From Whom do Liberal Republicans take votes?

I am finding the NY-23 race to be absolutely fascinating. It is somewhat of a "test case" on the matter of what to do with liberal Republicans.

If the RINO and the conservative split the Republican vote, the Democrat will win; however, if the RINO and the Democrat split the liberal vote, the Conservative will win. The worst case scenario for my money is a RINO win, and would vindicate TerryRC's position that the Republicans have become too conservative.

Ny-23 is the perfect refutation of the so-called Republican moderates as the key to winning (as if John McCain were not refutation enough). For one, the RINO endorsed the Democrat, to whom she is obviously closer. For another, the RINO was polling behind the conservative, showing that in the Republican party the greater numbers are in the conservative rather than moderate/liberal camps, and lastly, even with dede endorsing the Dem, the Dem may still lose anyway.

Juan Williams asks the rhetorical question: "Who is running the party"? Looks like the inmates. Thank goodness!

I saw the comments on this Sunday morning and I heard conservative commentors call Dede Scozzafava a "liberal" Republican. As I'm not and have never been a Republican, can one of you guys please explain what constitutes a moderate and/or liberal Repbulican? Are we strictly speaking of the social issues?

Can one be pro-choice, in favor of gay marriage and still be a Republican?

Aaron,

Yes, someone can be pro-choice and favor gay marriage and still be a Republican. A great many Republicans are liberal on social issues but support the party based on strong foreign policy or limited taxation and regulation.

HOWEVER,

When someone is both socially and fiscally liberal, supporting Obama's stimulus and favoring elective abortions and gay marriage, the question needs to be asked why she considers herself a Republican at all, seemingly agreeing with the party on precious few matters of consequence. Her endorsement of the Democrat proves that she was indeed a Republican only in the pragmatic, self-serving sense.

Bill Owens won the election by about 4% but I really don't think it was because Republicans have become 2 conservative. I have seen posters on other sites try to blame this on Dede Scozzafava being pro choice/pro gay marriage and state that she was forced out by conservatives who didn't like her 'moderate' stance.

But in doing some reading after SB's comments yesterday, I found myself wondering why Scozzafava was a Republican to begin with. In addition to her views on the moral issues, she was pro labor favoring card check, favored the bailouts, the stimulus package, nationalized health care and cap and trade.

That's a liberal if there ever was one so I hardly see how this is a referendum on conservatives. If anything, this election whipped up liberals and brought out many that never would have showed up in an off election year.

And many of those who came out backed Owens, a life long resident who was previously unaffiliated before this election and given his history, a retired Air Force officer, is likely a conservative Democrat at best and not part of the left wing which currently controls Democrats.

The one thing I find odd is that Politico stated this seat had been held by Republicans since the civil war but when you look on Wikipedia, it shows Democrats holding the seat for the majority of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York's_23rd_congressional_district

SheikBen wrote:

When someone is both socially and fiscally liberal, supporting Obama's stimulus and favoring elective abortions and gay marriage, the question needs to be asked why she considers herself a Republican at all, seemingly agreeing with the party on precious few matters of consequence. Her endorsement of the Democrat proves that she was indeed a Republican only in the pragmatic, self-serving sense.

What is all shows is the danger of voting for party instead of researching the individual and finding out what they truly stand for. Really what we see is the danger of a soundbite platform, instead of one with substance.

Also, there was no primary in this special election. Scozzafava was chosen by 11 Republican county bosses. Does anyone honestly think she would have withstood a primary challenge against even a moderate Republican?

There is one interesting note on her. If anyone remembers the movie 'The Accused' starring Jodi Foster about a girl who was gang raped, Scozzafava was involved in that case. She was the mayor of Gouverneur, which is the city where the actual rape tookd place and on which the movie was based.

Publicly she said little, other than to attempt to protect her community against the national media as it descended on her village to describe it as a town without pity.

But privately she was working with journalists, law officers, state politicians and anyone else who might be able to do anything to put those five SOBs in jail for raping a near comatose woman in her town and then bragging about it.

source

Hi Aaron,

Fact is, Scozzafava was the most liberal of the three candidates. Her presence split the liberal vote, and sure enough Owens won (I believe due to Dede's withdrawl, which given her endorsement of Owens appears to have been calculated).

I'm not sure whether Hoffman lost because of no Republican label on the ballot, but it is possible. I am more certain that Owens would have defeated Scozzafava in a head to head. I would have myself been inclined to have voted Owens over Scozzafava.