Do these guys dress up like Confederates for reenactments? With the ultra cool forage cap, no less.

Crooksandliars is reporting voter intimidation in NY 23, one self appointed “commissioner” came up from BT country just for this event!

SD, (sorry o/t, BT) you had me laughing with your Recipe Rage yesterday on a certain someone’s thread. ROFLMAO!

Good work, man! I’m boycotting, but a visible and vocal boycott is brilliant.

Beck and Palin are Mentors? Dang, I thought they were Mentos. In Diet Coke.

Dayden just put something up on that too

Here’s my obligatory Glenn Beck rant:

Hey Beck, your Texas ratings still suck!

Hey Beck fans, Glenny is laughing – at YOU!

Gee, nobody could see voter intimidation by teabaggers coming…/s Wonder how many show up to vote with guns.

Shoot first, exit polls later?

Well, as long as they shoot the correct ones, the exit polls will reflect their views perfectly.

[modnote:no fantasy violence please and thank you]

The base, she is being rallied – the spirit of Karl lives on, moving toward the inevitable Permanent Republican Majority!

there they go, clinging to their guns, yelling about abortion.

Yeah, this isn’t just voter intimidation of dems. I think it’s to get the moderates to fall in line also.

It’s very extreme. If I were a gop moderate, I would be very very pissed off that my candidate was forced out by these yo-yos. I hope moderates can find a place to be “safe”.

The only safe place for them is outside of the Republic Party. Besides, who really wants to hang around with Limpy Limbaugh worshipers?

IMO, whatever happens in NY-23 will not be particularly good news. Either a batcrap crazy right wing fanatic will enter the Congress, or another odious conservadem (assuming here–a progressive wouldn’t run in that district…correct me if I’m wrong on that).

May as well have a run of the mill conservative who has an real interest in getting the garbage collected and the trains running on time.

I hope they declare their independence in droves, as they have been across the country. Anyone who rejects this mindless powerporn and accepts the outcome of a fair election win or lose is a decent American.

My conservative Republic friend is estatic, believing that this and the VA race mark the resurrection of the Republic Party. Nevermind that these are traditionally Republic places.

I’m sure ya’ll listened to Mornin Joe the last two days ranting that what you are saying is “whistling past the graveyard”. None of these right wing candidates are about guns, gays, or abortion. . .they are just regular moderates, like him, interested in fiscal restraint.

If the locals want a run of the mill straightshooter, they should get to pick who represents them without so much pressure to bear from the kooks outside the state to pick a kook. I actually feel sorry for the GOP candidate, and for the voters, that the lunatic fringe is interfering so much in their district.

And yes, commenters from the area say the district is just too conservative for a progressive to run, much less win.

Joe thinks that no one notices that Republics care about fiscal restraint only when they are the minority party.

Hi Raven, I was talking more about the vocal agitators than the candidates themselves. Morning Joe (didn’t watch so I could be wrong) may be characterizing the GOP candidate as a regular conservative. I don’t think the same can be said about Hoffman. Also, one of the objections to Dede S. was her pro abortion stance. And there you go, she’s catapaulted right outta the party!

Oh, he rants about that too. Claims that newt tried to railroad him because he was a genuine conservative.

The NY race has gotten far more attention than it deserves IMO. It’s always been a R district. I really hate it that another R whacko will be in the Congress but what’s different about that. It has gotten so much notice because of the war going on the R party. It hasn’t really been about a Dem winning. I am delighted about the Rs having this brawl and spinning like mad.

gotcha

and only when they are not talking about defense spending, nation building, wars, military action, national security, defense appropriation, freedom, wars, surges, supporting the troops, spreading democracy, wars…

Yep. Isn’t that Hoffman character not even from the district?

yeah, it’s really mushroomed into something else hasn’t it?

I really really don’t like knowing that outside agitators have shown up at the polls and are violating the 100 yard rule of electioneering. Really do. not. like.

I don’t care which party or why. Just back off.

Well, one regular commenter at C&L lives very near by and she says that Hoffman is from just over one of the city limits. So it’s a bit of an exaggeration since locals consider him to be from the general area.

