Posted by
Cynewulf on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:44:34 PM
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Most elections are not either. You win or you lose. Close? That doesn't even guarantee you a chance to run the next go-round. A few years, if not months, go by and no remembers who the close guy was. NY23 is different. It's a hand grenade. Hoffman lost, but we won. Kind of. There's no doubt that Hoffman losing was a huge disappointment. Not a disappointment in Hoffman, but in the inability for the story to finish like it should. Cinderella came up just short. The shoe didn't fit. This time. But, when we get through the fog of emotion and look at the facts, we can see that Hoffman blew up this race and has changed the game. And, he is instantly the front-runner for NY23 a year from now. What do the Dems gain? A temporary extra seat in the House that is neither here nor there for them, except, perhaps, symbolically. They can crow about winning a seat in a red district, but the crow sounds half-hearted when what's really on their minds is losing two governorships in states that went for Obama just a year ago. That and the fact that Hoffman was a guy with no name recognition who got in the race kind of late, didn't have the support of the RNC, and got backstabbed by the "Republican" that the RNC backed. Oh, and in spite of all that the win was only by a couple points. Well, the Dems can also use it to bash Palin over the head with. She's so done. Her support only moved Hoffman from 13% to 46%. Completely powerless. Hoffman would have been better off without her. Like McCain. Yep. Other than those limp-wristed attempts at applause, the Dems got nothing. So what's it do for conservatives. Well, it has shown that a conservative with almost everything going against him can win over a RNC backed Republican. I know, I know. Steele and Lindsey Graham are already talking trash about not taking on RINOs, but if they want to learn the wrong lesson yet again, let them. While there are those that still don't get it, many did. Many donors are talking about donating directly to the candidates instead of to the RNC. And this gem: The NRSC will not spend any money in contested primaries that have open seats. This sounds like a win to me. Oh, and, of course, the best news: The Scozz won't be "representing" us. No one in NY23 need watch their back. Michelle Malkin says it best: "Better a donkey in office that acts like a donkey than a donkey in elephant’s clothing making a complete @$$ of the GOP."
And in closing, allow me to recommend these two essays by Dr. Zero over at Hot Air:
Definitely worth the read.
UPDATE:
Totally unrelated, but I ran across this site at the Ace of Spades; it's a photo journal of a young man's journey in the Army from enlistment to basic training to Iraq to coming home again. Very well done: