Conservatives To GOP: We Are All Joe The Plumbers
Democrats proclaimed on Sunday, that the GOP had become the party of Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber and the ideological fringe after news broke that conservatives had purged a moderate Republican from a special election in upstate New York. And, in a sign of where the GOP psyche lies, some conservatives eagerly embraced the frame.
Taking to the Sunday show circuit, officials in the White House, close presidential advisers, and longtime Democratic strategists all framed the departure of Dede Scozzafava from New York's 23rd District race as a sign that the GOP had grown dangerously, ideologically exclusive.
Scozzafava felt compelled to drop out after many in her party chose to back Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman instead.
Valerie Jarrett, one of Barack Obama's closest confidants, declared that the Republican Party had become "more and more extreme and more and more marginalized."
David Plouffe, the man who managed the Obama campaign, insisted that the GOP was hanging up a sign saying: "No moderates need apply."
"I think more they're becoming a very motivated core, but a small core, about 23 percent of the country," he said during an appearance on "Meet the Press."
David Axelrod, Obama's chief communications strategist, told CBS' "Face The Nation" that the news from upstate New York "sends a clear message to moderates in that party that there's no room at the inn for them."
Longtime strategist James Carville may have summarized the talking point most succinctly when he told CNN's "State of the Union" that "Ronald Reagan's big tent just collapsed in upstate New York."
"It no longer exists," Carville added. "And the reality is, a lot of Republicans are delighted at that prospect."
Indeed, while Plouffe disparaged the Republican brand as dominated by "the Limbaughs and Becks of the world," conservatives embraced the description as a badge of honor.
In a telling scene captured by The Washington Post, one local NY-23 voter told the Conservative Party's Hoffman that she was drawn to his candidacy by none other than Joe the Plumber -- the symbolic everyman voter who turned out to be a clumsy and decidedly conservative media figure.
"You know why I got involved? Joe the Plumber!" the voter said. "I met him at CPAC in Washington. He said, 'You've got to get involved.' And now I'm a City Council member in Saratoga Springs."
For his part, Limbaugh seemed to revel in Scozzafava's departure, telling Fox News that the GOP had finally found the path towards electoral viability.
"The Republican Party needs to learn something," he announced. "If it goes country club blue blood moderate it is going to lose. If it goes Reagan conservative and commits to it, it is going to win in landslides."
But actual Republican officials seemed torn by what had transpired. While party members and official campaign arms all flocked on Saturday to back Hoffman, some big names did not hide their concern about the Scozzafava purge.
"This makes life more complicated from the standpoint of this: If we get into a cycle where every time one side loses, they run a third-party candidate, we'll make Pelosi speaker for life and guarantee Obama's re-election," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had endorsed Scozzafava, toldThe New York Times. "I think we are going to get into a very difficult environment around the country if suddenly conservative leaders decide they are going to anoint people without regard to local primaries and local choices."
"This is a very unusual circumstance," House Minority Leader John Boehner explained to CNN. Pressed as to whether moderates would still be willing to run for office after witnessing what happened in NY-23, Boehner replied: "I would hope so. I would hope so. Because what we need is a broad group of people in our party."
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First Posted: 11- 1-09 11:11 AM | Updated: 11- 1-09 11:41 AM