I should probably double check that.

I wonder if they have poll monitors watching in order to stop that. It’s illegal but the Rs will do it if they can.

Oh, I’m enjoying the angst that the Republics are suffering too. But this will not end particularly well for progressives, whatever the result.

For Blue Dogs, it may end well.

So it has come to this the GOP thinks any win means they are coming back. Even if the wins are in red districts or states. The words holding on to what has been theirs not coming back seem to fit better. Everything Is Good for the GOP, Everything is bad for Obama and means he must move more toward the Center.
Never mind FiveThirtyEight has Harry Reid the Senate Leader as the third easiest Senate seat to switch parties the other two seats ahead of him are Open seats.
Given that Healthcare is the only issue discussed for months and the voters like that more than Harry or the Blue Dogs I think the Dems problem is they are not Left Enough.
I want to see the MSM report conclusions based on facts not opinions that make their Corporate owners happy.

Newt wanted to pass laws for that he horse traded with Bill Morning Joe I assume was one of those who wanted to keep pushing the country Right. Even as polls showed voters were not happy with the GOP for being all Monica all the time.

I went looking for more personal background on Hoffman. Didn’t find it, but this is an interesting piece from teh NY Daily. Be sure to check out the comments.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/11/what-made-doug-hoffman.html

high five and amen!

call me naive, but I think it would be a very easy thing to get re-elected based on healthcare reform esp if that meant biting Big Insurance hands.

Taking delight in seeing the GOPers eat their own and letting the Palinites and Beckians and Bachmannites take the party over may seem in order but does not truly serve longer term American politics and governance.

A comic strip/cartoon reduction of the GOPers does not make the Democratic Party better and does harm to the very real cause of making the Democratic Party more responsive to bigger American Left,Progressive or Green positions,policy pursuits and conduct in WashingtonDC.

The Palinites and Beckians and Bachmannites may indeed take the GOP to cliffs edge and perhaps over it. A big surprise? Hardly.

This does not bode well however for improving the Democratic Party or moving it beyond the Blue Dogs and Rahm Emanuel crowd that currently are frustrating much needed bold movement foward of healthcare reform or moving WashingtonDC away from American Militarism and Bloated Corporatism.

A weak or simple silly GOP does not make the Democratic Party face what is not right about the Democratic Party and strive to correct and remedy it with better party process and improved goal setting.

A strong,viable,competitive GOP with sharp thinking taking place that produces policy and new ideas that forces Democrats to respond in kind is in all Americans longer term interests.

A weak two party system promotes a lazy majority party not much different than a underpowered,undermotivated one party regime might.

The GOP may cease to exist. Ok. But that does not mean all good things for Americans who need a better Democratic Party.

Unfortunately, it is becoming all too apparent that “wins” for Democrats seldom translate into any kind of win for everyday folks and almost zero for progressives.

Well at least the lunatics won’t once again be running the asylum for another few years, instead we’ll have the positive reinforcers of lunatic behavior. Count me among those who have come to believe the Democrats’ spinelessness and inability to summon the courage of their purported ocnvictions in the face of sheer madness is not a bug but a feature of the party.

I don’t think an Owens win in this race would be any great shakes except for one reason: watching all the talking heads trying to walk back the gibberish they’ve spouted in the last week about how it’s a done deal for Hoffman.

A strong,viable,competitive GOP with sharp thinking taking place that produces policy and new ideas that forces Democrats to respond in kind is in all Americans longer term interests.

A weak two party system promotes a lazy majority party not much different than a underpowered,undermotivated one party regime might.

The only way we get a strong two party system is for the Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck party to lose big and be blamed for it publicly that and we need the Corporate wing of the GOP to stay weak which as long as the bank bailout is not paid back I think is possible.
Sane GOPers need a chance to get their ideas heard I think if the GOP loses another Presidential Election that might clear the way for the sane GOPers.

Agreed the Blue Dogs have to worry about Primaries:)

So it has come to this the GOP thinks any win means they are coming back.

By the looks of the headline even a loss is a win for the Dems.

