| The unsigned editorial trashes Tedisco, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and state GOP chairman Joe Mondello (and his patron, Al D'Amato) by name.
Here's a taste:
Republicans lost because they fielded a poor candidate who ran a lousy campaign. While Mr. Murphy was a fresh face who could plausibly argue he'd assist President Obama's call for change, Republicans picked an Albany careerist who personified more of the same. GOP power broker (and Al D'Amato pal) Joe Mondello rigged the nomination to deny a real contest, thus cutting out the likes of former state Assembly minority leader John Faso.
Such ingratitude! Tedisco has been a stalwart backer of the business community, and even got a very public endorsement from the multi-millionaire owner of Price Chopper supermarkets, thanks to their mutual hatred of unions. For that he gets slammed as an "Albany careerist"!?
And gimme a break about Faso -- the guy lost to Spitzer in 2006 by more than 2-1, and has been trying to be a millionaire lobbyist/fixer like D'Amato since then. He's also well-known as an arrogant asshole.
The editorial scorns Boehner for trying to put lipstick on this pig of a loss, which, after all, is part of his job.
Republicans lost another Congressional race on Friday, as Democratic newcomer Scott Murphy was declared the victor by some 400 votes in the March 31 special House election in New York state. But you wouldn't know it from the response of House Minority Leader John Boehner, who declared that GOP candidate Jim Tedisco "forced the Democratic Party to invest heavily and defend a seat they should have had in the bag."
I-yi-yi.
snip
Mr. Boehner would do better to stop spinning defeat and start looking for candidates who believe in something beyond their own careers.
No, I don't know where that "i-yi-yi" comes from, but in context it appears to mean either "aargh" or "yeah, right."
The editorial also gives a new, more limited way that Republicans hoped to use a victory in NY-20 to thwart President Obama.
The fact that the race was so close shows that, had Republicans run a credible candidate, they had a chance to send a message to Blue Dog Democrats in Congress that Mr. Obama's agenda is less popular than he is.
I thought the whole idea of going all in with Tedisco was to repudiate Obama personally, and lead the way for a GOP reconquista of districts they used to represent in Middle Atlantic and New England states, at least.
But even the now-posited more modest goal of trying to impress Blue Dogs in the House with the awfulness of Obama's programs did not exactly work out.
Murphy ran with Blue Dog support, said he would join the Blue Dogs (like his predecessor Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand), and, at the same time, made his strong support of Obama's stimulus package a key point of his campaign.
Of course, this kind of post-election-loss kvetching is not something only Republicans do -- think back to late 2004.
But it is a lot more fun watching them do it, than doing it ourselves. |
