Congrats to the GOP

The Republicans won two governorships last night--in Virginia, which was no major surprise since Bob McDonnell was ahead in the polls all the way through, and in New Jersey.  Incumbent NJ Gov. Jon Corzine was deeply unpopular in that state--so much so that Chris Christie, who is in no way ready for that kind of job, was able to knock him off.  It'll be interesting to see how NJ voters feel about Christie once they've had him in office, or if he's able to grow into the job. Virginia is one of the purplest of states these days, always electing a governor from the party that doesn't control the White House.

Perhaps more importantly, the Republicans lost in the NY-23 special election, which was the race that they had nationalized to a greater extent than either of the governor's races.  Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Dick Armey, Gary Bauer, Rudy Giuliuani, Fred Thompson, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck--the hard right, tea party element of the Republican Party have been pushing hard for the victory of this Conservative Party candidate, even forcing aside the Republican Party's own candidate, Dede Scozzafava, who just wasn't teabagger enough for them.

The fact that Hoffman didn't live in the district, or know anything about issues facing the district, didn't faze them.  They threw the biggest of their guns behind Hoffman, ran roughshod over the candidate from their own party, and they lost, turning the seat over to a Democrat for the first time since the Civil War.

McDonnell in Virginia is a hard-right guy, but he didn't run like a teabagger.  Hoffman ran like a teabagger and lost, despite every advantage.  What's the lesson?  If anything, yesterday proved that Republicans, despite being down to 20% of the voting public, can still win elections if they act like civilized human beings, but not when they act like crazy nutjobs.

Oh, and savor these words from Rush Limbaugh, because after all, he asked us to:

"If Hoffman wins -- and polls suggest that he will -- the race there will be dismissed as an outlier.  Here's how they're going to categorize this -- and I'm talking about the media. I'm predicting the media coverage tonight and tomorrow on New York-23.  

"They'll say that the right wing concentrated all its hate and all its anger and all its resources on a congressional race that is of little national importance or consequence. They will portray this as the Republican Party being fractured and divided with even greater problems down the road.  The state-run media will further tell us that the battle in New York-23 was really just a fight among Republicans, not about Obama or his policies; and that the far right, while successful in this district, will have difficulty extending this victory into other districts and states because they will have driven so many independents and moderates out of the party.... Folks, I want you to print these words out. I want you to get the transcript off my website.  I want you to print these out, I want you to distribute them, I want you to carry them with you, and we'll just see how close I am to being right.' "

Thanks for the incisive insight, Rush.  As always, right on the button.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/dud-baby-dud-the-lesson-o_b_345049.html

Comments

[Randy Johnson]

I'll be interested in Limbaugh and his ilk's take the outcome. You just know he'll find some way to spin it so that he won't shoulder any of the "blame" for the teabaggers failure.

[Jeff Mariotte]

Rush always has a way to deflect responsibility for his mistakes.  This'll be no different, I'm sure.