Sheesh, let me take a moment to shower. I just got back from trying to find definitive bio on Hoffman re district he lives in. I couldn’t resist reading comments and I am just sick of people blaming Obama/dems for unemployment.

Hello???

They say they are fed up and yet continue to vote for creeps that continue to screw us over. I wish they would wise up.

I know. preaching to the choir. /rant

To some extent “coming back” is a state of mind (but it can’t only be a state of mind).

As for the Democrats, among whom I still count myself, CNN’s Political Ticker was kind enough to publish my comment to their article “Biden stumps for Owens, takes dig at Palin”:

http://www.firedoglake.com
November 2nd, 2009 4:17 pm ET

Vice President Biden’s calling on Republicans to teach their party a lesson by switching parties, is he?

Well, how should we, the true base of the Democratic Party, teach the weak leaders of the Democratic Party a lesson?

I mean, will having another Democrat in the House really change the fact that, as of now, Speaker Pelosi is bringing a weak health care reform bill to the House floor and that Majority Leader Reid is bringing an even weaker one to the Senate floor.

Seriously, what more can we do than give you ineffective and failed leaders control over the White House and large majorities in the House and Senate?

Start acting like Democrats, or we’ll be teaching you a lesson.

If the “sane” Goopers cut themselves loose from the Wingers they are going to have terrible withdrawal. All that money not being contributed, all those nuts willing to carry the hate message so that the “sane” one don’t have to dirty their hands. It would be nice to think that they could pull away from the nuts but seems to me they are stuck like leeches.

extreme conservatives think if hoffman wins, it’s a huge referendum on obama. conservatives are going to use anything to claim victory and the “tide is turning” etc.

You know, like Obama didn’t win the largest popular vote for a dem since 1964 and like he didn’t win the most electoral votes or something. Yeah, that didn’t happen.

If Hoffman wins, it’s just going to encourage the batsh*t crazies even more.

I just read somewhere in the last few minutes that 95% of the money raised for Hoffman came from outside the state. the man behind the corporate curtain still has loads of money with which to buy puppets.

Did it say anything about Owen’s money and how much he has spent? Just wondering if the Dem Party kicked in.

It’s switching out one Republican for another, so it’s not a net loss/gain in party numbers. For now.

But Doug Hoffman is pretty much the poster boy for incompetent wingnut ideologues: mealy-mouthed, ignorant AND stupid–and particularly (a) doesn’t have a thought in his goo-goo-googly-eyed head that wasn’t placed and approved by the crazy-ass wing of the GOP; and (b) thinks his orthodoxy in this regard is what qualifies him for the office.

If elected, he’ll alternate between sucking his thumb and doing whatever Glenn Beck tells him to do.

Want the 23d to go Democratic in 2010? Let them suffer this fool for a year. And as an example of the sort of representation you get when you vote for the GOP, he could help bring other districts–hell, whole states–over to the Blue side.

May be stupid question but why is this district so Republican? Since the Civil War? good grief. Is it rural?

It is extremely rural, stretching across most of the upstate area. Here’s the map from wiki

you could say that wiki

Geographically it’s huge. Don’t know what will happen to it when NY loses a district in reapportionment, tho.

Huge district. Thanks, dakine. I had no idea where it was. I always think of NY state as being fairly liberal.

Since it’s area cuts over the top of a lot of other districts, it will most likely be apportioned amongst them. For example, it currently includes parts of Oneida and Lewis counties. I know most of Oneida County is Mike Arcuri (NY24) so would seem to naturally fit rather than trying to force something across such a wide swath of land

Once you get much above Poughkeepsie, it is far more conservative.

I also see that it is 93.8% white. Couldn’t have anything to do with it I suppose. Nah.

Wow. You guys really don’t understand, do you?

Reading through these comments is both funny and sad.

Most posters here seem to be looking through the binoculars backwards, and Conservatives seem small and funny …and backward..and mean…rural…cheaters…poll violaters…robots….violent people wracked by turmoil and tension in their own party, incapable of an original thought unless ordered to think it by their masters, Beck and Limbaugh.

You DO know that is silly, right?

Unfortunatel

Yes, the New York Democratic Lawyers Council has an election protoection effort going on.