| Fred Dicker is the most prominent member of the Albany, NY, press corps -- longtime Capitol bureau chief for the New York Post, host of a must-listen daily radio show on WGDJ-AM, and regular contributor to the news on WRGB-TV.
Dicker is conservative, especially on taxes, spending, Second Amendment and environmental issues, and he has impeccable sources among high-level Republicans in and out of government.
This morning, WGDJ co-owner/morning host Paul Vandenburgh eagerly asked Dicker about how the teabaggers were helping Gary Bernsten, a hopeless no-name who's running against Sen. Chuck Schumer after giving up a Congressional primary campaign in NY-1.
The self-proclaimed Tea Party candidate, Bernsten did win the nomination at the state GOP convention yesterday, though he will face a primary from another unknown, Jay Townsend.
Dicker, however, is not impressed.
Details, below. |
After Vandenburgh tried to credit teabagger support for getting Bernsten on the primary ballot, Dicker threw some ice-cold water on that:
What's that worth, 100 votes.
They're a loose amalgam of conservatives who have always been out there.
They have never won any election in New York state.
Dicker did not go into detail (like the teabagger FAIL with Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 special), but his dismissive tone reflects not just his own views, but presumably also those of the Republican political operatives he speaks with regularly.
They are hard-headed realists who can count and read polls, and they know who the teabaggers are (very conservative Republicans) and how many of them there are (in NY, less than 10 percent of the electorate).
And they are not impressed by a few dozen people waving yellow flags at roadsides.
Teabagger candidates can get the Republican nomination for hopeless races, like against Schumer, as long as no establishment candidate is interested. And they may even win a few GOP primaries in such races.
But their perfect record of not winning elections is likely to stand this year, at least in NY. |
