If you can’t be with the one you love….

If you’ve been following NY’s 23rd Congressional District race, you know that a major political upset may be in the making. If you’re not, you should be. Here and here are a couple of articles that tell the story.

It’s huge that a third-party candidate is beating the dickens out of the GOP candidate, and is beating the Democrat as well. It’s huge that one more conservative vote may soon find its way to the House of Representatives. However, I think that the most significant aspect of this drama is something completely different.

What’s really huge is the reaction of the RNC to the success of the Conservative candidate. Doug Hoffman ran in the Republican primary, but was defeated by Dede Scozzofava, a hand-picked candidate by the Republican party of NY.  Undeterred and dead-set on giving Conservative New-Yorkers a real Conservative option, Hoffman turned to the Conservative Party of New York.  (The name of this party tells the whole sad story of party politics in NY – kind of like entering a town and seeing First Baptist Church on one corner and Unity Baptist Church on the next.)

Now, Hoffman is soundly defeating the anointed candidate of the GOP – and they’re not happy about it. Political parties are run by those who show up, and the condition of a local or state party can’t necessarily be considered indicative of the state of the whole. However, the reaction of the RNC to situations like these is a pretty good indicator of where exactly the national leadership stands.

If, as they would have us believe, Conservatism is more important to the RNC than politics, then they would have backed the conservative candidate if he had a real shot at winning.  But, that’s not what they did. Not only did they send money – RNC funds – to Scozzofava, but they also sent in ground troops to help her campaign. And, they’ve run awful attack ads against Hoffman.

And (surprise, surprise) former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has endorsed Scozzofava, trying to paint her as a conservative.  Gingrich defended his endorsement by saying

“If you seek to be a perfect minority, you’ll remain a minority.That’s not how Reagan built his revolution or how we won back the House in 1994.”

Now, I could understand his position if Hoffman had as much chance as typical third-party candidates have. After all, a pro-second Amendment liberal is better than an anti-second Amendment liberal. But, he said this when Hoffman was ahead of Scozzofava in the polls. Where’s the pragmatism in that?? I had to read his defense more than once before it even made sense. I’m afraid that while Gingrich talks a good line and is popular among conservatives, he has shown his true colors as well.

So what does this mean for conservatives? Should we ditch the GOP completely and embrace third-party options? Not at all. It just means that we have our work cut out for us. It means we need to ditch the establishment leaders, we need to quit casting longing glances at Newt Gingrich, and we need to start recognizing the conservative talk of the party leadership as the hogwash that it is. It’s time for the ordinary Joes to step up and run for office – within the party itself. And in the meantime, we need to quit sending money to the RNC – because it just might end up in the hands of another Scozzofava.

Hoffman’s race is not necessarily a pattern for conservatives. Generally, supporting third-party conservative candidates is counterproductive. However, in New York we have a scenario that is unique in so many ways, and it is acting as a “sifter” for Republicans and conservatives who claim to put party before principle.

The latest on the RNC vs. Hoffman situation is that the RNC has now stopped funding Scozzofava, they have pulled their anti-Hoffman ads, and their ground troops have retreated to New Jersey.  Also, the RNC chairman has issued a statement saying that a win for Hoffman is a win for the GOP. In other words, if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.