith.

“I” support Hoffman. When Scozzafava announced her suspension, the fact she would not endorse Hoffman is all the confirmation needed that she was useless to the GOP and any hope to offset Democrats.

Sorry, but the GOP leadership, today, has again taken away the wrong lesson. I see them continuing, even increasing their leftward drift…..

The Scozzafava debacle aside — and it was a massive, massive cock-up, no question about it — under Sessions, the NRCC has done the best job of recruiting the GOP has seen in at least two (and possibly more) cycles, finding strong candidates to win back seats we ought never to have lost, such as AL-02, FL-08, ID-01, and MS-01; putting up major challenges to Democrat incumbents who’ve had a free ride for years, as in AR-02, MO-04, and TN-08; and even making us competitive in unlikely races like CA-47 and HI-01. (These are all just examples; there are many more.)

Now it’s true, I can’t vouch for the conservatism of these candidates. There could very well be more DeDe Scozzafavas among these ranks of these recruits, and if so they need to be flushed out. But regardless of what might happen over the next year, Sessions’ NRCC has put us on the playing field in a way we weren’t in ‘06 and ‘08; these efforts have been crucial to our chances of taking back the House in ‘10 and putting the brakes on the Obamagenda for good.

This tool is going to be running the same scams as Newt & BobDull as soon as he gets tossed out.

Take the Ken Doll Boehner with you too. The guy gives me the creeps and looks like a union boss addicted to tanning booths.

The Republicrats need to get serious about some principled, intelligent and courageous leadership.

One is the 3rd party route that could possibly come out of the tea party movement. The other is what most folks here have very clearly been advocating: taking back the GOP.

As long as you agree with the basic platform of the GOP, the latter should be the obvious choice. Even if a 3rd (conservative) party could be successful its a tremendous risk, like going for a touchdown (and win) on 4th and long when you could tie it with a short FG and go to OT (sorry for cheesy football analogies).

As far as taking back the GOP, events like NY23 and the Rubio/Crist contest are exactly the things that could and should reform the GOP. If they all fail to effect change, the 3rd party movement may happen anyway - and thus a whole lot of destruction will occur, both to the party and country before things get better (if at all).

Erick,

Presuming you meant what you’ve said in this diary—and I’m sure you do mean it—I fear you’ve just dropped a torch on Redstate’s bridge to the Republican Party.

You didn’t ask Rep. Sessions to learn from his mistakes. You didn’t ask him to make sure this didn’t happen again.

You ordered him and his “loyal lieutenants” to vacate the premises. In disgrace.

What if they refuse? What will you and Redstate do then?

I presume you have no intention of walking this back….which is good, because I don’t see how you can.

I am starting to wonder if Redstate has decided to focus first on reenergizing conservatism within the Republican Party, instead of recapturing the House of Representatives in 2010.

I’m wondering that because I don’t see how you can complete a housecleaning (let’s not call it a “purge”) of the GOP before the 2010 elections. Can you? Have you thought it through? If so, please explain it to the rest of us.

OK—please explain it to me, because I don’t see how you can (a) identify and purge the current “RINOs”—some of whom, I presume, will resist–(b) identify and install new party leadership and (c) organize and run successful Congressional candidiates—ALL before November 2010.

I’m with Third Street (see above). I’m hearing lots of good stories about Congressional recruiting. Is Rep Sessions so bad that he and ALL of his “loyal lieutenants” must take the revolver you’re handing them and do the honorable thing? (Figuratively and professionally–not literally, of course).

To be clear, this is your site. You’ve made it a force in national politics. If you and the Redstate faithful have decided that it’s worth jeopardizing a chance to take back the House in 2010, that’s your right.

Sadly, I’m hoping that’s what you’ve decided. Because, with more diaries like these, I fail to see how Redstate can cooperate effectively with the Republican Party leadership at national, state and local levels.

You don’t talk this way to people you want to partner with, or win over. You talk this way to people you expect to surrender.

That’s a shame, because our opposition has many, many advantages. They hold all the levers of national power, are supported by a compliant media, and have many, many sources of funding. To make matters worse, WE are in the position of dislodging THEM. It’s a lot easier to defend a fort than take one. And, we are facing some of the craftiest politicians—Rahm Emmanuel, David Axelrod—America’s ever produced. If there’s a tricky way to hold onto a Congressional seat, they’ll find it. Ask Senator Stuart Smalley.

The Democrats are damaging our country’s future every day they hold unfettered power. I can literally hear the money printing presses whirring in overdrive, sapping the value from my savings and eroding my toddler son’s future.

For that reason, I am not willing to give the Democrats two more years to spend, and raise taxes, and trash our healthcare system, while we conservatives pause to remake our party. IMO our best chance to slow them down is to take back the House in 2010. So, IMO, that is our first target. We retook the Phillippines AFTER we took Guadalcanal, Pelilieu, etc… First things first.

I eagerly await some reassurance from you and the Redstate leadership, that you can make the changes you seek in the GOP without screwing up our chances to take back the House in 2010. I don’t see how you can.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope you can do it. I just don’t see how.

Instead, I see a long spate of infighting that will sap our strength, prevent us from uniting and give the Democrats the openings they need to hold onto enough seats to keep the House in 2010. (Rest assured, the MSM will work overtime to inflame tensions amongst any infighting GOP factions).

I regret the tack you’re taking here. The NY-23 affair has validated many of the criticisms you’ve leveled against the GOP leadership. They now are duty-bound to pay closer attention to what the grassroots conservatives are saying. I suspect, though, that they are not so craven that they will simply take the revolver and pull the trigger (again, figuratively) simply because you insist they must.

Please do not overreach.